A Samsung prototype showing a similar flexible display
LG has promised a smartphone with flexible display in the final quarter of the year. But don’t expect anything too exciting – as The Verge points out, the battery and circuitry are unlikely to be flexible, suggesting nothing more than a chamfered edge much like the Samsung prototype shown above.
And no, we’re not sure what the benefit is either.
We are unsure whether the above spy shot leaked by Ubergizmo is authentic, but we are aware of some promising rumors involving a Galaxy smartphone with a flexible display. Be advised this could simply be an early prototype that might not see the light of day. Moreover, Samsung and Corning teamed for a joint venture in Korea focused on supplying Samsung Mobile Display with the latter’s new Lotus Glass technology said to be more resilient than other glass substrates.
Nevertheless, Samsung did confirm plans to market phones and tablets with flexible displays later this year. Also indicative, the South Korean conglomerate delayed a planned late-February introduction of the Galaxy S III until later this year, allegedly until iPhone demand cools off. Another reasonable explanation for the delay:
Phone concepts are quite often gorgeous to look at, but most (if not all) end up filed under the ‘Not Feasible’ drawer. Not for Samsung. The company set out on an ambitious project to design a sci-fi smartphone with a flexible AMOLED display. This is not a concept, mind you, but a real thing. The display can be bent around a cylinder with a one-inch diameter, allowing the phone to become a clock, a wrist-watch a mouse and so forth. It draws from an idea co-developed by Professor Haeseong J. Jee and designer Hye Yeon You. Samsung unveiled a prototype at the CES 2011 show in Las Vegas and today International Business Times claims it is coming in 2012:
The ground-breaking feature of the futuristic device is that it is flexible and can take various shapes. The displays are rollable, bendable and can even survive blows from a hammer. It is the first of its kind and is set to mold a new definition for smartphones. Samsung previously confirmed the production of flexible AMOLED displays that may debut in the second quarter of 2012.
The AMOLED display itself uses plastic polyimide substrate instead of glass, allowing for high flexibility. Other features of the so-called Galaxy Skin smartphone are said to include an eight-megapixel camera with Auto Focus, Self Shot, Action Shot, Panorama Shot, Stop Motion and Add Me features, a 1.2GHz CPU with 1GB of RAM and apparently a future Android version code-named Jelly Bean.
Consider these stats more of a reference that the actual hardware features set in stone because, you know, it’s just a concept (until it hits the market) and we all know where great concepts usually go – to the Island of Misfit Toys.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJEHp15Hoo0]
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