Foldable phones seem to one of the possible futures for smartphones and many companies like Samsung, LG, and Huawei have already announced their intentions of making these flexible devices. While we expect tons of research and development to go into the making of a foldable device, an equal amount of research is required in making the display that has to bend with the folding handset. Corning revealed some of its developments in the field of bendable displays with which it hopes to beat the competition. "To go to a tight bend radius, you have to go to a glass that's much, much thinner than what you have today, and some of the glass we have in our laboratory is thinner than a human hair," Polly Chu, Corning's technology director, exclusively told CNET. As per the report, Corning has developed a 0.1mm ultrathin bendable glass, which is said to bend to a 5mm radius. This means that the glass showed off by Corning is even thinner than a normal human hair and the smaller bend radius suggests that it can fold almost completely in half. While there are deliberations on using plastic as well for bendable displays, Corning says that plastics can be scratched, creased and exhibit discolouration over time, while its glass will still hold its structure and colour. "If you look at what people demand on their smartphones today, scratch resistance, drop resistance, good optical properties, great tactile feel … I think glass will probably overtake plastic as the material of choice for cover material," says John Bayne, Vice President at Corning Gorilla Glass. Corning's Bendable Glass, Courtesy: CNET The bendable glass developed by Corning is currently said to be in development, which means that it might not appear on any immediately releasing foldable phones. The world’s first foldable phone, the FlexPai, is also said to use a plastic-based display that can be folded 200,000 times. Samsung showed off its foldable phone at its 2018 Developer Conference but didn’t reveal if it's using a glass or a plastic display. Corning is also looking to make its mark in the automotive space by using its bendable displays around the driver and passenger. "Inside the car … almost all the surfaces have shape except for this display, and so what designers are looking to do is bend those displays around the driver and around the passenger," said Mike Kunigonis, vice president of Corning Automotive Glass Solutions. Alongside taking over the dashboard, Corning is also working on a textured glass that can simulate wood and other types of surfaces. As per the report, using a tech called ‘dead front’, controls can be shown under the textured glass, which appears only when the glass is backlit. Image courtesy: CNET
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