LG Chem has developed a new foldable material that is as hard as glass, but far more durable, being able to bend both ways without any creasing.

LG are dubbing this material the “real folding window” and say it could be used for foldable smartphones, laptops and tablet PCs.

Unlike the polyimide film-based cover windows, the material is a plastic film coated with LG’s own technology that allows it to withstand stress from “folding hundreds of thousands of times” in both directions without making a crease. Current technology used in foldables can only bend in one direction.

It uses polyethylene terephthalate (PET), coated with micrometer-thin coating materials developed by LG. The material will be mass produced in 2023.