Apple’s iPad is an ideal device for reading with its 9.7-inch screen. However for carrying iPad around you need an additional bag because of its size, you can’t just keep it in your pocket. Now imagine if you can just fold the iPad in half after you are done using it. The iPad size will become half and it would fit in most pockets. Also you won’t have to carry an additional bag just for the iPad.

To bring this dream to reality, Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology in South Korea have developed a seamless foldable AMOLED display that folds in half without any visible crease in the middle. The researchers overcame the problem of visible crease in the middle of foldable display by using two AMOLED panels and silicone rubber (a hyperelastic material). The new display has folding radius of just 1mm and when it is folded at 180 degrees one AMOLED panel lies on other, as shown in the diagram below.

To give more strength to the setup researchers used protective glass cover on the top and module case as the base of the display. They tested the foldable display’s mechanical and optical robustness by performing 100,000 folding and unfolding cycles. And found that the relative brightness at the junction decreased by just 6 percent. Since this difference is hardly recognizable by the human eye, the deterioration is considered negligible.

The new display technology uses already available AMOLED panels without much modification. According to PhysOrg, this technology could come to the market in about 1-2 years. And with prices of AMOLED displays falling with increased adoption, a foldable iPad becomes a real possibility.