Samsung Announces UL-Certified Unbreakable OLED Panel for Smartphones

[MacRumors]

Samsung Display today announced an unbreakable OLED smartphone panel that's been certified by Underwriters Laboratory (UL), an official testing company for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor.

The UL test indicates that Samsung's unbreakable display withstood 26 drops from 1.2 meters (4 feet) with no damage and held up to extreme temperature testing. Samsung says that the display was also subjected to a drop of six feet with no sign of damage.

According to UL, the unbreakable display developed by Samsung Display passed the rigorous real-time durability test that is based on military standards set by the U.S. Department of Defense. After a drop test administered at 1.2 meters (nearly 4 feet) above the ground 26 times in succession, and accompanying high (71 degrees) and low (-32 degrees) temperature tests, the Samsung unbreakable panel continued to function normally with no damage to its front, sides or edges.

According to Samsung, its flexible OLED panel uses an unbreakable substrate that's adhered to an overlay window, a deviation from other, more breakable flexible OLED panels that use a glass-covered window.

Samsung says that the unbreakable panels are being developed for use on smartphones but are likely to find viable markets with other products like display consoles for automobiles, mobile military devices, portable game consoles, and tablet PCs.

"The fortified plastic window is especially suitable for portable electronic devices not only because of its unbreakable characteristics, but also because of its lightweight, transmissivity and hardness, which are all very similar to glass," said Hojung Kim, general manager of the Communication Team, Samsung Display Company.

While UL-certification for the panel is being announced today, Samsung first showed off its technology at DisplayWeek in May, in the form of a 6.22-inch display that was targeted at automotive customers. Samsung has been developing flexible display technology for years.

As CNET's Shara Tibken points out, Samsung's announcement comes just two weeks ahead of when it plans to unveil the Galaxy Note 9, so it's possible Samsung's upcoming flagship smartphone could use this new display technology. With UL certification, the panel is ready to be used in consumer products.

Apple uses displays sourced from Samsung in its iPhone lineup, so it's not unreasonable to think that the Cupertino company could potentially adopt this technology in the future, should it meet Apple's demands for quality.

Apple sources its OLED displays for the iPhone X from Samsung and is expected to continue using Samsung as a supplier for the foreseeable future, though the company is working on securing additional display suppliers for diversification purposes.

Article Link: Samsung Announces UL-Certified Unbreakable OLED Panel for Smartphones

 

[meaning-matters]

Can I try?

 

[penajmz]

I have a feeling this won’t be in this year’s iPhones though.

 

[DeepIn2U]

I have a feeling this won’t be in this year’s iPhones though.

Military use!

This was to be aimed at WatchOS and Apple Watch OR their new Galaxy Gear Watch to debut this fall.

 

[penajmz]

Military use!

This was to be aimed at WatchOS and Apple Watch OR their new Galaxy Gear Watch to debut this fall.

Samsung says is for smartphones.

 

[syklee26]

They probably made this to offset galaxy note’s great feature... to use it as a grenade during crisis...

 

[Kaibelf]

Military use!

This was to be aimed at WatchOS and Apple Watch OR their new Galaxy Gear Watch to debut this fall.

It's just a milspec test, similar to how they drop Lenovo laptops. Very common, yet does NOT mean that these are meant for military. The temperature tests here are key. This is likely a play for cars more than anything, because then OEMs don't have to worry about day/night seasonal and hot car fluctuations damaging the display.

 

[lunarworks]

Does this include the touch layer? Or just the display?

 

[DeepIn2U]

It's just a milspec test, similar to how they drop Lenovo laptops. Very common, yet does NOT mean that these are meant for military. The temperature tests here are key. This is likely a play for cars more than anything, because then OEMs don't have to worry about day/night seasonal and hot car fluctuations damaging the display.

I’d say the heat/temperature tests are better aligned with military (marines in Iraq or elsewhere in extremely hot climates would need displays that down fail or can stand up to heavy impact - no 4’ isn’t much trust me but at least better.

Nobody puts OLED or displays in the engine bay of a car, so all black weather interior on a black large/small car shouldn’t have displays so easily exposed to human touch. I’ve yet see a cars didital display fail from -40 to -40 celcius here in Canada ... the only failure is that damned Oldsmobile Toronado from the late 80’s that had full digital instrument panel ... faulty fuses.

 

[now i see it]

& while they're at it, slap in on the back of the phones to get rid of that lame heavy glass.

 

[Marshall73]

So it’s a plastic screen then?

 

[dk001]

So it’s a plastic screen then?

Looks like ....

 

[Kagio]

Ouch .. this is a major differentiator from rivals. I'm an iPhone user, and I'm already jealous.

 

[oldMacGenius]

6.22-inch display that was targeted at automotive customers.

An OLED screen would be a major step up for every car manufacturer. The standard LCD infotainment panel never gets as dark at night as I would prefer.

 

[NoNothing]

Now that is pretty cool. Hopefully, it is simply not scratchable plastic and hard enough to hold up to sand n your pocket.

 

[fairuz]

Now that is pretty cool. Hopefully, it is simply not scratchable plastic and hard enough to hold up to sand n your pocket.

Yeah, that was my first thought. Scratches are more of a problem than dropping.

 

[Mobster1983]

Cool. Wonder if this would look as sharp as glass OLED displays. Also wondering about the scratch resistance. May tempt me to try a Samsung phone if it gets added. Hate having to use cases (my phones see some hard-use environments so some drop protection is a must) and going away from iOS to Android for a while may make me appreciate Apple's software again (which has been really annoying as of late).

 

[Darth.Titan]

So a scratchable plastic screen whose ability to withstand 6 foot drops makes it “unbreakable.”

Marketing at its finest.

 

[Vasilioskn]

It’s unbreakable? Hold my beer

 

[poorcody]

Don't they realize calling something "unbreakable" is only going to challenge the YouTuber's all the more?

 

[KenaiAndrews]

It's unbreakable ... until it breaks.

 

[dumastudetto]

Can it really withstand exploding Samsung batteries?

 

[alphaod]

Will pair perfectly with the unbreakable Corning Gorilla glass recently announced.

 

[PickUrPoison]

So a scratchable plastic screen whose ability to withstand 6 foot drops makes it “unbreakable.”

Marketing at its finest.

Nothing wrong with a scratchable plastic screen

It doesn’t seem to be a good fit for premium smartphones, despite the speculation. A ruggedized smartphone and auto/industrial applications that need a hard-to-break screen, sure.

 

[fairuz]

So a scratchable plastic screen whose ability to withstand 6 foot drops makes it “unbreakable.”

Marketing at its finest.

At that point the rest of your phone probably breaks before the screen does. Maybe that's the metric.