You need a lot of flexibility to succeed in today’s mobile market, and Samsung is apparently taking that literally.
The South Korean electronics giant’s top investor-relations official, Robert Yi, made news early this week by signaling that a new technology for bendable displays may be part of the next generation of Samsung smartphones.
“The flexible display, we are looking to introduce sometime in 2012, hopefully the earlier part,” Yi said, according to press reports. He said “the application probably will start from the handset side,” with tablets later on. Samsung’s Galaxy tablets largely follow the technology of its phones. Samsung said in June that it intended to produce flexible OLED screens after displaying a super-thin, 4.5-inch version at the Consumer Electronics Show in January.
A Web site devoted to OLED displays, OLED-Info, reported in June that Samsung had entered into a joint venture with Japan’s Ube Kosan to produce substrates for flexible displays.
Nokia, Too
As smartphones get larger, the new technology could mean a new variation of the flip-phone model of phones, but with the screen itself folding instead of just the panel holding the screen, making it easier to fit in pockets or purses. It could also open doors for new entertainment use as games and videos could display a panoramic view.
Samsung isn’t the only company with bend on the brain, and it’s not just about smartphones.
“At Nokia World in London last week, Nokia showed off a demo of a bendable media player prototype, where the user interface incorporated twisting the whole unit — screen included — to zoom in/out of photos and select music to play,” said consumer devices expert Avi Greengart of Current Analysis. “It was rather delightful. I have no idea what Samsung is planning to do with its version of the technology; its utility depends on how it is…
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