Samsung may launch two bendable smartphones with OLED screens in 2017
Samsung is considering announcing not one but two smartphones with bendable OLED screens as soon as early 2017, which could potentially be more radical designs than what's rumored for Apple's own OLED phones that year, a report said on Tuesday.
From a Samsung concept video.
One of the two Samsung phones may fold in half, sources told Bloomberg. The second may have a 5-inch screen in normal use, but expand to a tablet-sized 8 inches.
Samsung's effort is codenamed "Project Valley," and one or both of the phones could be shown off at Mobile World Congress in February, one of the sources said. In any case, the company is not expected to launch the new phones under its flagship Galaxy S brand.
The Korean firm has a distinct advantage in the OLED space, as it's the world's biggest supplier of OLED panels, and has already shipped products with curved OLED screens, namely the Galaxy S6 Edge and S7 Edge. It has yet to ship a product with a bendable screen, although the company has previously teased the idea in concepts.
Reports have suggested that Samsung will be supplying OLED panels to Apple for 2017 iPhone models. Apple is expected to use a flexible, possibly edge-to-edge display technology, but not anything that would allow devices to bend or change size.
From a Samsung concept video.
One of the two Samsung phones may fold in half, sources told Bloomberg. The second may have a 5-inch screen in normal use, but expand to a tablet-sized 8 inches.
Samsung's effort is codenamed "Project Valley," and one or both of the phones could be shown off at Mobile World Congress in February, one of the sources said. In any case, the company is not expected to launch the new phones under its flagship Galaxy S brand.
The Korean firm has a distinct advantage in the OLED space, as it's the world's biggest supplier of OLED panels, and has already shipped products with curved OLED screens, namely the Galaxy S6 Edge and S7 Edge. It has yet to ship a product with a bendable screen, although the company has previously teased the idea in concepts.
Reports have suggested that Samsung will be supplying OLED panels to Apple for 2017 iPhone models. Apple is expected to use a flexible, possibly edge-to-edge display technology, but not anything that would allow devices to bend or change size.
Comments
WOW! Where do I sign up for it?
How many bends ddoes it take for the bit that bends to work harden and crack/split/just stop working
Will bring a whole new chapter to bendgate if they get it wrong.
Maybe its finally ripe enough for a complete fold without the glass. We've all seen their curved OLED displays for a few years now, but they all had glass.
From January 9, 2011:
No. Next gimmick please.
Saying "no offense" isn't a dismissal of responsibility after being offensive.
The trouble Apple has with using cutting edge tech like this (when available) is capacity. Take OLED screens for example, Apple is rumoured to shift to OLED next year which is what, 6 odd years after samsung used OLED in whatever galaxy phone it was. Until now, no-one has had the capabilities to knock out the millions of screens required to fill iphone orders. It's much easier for low volume products such as the GS7 or an LG phone to don fancy new tech.
It's not so easy folding things. Just ask MSFT.
I would guess lifespan was the main issue keeping Apple from using them.
Exactly, yes bendable but at what costs. Also the electronics are not bendable. Their great idea is to take a phone as we know it today and turn it into a flip phone of prior years. As others pointed out, Apple has not used OLED displays for a number of reason which most tech geeks have no idea of the limiting factors which is keeping them from being used in mass. The technologies most likely has lots of down sides which has yet to be seen or fixed yet.
If you look at the other videos of Samsung showing off the bendable display they were careful about not letting people bend it and where it was bend it was in a control environment. This tell me it had issue if you bend it too much.