As more and more companies are gearing up and demonstrating flexible display prototypes (LG, Nokia and earlier this year at CES 2013, Samsung’s Youm display are just a few of the latest examples), the need for protection of these new devices that are freed from the constraints of conventional rigid form factors is highlighted once more.
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Fig 1. Samsung’s flexible display, demonstrated at CES 2013
IDTechEx Research, in its latest report on the topic of flexible encapsulation “Barrier Films for Flexible Electronics 2013-2023: Needs, Players, Opportunities” (www.IDTechEx.com/barrier), is forecasting the market for flexible barrier films to conservatively grow to just over $34 Million by 2016. Up until that point, over 95% of the market is accounted for from a slowly growing market for flexible photovoltaics based on CIGS and a-Si platforms.
The really significant growth though, is expected to kick in once flexible display technologies move out of the prototyping stage and start becoming commercial products, changing the way consumers interact with their portable electronic devices. By 2023, the market for flexible barriers will already be over $240 Million, with display technologies accounting for over a third of that value. |
Fig 2. Nokia’s Kinetic display 
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