Smart watches will provide the biggest opportunity for
flexible displays in the short term. A number of new smart watch vendors have
incorporated some form of flexible display technology to maximize the screen
size of the small device. Market Intelligence firm ABI Research believes most
of the digital smart watches and other fitness and health wearable devices will
incorporate a flexible display over the next eighteen months due to the robust
and rugged characteristics of the displays.
Furthermore, flexible displays or e-ink displays could be
used as secondary displays on smartphones and media tablets. Phablets are
predicted to be a key application for secondary displays—it is anticipated more
than 6% of annual phablet shipments could include the display type in 2015.