What Display Daily thinks: Apple is capricious, but for good reason, because it won’t pull the go switch until it is absolutely sure of the end results. For all of the ennui that surrounds Apple’s innovation woes, it is still a staggeringly effective manufacturing company that doesn’t own any factories or fabs of its own. So, maybe there is an Apple foldable in 2025 or maybe 2026 or maybe, and here’s the rub, never.
The growth of foldables has been great in the last few years, and may continue to be great for a few years, but is it really that great. I mean, they have nowhere to go but up and they are still very novel. Also, maybe yes, if you consider the high cost, the lack of confirmed reliability, and no real insight into their actual longevity. On the other hand, there is plenty of ongoing research and development to address the brittleness and robustness of components like UTG, for example, to address concerns with the durability, flexibility, high production costs, lack of scalability, and complex manufacturing processes.
It seems as if foldables may fall into a comfortable niche, at least in the next five years, and that they are still some way off from becoming mainstream, both in terms of affordability and reliability. It also seems as if there is an innovation vacuum in the smartphone market that is very forgiving of foldables.
Smartphone devices have matured, and there isn’t much you can do, at least for now, to create new value for users. We see that with laptops, for example, and have seen that for some time. They really can’t get much thinner or lighter than they already are, and they don’t do much now that they didn’t do five or eight years ago. Same with smartphones.
Foldables fill that deep down desire among tech makers to reinvent the wheel. It’s just too early to tell how far away we are from mainstream foldables but I have a feeling that the timeline is going to get extended by another year or two because we have a lot of uncertainty about the timeline for something as important as the foldables’ glass. Jockeying for position in the future supply chain for Apple is strategic and not a sign of market forces. Apple’s adventures if MicroLED should have made that clear..
And, just to be fair, the problem with foldables isn’t just glass. We can start with software. There isn’t really a universe of foldable applications, and what there is subject to many issues, mostly to do with the fact that the configuration of every foldable display setup is going to be different. That’s a really big problem that doesn’t come up because the foldable display is a great sleight of hand and takes the mind away from some simple user experience issues. That takes into consideration optimization of apps for foldable displays and also adaptation of applications so that they can seamlessly work in both folded and unfolded modes, whatever that may mean.
As a side note, yes, software is one area where Apple can really differentiate its foldable, if there were one, from all others. On the other hand, can we trust Apple to be innovative on anything at this point?
We also know that foldables are bulky. They are supposed to be making the giant displays of existing smartphones more portable, but that just means you get a brick instead of a tablet shoved in your pockets. Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Z 6 foldable, slated for a July 10 unpacking event, is expected to be slimmer and more compact because of a new hinge design, but even so, it is likely to cost more than its predecessor and the durability and brittleness of the glass will not have changed.
We are a long way away from having mainstream foldables which means that investment in any technology path is fraught with risk. You just have to stay tuned for more information.
Avatech Announces 2026 Initiatives and Advances in Ultra-Thin Glass Technology
The Elec is reporting that Avatech announced two major initiatives set for 2026 during a recent investor relations event. The company will begin producing ultra-thin glass (UTG) for foldable laptops and will also install a through glass via (TGV) production line for semiconductor glass core substrates. UTG is critical as a cover window for foldable displays, a feature that Apple plans to integrate into its foldable products currently under development by LG Display and Samsung Display, according to the report. Avatech emphasized that producing UTG for foldable laptops requires advanced thin cover glass slimming technology and functional coating technology for surface modifications.
The foldable laptop UTG is part of the broader category of foldable IT products. Samsung Display is developing panels for products similar to foldable phones, while LG Display is focusing on foldable IT products. LG Display, holding a 12.81% stake in Avatech as of last month, is expected to deliver OLED panels for foldable iPads, likely in the late 10-inch range when unfolded.
Avatech is anticipated to face competition from Econi in processing Apple’s foldable panel UTG within the LG Display supply chain. Econi, responsible for etching LG Display’s LCD panels, is also part of the UTG supply chain for Samsung Electronics’ foldable phones, such as the upcoming Galaxy Z Flip 6. This indicates a competitive landscape for UTG processing among suppliers.
Creating foldable cover lenses involves balancing transparency, foldability, hardness, smoothness, and thinness, with a significant challenge being the balance between hardness and thickness. The primary materials used are colorless polyimide (CPI) and UTG, each with its own drawbacks. Despite imperfections, UTG is favored by most smartphone manufacturers due to its superior smoothness. Brands such as Samsung, Google, Xiaomi, Oppo, vivo, Moto, and Transsion have adopted UTG, while Huawei and Honor continue using CPI but are developing UTG solutions for future foldable smartphones.
Omdia forecasts significant growth for UTG shipments, predicting they will reach 24.6 million units in 2024, a 36.9% increase year-on-year, and 33.7 million units in 2025, up 36.7% year-on-year. This growth is expected to continue over the next few years. UTG technology is diversifying with several approaches. Samsung Display uses raw glass from Schott, finished by Dowooinsys, and then laminates the UTG with a foldable display. Corning provides UTG, known as Corning Bendable Glass, finished by Econi for the cover glass, with Samsung Display handling lamination for devices like the Galaxy Z Flip series. Another method involves thinning thicker glass from 100µm to 30µm or 40–50µm, used in devices such as the Moto Razr series and Oppo Find N3 series. Despite the complex finishing process, Chinese glass makers are advancing with plans to mass-produce 30µm ultra-thin raw glass by the end of 2024.
