BOE 12.3" Rollable Phone

China’s BOE is a display company and one of Samsung Display’s main rivals. The Chinese company is the supplier for the flexible display used in Huawei‘s P30 Pro flagship. BOE seems to have been hard at work thinking of the next phase for its displays. At a display show that was held recently, the display manufacturer demoed a petty neat rollable display alongside several other products. However, it is the rollable display that we are really excited about.

Tech Blog – armdevices was at the event and they were able to get a look at the rollable display and the other cool products on display. When unrolled, the prototype screen becomes a 12.3-inch device and when rolled back, its form factor is similar to that of a 7-inch tablet. The prototype doesn’t support touch-input but BOE says they will be working on one with touch-support in the future.

Rollable displays are not entirely new, though they are not yet in mass production. LG demoed a rollable TV at CES 2019 that was the star attraction of the show. It will take a while before it becomes mainstream and a little more time before it comes to smartphones and other portable devices.

BOE also demoed HUDs and in-car displays at the event. The prototype car is shown to have a single long display for its dashboard which stretches from the driver’s side to the other end of the dashboard. The display shows the usual car parameters on one side, navigation details in the middle and an entertainment section for the front passenger. On the far ends are side mirrors which are also part of the single display. We also see a foldable smartphone with a flexible display that folds outward. When folded it becomes a phone with a 6-inch display and a 7.7-inch tablet when unfolded.

Another interesting device seen at the show is a TV with a display technology made to rival OLEDs. BOE worked with Hisense on a new type of display called BD Cell. The display is a combination of two types of cell – the main cell which is the main color panel for the pictures and a sub-cell which is a black and white cell that provides the backlight and pixel-level local dimming. When combined, the result is the BD Cell which offers up to OLED-level quality for a cheaper price. The contrast and picture quality are significantly better than LCD while still managing to be pretty slim.

There was also a 27-inch monitor with the same BD Cell technology on display. It has a resolution of 3840 x 2160, a contrast ratio of 20,000:1, 460 nits of brightness, and is just 10.8 millimeter’s thick.