Displays Flex Some Muscle

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Along with devices like the wrist-wrapping watch, other strong candidates for the technology are e-books and electronic newspapers, where users could download the latest novel or newspaper, slip it into their bags, and read it on the go, without needing to carry around a laptop.

Such flexible displays will “open up a new level of display applications," according to Samsung's Virginia. As another application, he suggests "it can be applied to wearable [display panels for] the fashion industry. The most important factor is the mobility.”

Meanwhile, other flexible screen centers are looking at larger-scale uses for the technology. Xerox Research Center in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, is experimenting with circuitry that will power flexible screens up to 10 meters long. Such giant displays could be used as billboards, roadside signage, or sports-stadium scoreboards, according to the company. The research center is working with Dow and Motorola to bring the technology to market.

No one will be using foldable screens in coffee shops and subways in the immediate future. But as companies like Xerox bring the circuitry costs down and E Ink works on materials issues, gains are being made in an industry with a product that's both practical and cool.