[derefr]

The weird thing is that we already have “foldable screens.” But all the phone makers have done with them is to give us slightly less bezel on our glass rectangles.

I’m wondering if this is a “flying car” thing—if actually handing consumers ultra-thin bendable (but not actually creasable) panels would be a dumb idea, because consumers would try to exceed their tolerances and break them too easily.

(This is also, I think, why we don’t see more optical cabling standards outside of the enterprise space. The average consumer can’t be trusted to install a glass-fibre cable run without breaking it; and when they break it, they’ll get angry, because glass-fibre cables still cost a lot of money. And plastic-fibre cabling, though more tolerant, is far less of an improvement over copper, especially in attenuation distance.)

[ccajas]

>The weird thing is that we already have “foldable screens.” But all the phone makers have done with them is to give us slightly less bezel on our glass rectangles.

Also, aren't they used for curved TV screens and computer monitors?

[ttflee]

Sure, these displays are bendable. But they have a zero Gaussian curvature everywhere. What would be really interesting is to build a flat panel display that has a non-zero Gaussian curvature at will, e.g. one that fits into the windshield of a car.

There is a catch that programming these displays require one to learn differential geometry as a prerequisite.

[dbbk]

So are you saying that you want an actual foldable phone? Putting aside the technical challenges of getting the chassis and other components to also fold, I struggle to understand why this would be a desirable product.

[avhon1]

Fitting an 8.5"x11" or A4-sized display into your pocket would be pretty handy.

[bpicolo]

Bending and not-creasable sounds like a tough ask. Those tend to come hand in hand.

[abrowne]

It could roll up into a tube instead of folding and creasing.

[monk_e_boy]

I'm not convinced about rollable or foldable displays. My phones screen is reachable with one hand, any bigger and I have to use two hands. So I use my tablet. If I need to get work done I use a PC or laptop.

I don't see the point of a display that folds. The display would be worse than any I currently own. It would be more prone to breakage due to the nature of what you're asking it to do.

I think it's one of those technologies that sounds neat, but in reality is not that useful (like 3D tvs)

[brokenmachine]

I don't even think it sounds that neat. Just silly.

3D TV's, on the other hand, I love and am very sad that they're now not being produced... Just when the size and resolution of TVs is getting good enough to make them worthwhile.

[candiodari]

I must say using foldable displays to have 2 display sizes does seem very useful to me. If you can ignore the blatant cheesyness and sexism this video does illustrate it pretty well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKG7XRsG9KQ

(plus it would sell really well)

[monk_e_boy]

Maybe it was the content, but what I saw on 3D tv was just flat characters in a 3d environment. It felt very weird. The clunky glasses were a bit rubbish. All a bit weird and crap.

[brokenmachine]

Did you see Avatar in 3D? It was much more than just characters.

[JKCalhoun]

Bendable displays require bendable batteries, bendable circuit boards, bendable cases, etc....

[candiodari]

All of which we know how to do. A display IS a circuit board by the way.

[userbinator]

People will crease them anyway, accidental or otherwise.

Flexible displays are far too fragile to be practical except in applications where they're literally bent only once and then affixed to something for the rest of their life.