According to foreign media reports, South Korean technology giants are competing to submit patent applications related to foldable panels, aiming to find some breakthroughs in the smartphone industry, which has slowed down due to hardware innovation constraints.
The Korean Intellectual Property Office recently stated that in the past six years, South Korea has applied for 276 patents related to foldable panels, and only applied for 210 patents in the past three years. Among them, LG Display applied for the largest number of patents (94 items), its competitor Samsung showed the second (80 items), Samsung Electronics ranked third (23 items), and LG Electronics ranked fourth (17 items).
The global smartphone giant sees the foldable display as a new technological breakthrough because its differentiation feature can be used as a regular smartphone in fold mode and as a tablet when unfolded.
Samsung Electronics is expected to launch its first foldable smartphone in early next year with its subsidiary Samsung Display. Koh Dong-jin, president of Samsung Electronics Mobile, said earlier this month that the company has "overcoming the last obstacle."
Apple is also said to be working with LG Display to launch its first foldable phone in 2020. Other Chinese mobile phone manufacturers, including Huawei, Oppo and Xiaomi, are also developing their own foldable devices.
The key to a collapsible smartphone is the ability to withstand thousands of bends, folds, and deployments. Therefore, most of the patents applied by Korean technology giants are related to the durability of foldable panels.
