The US Patent & Trademark Office this month published a patent application related to the foldable iPhone from Apple. In this patent, the iPhone maker includes Micro LED as one of the display materials for the model and liquid metal as the bendable part of the phone structure.

The world LED lighting market has passed into the maturity stage, of which the saturation makes a few segments struggle. According to stats from LEDinside, a division of market research company TrendForce, the world LED lighting market reached a value of USD 29.6 billion in 2016 and by 2017 the number will have possibly amounted to USD 33.1 billion, suggesting more room for the penetration rate of LED lighting, currently at 52% and continually to grow. However, price wars and technology competitions that run in the low-end market rankle international LED manufacturers. Hence, as part of Tier 1 companies, fairly competitive in finance and technology, tend to focus on high efficient LED lighting and other niche markets.

To develop Micro LED display technology, which is often regarded as the most promising display technology after OLED, Taiwan’s contract manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry, better known as Foxconn, recently announced that it will invest around US$10 million to acquire U.S. startup eLux through subsidiaries including CyberNet. After completing the acquisition, CyberNet will hold a 45.45% share in eLux; Innolux 13.64%, and Advanced Optoelectronic Technology 9.09%. Foxconn group companies will become the largest shareholder of eLux.

The recent leak of Samsung’s new smartwatch-related patents including a full-length display smartwatch and a hangable smartwatch will definitely catch gadget lovers’ attention, reported AndroidHeadlines. The patents show more than two types of smartwatches with groundbreaking functions that have not been realized on the market before. Instead of remaking the crown of the watch, through those patents released, Samsung takes it up a notch and presents its creativity redeveloping the already existing concepts and designs.

Google (also known as Alphabet) has patented a display that can be ripped and disposed, according to Mesh Republic and numerous reports.

Digital Lumens, the leader in intelligent LED lighting, announced it has been awarded six new patents, including its first international patent granted by Australia. This brings the company’s total awarded patents to 20. The advancements covered include a wide range of technologies embedded in the Digital Lumens Intelligent Lighting System, an enterprise-scale LED lighting solution that delivers operational visibility and dramatic energy efficiency to customers worldwide.

Molecular Glasses, a division of Molaire Consulting LLC has filed for patent protection for its new class of organic semiconductor materials for OLED and other organic electronic applications.

Integrated System Technologies (IST) Limited, a leading British manufacturer of smart lighting solutions, announced today that the United States Patent and Trademark Office and the Chinese Patent Office have granted patents covering high efficiency LED luminaires for downlight applications.

With the recent granting of four new patents, Albeo Technologies advances its strategy of LED fixture innovation. The new patents protect fundamental innovations in LED chip integration, fixture construction and electronic architecture that significantly reduce costs and improve efficiency. The company’s most recent patent is for a “chip-in-fixture” (CIF) LED lighting platform, titled LED chip-based lighting products and methods of building (US Patent 8,058,659). This innovation covers the integration of unpackaged LED chips directly on the ins...