Foldable Display Substrate Patents: Who Leads, Trends 2026
- Filing peaked in 2023 at 23 families, then growth flattened rather than continued climbing — the midpoint year 2022 sat at 14, so momentum has not compounded.
- United States is the dominant receiving office at 71 records, far ahead of Europe at 15 and South Korea at 5, meaning US filing strategy shapes freedom-to-operate more than any single jurisdiction.
- The strongest co-assignee pair, Samsung Display and Dowooinsys, files jointly, pointing to coating-and-substrate supplier partnerships as a recurring structure behind the leading filers.
What this landscape covers
This landscape tracks patent families at the intersection of foldable and rollable display construction and the materials that let a panel bend without cracking — colourless polyimide substrates, ultra-thin glass, flexible cover windows and their coating layers. The search combines display-specific terminology with materials claim language and IPC codes spanning organic semiconductor devices, glass compositions and layered products, so the set captures both device-level foldable display patents and the underlying substrate chemistry filed to support them. 101 patent families fall within scope through the 2026-07-31 cut-off.
Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the most recent one or two years in any trend chart will look thinner than they eventually turn out to be once pending applications publish. Read the trend as directional rather than final for 2025 and 2026.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 101-family dataset: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses the claims actually sit in.
A flat-to-declining curve after a 2023 peak
Filings rose from zero in 2017 to a peak of 23 families in 2023. The 2022 midpoint of 14 sits well below that peak, and activity has not sustained the climb since — the pattern reads as flat or declining rather than an accelerating field, though the final one to two years are still understated by publication lag.
H10K dominates; C03C and B32B mark the materials layer
H10K (organic semiconductor devices, including OLED) appears in 91 of 101 records, confirming this is fundamentally a display-device dataset with materials science attached rather than the reverse. G06F (digital data processing) and G09F (displaying/signage) each cover 27 and 16 records respectively, reflecting device-integration claims layered on top of the substrate work. C03C (glass and enamel compositions) at 19 and B32B (layered products) at 16 mark where the ultra-thin glass and laminate substrate claims concentrate.
Shares are the percentage of the 101 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Foldable Display Flexible Substrate with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about foldable display flexible substrate and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative filing and most-cited records
US20240065022A1 — Foldable display device (LG Display)
A foldable display device includes a foldable display panel and a foldable cover window disposed on the foldable display panel. The foldable cover window includes a flexible film and a first hard coating layer located on the flexible film, with the hard coating layer combining a siloxane-based base material with a urethane-acrylic, acrylic, or epoxy-based linker.Filed by LG Display, published 2024-02-22 — chosen here as representative of the cover-window coating-chemistry claim style common across the dataset.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US12041738B2 | Electronic devices with durable folding displays | 8 |
| 2 | CN112940617A | 超薄玻璃涂层材料、施工方法、耐冲击层结构及电子设备 | 7 |
| 3 | US12161042B2 | Foldable display device | 6 |
| 4 | US20230126630A1 | Foldable display device | 6 |
| 5 | KR102460270B1 | Antifouling and impact resistant coating materials, and application process for smart display and other elect… | 5 |
| 6 | US12133451B2 | Foldable display device | 5 |
| 7 | CN113658513A | 显示面板及其制备方法、可折叠显示装置 | 5 |
| 8 | US20230209971A1 | Foldable display panel | 5 |
| 9 | US20250172970A1 | Foldable display device and method of manufacturing foldable display device | 4 |
| 10 | US20240180018A1 | Foldable display device including support and method of manufacturing the same | 4 |
Citation counts reflect influence within this searched corpus and skew toward older filings; they are not a proxy for current commercial importance.
Patent titles are shown in the language they were filed in, not translated, so that each record stays verifiable against the original filing — a translated title will not match in Eureka or in any national register. Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for a filing decision
Four read-throughs from the trend, the IPC mix, the citation table and the receiving-office split.
The growth phase has already passed its peak
A rise from zero in 2017 to 23 families in 2023, without a subsequent higher year, suggests the core substrate and cover-window architectures have largely been staked out by the incumbents who filed through that window. New entrants now face denser prior art in the exact space they would want to claim.
Device claims outnumber pure materials claims
Nine in ten records touch H10K, the organic semiconductor device classification, meaning most filings frame substrate and coating innovation as part of a display device claim rather than a standalone materials patent. A materials-only filing strategy sits in less occupied territory.
