LG Display has developed the world’s first high-resolution stretchable display, it announced overnight.

The full-colour 12-inch display can be elongated to over 14-inches, and supports 100 pixels per inch, a competitive resolution to other non-stretchy monitors.

It can be twisted and folded, as well as stretched, with LG claiming to have drastically improved the overall durability, flexibility, and reliability of these so-called free-form displays, maximising its potential for commercialisation.

The panel is based on a highly resilient film-type substrate made of special silicon used in contact lenses.

“The display’s free-form nature offers a cutting-edge solution surpassing the existing foldable and rollable technology,” explains LG Display.

The Stretchable display uses a micro-LED light source with a pixel pitch of less than 0.04mm, which LG says makes it able to “withstand significant external impacts”.

In addition, a flexible “S-form” spring wired system (as opposed to the conventional linear wired system) means it can be twisted and stretched numerous times, without damage.

LG Display suggests various uses:  “Easily attachable to curved surfaces such as skin, clothing, furniture, automobiles and aircraft, this unique innovation expands the potential of the display in various industries including fashion, wearables, mobility and gaming.”

The Stretchable display has been in the works since 2020, part of an R&D project in conjunction with South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and twenty organisations in South Korea’s industrial-academic sector.

“We will successfully complete this project to enhance the competitiveness of Korean display technology while continuing to lead the industry’s paradigm shift,” Soo-young Yoon, Executive Vice President and CTO at LG Display, said of the breakthrough technology.