Atom-sized, bendable graphene touchscreen tech seen as potential key for future Apple devices
Rigid glass touchscreens may give way to bendable, foldable portable displays in the future, thanks to utilizing graphene --?an advanced technology that has generated interest from Apple, Samsung and others.
A pair of reports in the last week have highlighted graphene as a material with the potential to revolutionize the technology industry. While graphene could power semiconductors and advanced circuitry decades in the future as technology improves, the most immediate implementation would be touchscreens.
Michael Patterson, CEO of Graphene Frontiers, said in an interview with Fortune that graphene in sheet or film form has "incredible potential for electronics" that will take time to develop. But in the short-term, he believes graphene could be used for basic touchscreens in the next six to 12 months.
In a separate piece, Bloomberg went a few steps further, and suggested that graphene could be used to create flexible displays for portable devices. Author Jungah Lee noted that Apple specifically mentions the use of graphene in at least two patent applications, while its chief rival Samsung has 38 patents and at least 17 applications that make note of using graphene.
The report suggested that graphene could be a key technology if Apple or some other company were to develop "bendable smartwatches or tablets that fold up into smartphones."
In sheet form, graphene is just one atom thick and is made of pure carbon. It's an excellent conductor of electricity and is especially strong for its light weight, estimated at 100 times more durable than steel.
In addition to being strong and conductive, it's also flexible and transparent. That's why the material could be "ideal for bendable touchscreen displays," according to Bloomberg.
A pair of reports in the last week have highlighted graphene as a material with the potential to revolutionize the technology industry. While graphene could power semiconductors and advanced circuitry decades in the future as technology improves, the most immediate implementation would be touchscreens.
Michael Patterson, CEO of Graphene Frontiers, said in an interview with Fortune that graphene in sheet or film form has "incredible potential for electronics" that will take time to develop. But in the short-term, he believes graphene could be used for basic touchscreens in the next six to 12 months.
In a separate piece, Bloomberg went a few steps further, and suggested that graphene could be used to create flexible displays for portable devices. Author Jungah Lee noted that Apple specifically mentions the use of graphene in at least two patent applications, while its chief rival Samsung has 38 patents and at least 17 applications that make note of using graphene.
The report suggested that graphene could be a key technology if Apple or some other company were to develop "bendable smartwatches or tablets that fold up into smartphones."
In sheet form, graphene is just one atom thick and is made of pure carbon. It's an excellent conductor of electricity and is especially strong for its light weight, estimated at 100 times more durable than steel.
In addition to being strong and conductive, it's also flexible and transparent. That's why the material could be "ideal for bendable touchscreen displays," according to Bloomberg.
Comments
Apple and Samsung are behind this.
So, who owns this technology now? Whoever buys the royalties or whoever buys the inventor?
Or, to whom ever the inventor gives royalties to?
Ah, graphene. There’s not much you can’t do. And what you can’t, graphyne takes care of. Also stanene.
I still fail to see the point of a flexible screen if the parts behind it aren't flexible as well.
Of course, we all know what has Apple interested in this tech: the display layer is ONE ATOM thick. Jony Ive just got wood.
I like the sound of this.
Whatever the material ends up being, I think there will be flexible, rollable, foldable, or even crunchable materials allowing larger and easily stowed displays.
Something for our kids and grandkids in the future, so they regard the tech we have now as hopelessly outdated.
; )
Someone is going to have to supply Apple with those atom thick sheets!
Someone is going to have to supply Apple with those atom thick sheets!
Shouldn't it be the Graphene Frontiers or am I mistaken?
No idea who they are. Companies that do R&D aren't necessarily also manufacturers.
Can they mass produce them to Apple's specifications and quality demands?
Ah, graphene. There’s not much you can’t do. And what you can’t, graphyne takes care of. Also stanene.
Aren't those 2 characters in Game of Thrones...
"...tablet that folds up into a smartphone..." is the new Jet Pack.
http://www.kurzweilai.net/graphenes-negative-environmental-impacts
I suppose you'd know
Only if Apple could get its hands on it before Shamesung
Apple generally doesn't do pioneering level R&D, they do top notch engineering level R&D
I don't know of anything whatever Apple has to do with graphene because they generally don't manufacture semiconductors or do anything in nanotechnology manufacturing.
Quite a few nano scale firms can make graphene, but I believe Samsung is the furthest ahead in developing commercially viable methods.
Where Apple tends to get in the game is after that. Once Samsung has it and can make it at a commercial scale, then what? Hey, Graphene!! Apple will put a lot of though and work into what can be done with it, find new ways to apply and use the technology, and then patent the hell out of every possible scenario of usage they can come up with.