Vendors of smartphones, tablets and other hand-held devices have asked for foldable AMOLED panels beginning 2017, according to industry sources.

Bendable AMOLED panels will mostly be used in smart wearable devices, foldable models in smartphones and tablets and other hand-held devices, and rollable models in monitors, notebooks and TVs, according to the Display Technology Center (DTC) under the government-sponsored Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI).

There will be technological barriers to overcome for panel makers to produce foldable AMOLED panels, including replacing glass substrates with polyimide substrates, and glass covers with covers made from composite plastics as well as changes in polarizer materials, DTC indicated.

DTC has finished development of an AMOLED display which is foldable inwardly and outwardly and will transfer the technology to Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT) in the fourth quarter of 2016, DTC noted. CPT will start trial production at its 4.5G factory.