LG has been fighting to stay relevant in the smartphone market for a while, but now the company plans to take it up a notch with its work on some new screens. LG is working on both flexible and unbreakable OLED screens, and according to a OLEDNet report, LG contracted Jusung Engineering and Avaco to supply the equipment. The deals are worth 11.4 billion Won (about $10 million) for Jusung and 7.6 billion Won ($6.7 million) for Avaco.
LG will start getting the wheels turning on this project sometime during the end of the year, the report believes the Korean based manufacturer will start construction by 3Q 2012. Moreover, an LG official said that it will take 1-2 years to develop and verify the process and produce prototypes.
The new LG displays will use the same technology that Samsung uses with its new line of unbreakable and flexible AMOLED screens called Youm. The idea is that the plastic will be replacing the glass cover to make the OLEDs thinner and stronger. Using plastic as the substrate to create a ‘unbreakable device’ as LG calls it is still several years away.
By replacing glass covers with plastic, I wonder if the cost for the displays will be cheaper? Anyway, it’ll be interesting to see if this new screens hit any new LG smartphones this year, as the company tries to meet its very lofty goal of 35 million smartphones sold this year.
[via OLED-Info]