According to a new report published today, Samsung is looking to introduce flexible OLED screens to their smartphones starting as early as 2012.
The news comes from MacWorld – an online magazine dedicated to covering all things Apple – in the form of a report in which they discuss Samsung’s flexible display technology and how they intend to introduce them next year.
These flexible displays which are fitted inside rigid cases, when introduced next year, will be based on Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLED) technology, so expect great picture quality and amazing brightness levels.
From MacWorld UK:
Samsung Electronics said Friday that it is aiming to launch mobile phones with flexible displays next year, with tablets and other portable devices to have these displays soon after.
Samsung has shown flexible OLED (organic light emitting diode) displays inside rigid cases that kept the screens curved. The technology has material within each pixel that generates light, making it perhaps more suitable for flexible screens than LCDs, which would require both a flexible screen and a backlight.
One of the the company’s spokespersons talked about Samsung’s interest in introducing flexible touchscreens at a meeting where the company’s last quarter’s earnings were discussed.
"The flexible display, we are looking to introduce sometime in 2012, hopefully the earlier part," said the spokesperson. "The application probably will start from the handset side."
A Galaxy series handset with a flexible screen is, then, very much in the making. Chances are, it might not be the phone of our dreams due to its impracticality, but it would be a fun product to use once we get our hands on it, provided that, Samsung does go ahead with phones with flexible screens. Once again, I don’t see its advantage over conventional, rigid screens but the new displays are apparently 200 times stronger than steel and, as you would expect, can take quite a beating.
Samsung intends to introduce these displays first into handsets and later to tablets and other mobile devices.
I can definitely see these flexible screens making phones and other devices wearable and, perhaps, more portable (by making them foldable) but I just don’t see how they would make smartphones in their current form – rectangular devices with a large screen – any better. Perhaps our dear readers can help me out here; looking forward to your comments on our Facebook page!
You may also like to check out:
You can follow us on Twitter or join our Facebook page to keep yourself updated on all the latest from Microsoft, Google, Apple and the web.