It's 2016, so where are our flexible electronics?

If we've learned one thing from breathy concept designs and cheesy sci-fi movies, it's that we all deserve flexible technologies: Bio-electric tattoos that measure our vitals and tablets we can roll up to shove in our pockets.

It's 2016, so where are our flexible electronics?If we've learned one thing from breathy concept designs and cheesy sci-fi movies, it's that we all deserve flexible technologies: Bio-electric tattoos that measure our vitals and tablets we can roll up to shove in our pockets.

So... where are they?

It turns out that making truly flexible devices is harder than futurists and movie makers imagined. We increasingly see flexible technologies demonstrated at events like CES, but manufacturers tend to show off a single function-a rollable screen here, a stretchable circuit there. Real-life gadgets need to bundle those features together into a neat package, and that's proving to be a sticking point.

But some of the primary barriers to flexible electronics-namely the development of stretchable circuitry bendable batteries-are right now being figured out in research labs around the world. And if those challenges are overcome, you could be in line for electronics that are harder to damage, more reactive to their environments, and change the way you physically interact with them.


The few examples of flexible electronics that do exist don't have much to recommend them. Consider a few of the examples you've seen on these very pages Way back in 2012, Wexler released the first ever flexible e-reader and Sony followed up with Paper in 2014. E-readers aren't intrinsically exciting, but Paper packed a bendable 13-inch e-ink screen which-despite its $1,100 price tag-hinted at a future of bendable tablets. Two years on we're still waiting, because nobody seems to have figured out what to do with the chips, memory, batteries, and so on. In both those devices, they were simply stuffed into an inflexible lump at the edge of the screen.

Then there's the smattering of phones that make use of flexible screens, like the LG Flex 2 and Samsung Galaxy S6 edge. But as we've all seen, a flexible screen does not equal a flexible phone; rather, you get a curved device that fits your face better, or a curious message ticker down one side. Either way, flexibility remains more a quirky gimmick than a truly useful feature.

At a much larger scale, Samsung has shown off a TV that can automatically morph from curved to flat with the push of a button. But the screen is 105 inches on the diagonal and the depth of the curvature can be measured in single figures of inches-so the effect is more akin to gently flexing a giant credit card than actually enveloping your face in pixels.


But say you want something that conforms to more complex shapes, like a tablet you can crumple like a piece of paper. Thinking back to the stack of cards, you can't do it, at least not easily, and you might end up damaging something in the process. Instead, you need the component parts-or at the very least what links them together if they can be made small-to be stretchable, so that the different parts can bend with each other into more interesting shapes.


Some components are a little more difficult to flex, but fortunately there's a general trend in electronics that can help. "The trajectory of the traditional semiconductor industry is all around miniaturization-making things smaller and thinner," John Rogers, a professor in engineering from the University of Illinois said. "Those trends have relevance and importance for flexible electronics." That means that some parts-like radio antennae and simple sensors-are naturally starting to become so thin that they'll be flexible enough without much extra research.





According to Rogers, we're approaching a point where "incremental engineering can be brought to bear." Expect flexible electronics to gradually improve over the coming years. Components will become more flexible, circuits will demand less power, and materials will make flexible devices more pleasant to interact with. "There are opportunities for research," Roger said, "but I hope and believe we're placed for very rapid growth."

Sriram Subramanian, a professor of human-computer interaction at Bristol University, shares that enthusiasm-but also airs a word of caution. "Some of the examples we've seen, like the screen from LG, are just demonstrators," he explained. "The issue isn't whether we can create flexible devices or not, but how we can imagine use cases that are meaningful."

Your TV might do a better job of warping its shape than Samsung's current efforts, for instance. Subramanian pointed out that it could in fact bend both ways: In concave mode the TV could provide a truly immersive experience, while in convex mode it could allow multi-player games without letting you see your opponent's view. Your tablet may flex in half-a little like the Lenovo Yoga, but as a single, continuous screen-allowing you to curate a slide show of images on one side, say, while your viewer sits opposite. Or your phone might use its ambient light sensor to notice the sun shining on it and morph its shape to shade your screen.


Ultimately, truly flexible technology is an inevitable future from consumer electronics-we just need to be patient. "It would be great if I could roll my phone up and put it in my pocket," Subramanian said. "We're getting there."

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