As a leading electronic company, LG is very good at setting trends. In the coming years, there will be more than big TVs. LG OLED’s innovation, which can be changed nearly infinitely, is now being used in furniture and exercise equipment. LG Display will unveil a gigantic semi-circle seat media centre and a novel way to swing at CES next year.
Largely this is due to the inherent features of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), which includes the ability to self-emit light when charged (in contrast to LCDs which require backlighting) and an organic structure that enables them to be made on thin and flexible substrates.
Apart from its parent company, LG Electronics, which produces customer-centric devices, LG Display develops innovations that it believes would drive other competitors to create new products around them.
OLED is more than just a transparent display; it can also be rolled up like paper, as was the case in early OLED demonstrations). Large semi-circle seats are part of LG’s new Media Chair design, which looks like a big circle of seats. There is a piece of furniture, a 55-inch LG OLED with built-in Cinematic Sound, and a 55-inch TV in the room (CSO). Rotation of both this chair (or piece of furniture) and display takes place simultaneously in a circular motion. This isn’t the only twist: The screen can be turned 90 degrees with the touch of a button.
To offer a continuous viewing experience, LG introduced a Virtual Ride system that surrounds a stationary bike rider with three bright 55-inch OLEDs. If you look at the side of it, there are no OLEDs. The company calls it an “immersive system,” and yet there seem to be no OLEDs there. As long as you don’t look to your left, right, or below your feet, you can still feel more engaged as you cycle through a “virtual countryside.”
It’s not the first time LG OLED has been used in unconventional places (like curved seats, transparent shopping kiosks, and bed screens). More major TV makers are, however, incorporating OLED technology into their Ultra HD and 8K-TV offerings, such as LG Electronics, Sony, and Panasonic. Nonetheless, these LG Display prototypes provide an exciting glimpse into a future in which more surfaces will be transformed into screens; however, this future will only become a reality if companies begin developing consumer systems based on these concept designs.
