It's an exciting time in display technologies, with flexible and transparent screens popping up regularly, albeit in the lab rather than on our devices. LG just set a new high bar though, with a huge 77-inch OLED screen that you can see through and roll up.

LG is describing it as the first of its kind and we haven't seen anything quite like it before. The screen boasts a 4K resolution of 3,840 x 2,160 pixels and has a 40 percent transparency. And the company says it can be rolled up to a radius of just 80 mm without affecting the function of the display.

If LG can scale up the tech for the mass market then your next ultra HD television set could well roll away when you've finished using it. The displays could also be used in a variety of advertising and retail scenarios, or would perhaps look good embedded in a smart desk.

The technology will be used in retail and marketing first of all

LG has been at this game a long time, unveiling an 18-inch flexible OLED screen in 2014, and a 55-inch transparent OLED panel in 2016. This beats both of those efforts by some distance and shows the company's commitment to "continue to bring innovation to the market," according to Senior Vice President Byung Kang.

Unfortunately LG's announcement was pretty brief and there's not much more we can tell you for now – such as when you might reasonably expect to be able to buy something like this or how much it might cost when you do.

Those details will depend on how well LG can develop the technology for consumer devices over the next few years. ZDNet reports that the project has been backed by the South Korean government and has been in the pipeline for nearly five years.

Source: LG Display