US filing dominates the freedom-to-operate picture
With 71 of the tracked records filed at the US receiving office against 15 at the EPO and single digits elsewhere, clearance work should weight US prosecution history and claim construction far more heavily than any other jurisdiction in this set.
Coating suppliers co-file with panel makers
The strongest co-assignee pairing in the dataset links a display maker with a specialty coating supplier, six shared families. That pattern signals cover-window hard-coat chemistry is often developed and jointly claimed with an external materials partner rather than in-house alone.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to foldable display flexible substrate, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where momentum has cooled
Recent-year momentum figures show a field where even the most active assignees have pulled back from their prior filing pace, not accelerated into it.
LG Display still filing, but at a reduced pace
LG Display recorded 1 family in the latest tracked year, an 80% year-over-year decline. It remains active in the space, including the representative cover-window coating record, but the pace has slowed sharply from earlier years.
Samsung Display's filing pace has paused
Samsung Display shows zero families in the latest year, a full drop from its prior pace, despite anchoring the dataset's strongest co-assignee relationship with Dowooinsys. That combination suggests earlier joint filings may already cover the architectures the pair needed.
A broad pause across device makers and materials suppliers
Wuhan China Star Optoelectronics, Applied Materials and Innolux all show zero filings in the latest tracked year within this dataset. Whether that reflects a genuine slowdown or simply publication lag on recent applications is not yet resolvable from filing data alone.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| LG Display Co., Ltd. | 1 | -80% |
| Samsung Display Co., Ltd. | 0 | -100% |
| Wuhan China Star Optoelectronics Semiconductor Display Technology Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| DOWOOINSYS CO LTD | 0 | — |
| Applied Materials, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Innolux Corporation | 0 | — |
| Apple Inc. | 0 | — |
| Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific next steps rather than a general conclusion.
Map the cover-window coating claim boundaries
With hard-coating chemistry appearing repeatedly in the most-cited records and the representative filing, a claim-by-claim comparison of the siloxane/linker combinations across the top assignees would show exactly how much formulation room remains.
Explore in EurekaWatch for the 2025–2026 publication catch-up
Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, applications filed in the last two years are underrepresented in the current trend line. A re-check once those publish will clarify whether the 2023 peak was a true high point or a temporary lull.
Explore in EurekaTest the under-claimed branches directly
Rollable-substrate hinge stress relief and ultra-thin glass edge-crack mitigation show thinner density in this dataset than the core foldable cover-window claims. Running a targeted search against those specific sub-areas would confirm whether they are genuinely open or simply classified differently.
Explore in EurekaCommon questions on foldable display substrate patents
This landscape identifies 101 patent families published between 2015 and the 2026-07-31 cut-off, covering foldable cover windows, flexible substrates such as colourless polyimide and ultra-thin glass, and related coating layers. The search combines foldable-display terminology with materials claim language and IPC codes across organic semiconductor devices, glass compositions and layered products. Because publication lags filing by about 18 months, the true total for the most recent one to two years will be higher once pending applications come through.
Not currently, based on this dataset. Filings rose from zero in 2017 to a peak of 23 families in 2023, but the 2022 midpoint of 14 sits well below that peak and the curve has flattened rather than kept climbing. Recent-year momentum figures for individual assignees reinforce this — several major filers, including Samsung Display and multiple materials suppliers, show zero filings in the latest tracked year, though the final years are still understated by publication lag.
The United States, by a wide margin. It accounts for 71 of the 101 tracked records as receiving office, compared with 15 at the European Patent Office and single digits in South Korea, China, the United Kingdom and Taiwan. Any freedom-to-operate review for this technology should weight US claim construction and prosecution history most heavily, while still checking the EPO filings for materially different claim scope.
US20240065022A1, filed by LG Display and published 2024-02-22, claims a foldable display device with a foldable cover window built from a flexible film and a hard-coating layer combining a siloxane-based base material with a urethane-acrylic, acrylic, or epoxy-based linker. It is representative of a common claim style in this dataset rather than a uniquely blocking patent. A design-around would need to avoid that specific siloxane-plus-linker combination or the particular film-and-coating layer arrangement described, which still leaves alternative chemistries and layer sequences open to evaluate against the wider citation set.
Based on IPC density and citation patterns in this dataset, rollable (non-fold) hinge stress relief, ultra-thin glass edge-crack mitigation, and printed-circuit routing through the flex zone of a folded panel all show thinner claim coverage than the core foldable cover-window and coating chemistry claims. These are not confirmed-empty areas, but they warrant a targeted follow-up search rather than being assumed covered by the dominant H10K and C03C filings already mapped here.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.