Sharp demonstrated a new 6.18" 1440x3040 foldable AMOLED prototype. The company says that it can withstand over 300,000 bending cycles. The demonstration panel folds inwardly, but Sharp apparently says it can also bend outwardly.
In June 2018 Sharp started to produce flexible OLED displays in low volume and in October 2018 the company launched its first phone to sport its own panels - the Aquos Zero smartphone - that has a notch-type 6.2" 1440x2992 display.
It seems that all OLED producers are rushing to commercialize foldable OLED technologies. Samsung Display has recently started to mass produce the 7.3" 1536x2152 foldable OLEDs for the upcoming Galaxy Fold, and both BOE and Visionox are also producing such displays, although likely that much lower volumes compared to SDC. Other displays companies, such as AU Optronics in Taiwan and now Sharp are also rushing to start production, even though their production readiness is likely lower than Samsung, BOE and Visionox.
It seems that 2019 will be the year of the foldable OLED. Market analyst firm DSCC estimates that by 2022 the market for foldable OLED will reach 63 million units, up from 3 million in 2019 (a CAGR of 173%).
