LG investing heavily in flexible smartphone displays

Flexible smartphone screens, such as those that are used on devices with curved edges, are growing in popularity. This has prompted LG to budget around $1.7 billion for a new production line for making flexible OLED smartphone screens.

This investment will enable LG to become a leader in this display technology. Whether it's planning to use the displays itself or has buyers in mind is unclear at this point in time.

LG's new production line is to be installed at the same OLED display factory that the company previously announced plans to build. This factory will cost around $8.9 billion, so LG is banking on this technology taking off.

It has been rumoured that Apple will switch to OLED screens, so perhaps LG is preparing for this. LG says its flexible OLED line should start production in the second half of 2018.