New Samsung 'Unbreakable' OLED panel can take a pummeling

Samsung's extremely tough OLED panel can take a beating. (Source: Samsung)

Samsung has officially revealed its latest flexible OLED panel technology. The new ‘Unbreakable Panel’ as the company is referring to it, has passed multiple US military standards for drop testing and shatter resistance.

by Sanjiv Sathiah, 2018/07/26

Samsung Display has revealed a new flexible OLED panel that it claims is unbreakable. To support its assertion, the company has gained formal certification from UL (Underwriters Laboratories). The company says that it is aiming to bring it to market in smartphones, but it will also be suitable for display consoles in cars, mobile military devices, portable gaming consoles and tablets used in classrooms.

Samsung’s current smartphone OLED panels use a plastic substrate to achieve their flexibility, but this must still be covered in a curved glass layer for protection. This is, as many smartphone users can attest to, subject to being relatively easily to shatter when dropped. The new display uses plastic on the outer layer as well, that is both sufficiently translucent as well as shatter resistant.

The UL testing showed that the new unbreakable OLED panel passed the rigorous real-time durability test based on US Department of Defense military standards. It was drop tested from 1.2 meters 26 times in succession in accompanying high and low temperature tests. It even exceeded military standards surviving a subsequent drop from 1.8 meters with no signs of damage.

Samsung hasn’t revealed when or which of its smartphones might be in line for the display, but you can almost guarantee that it will show up on a future Galaxy S10 Active.