The battle is on for the release of the world’s first flexible smartphone display. Samsung announced recently that it is going to be bringing out a flexible, curved screen phone and now LG has done exactly the same thing.
The design involves an OLED (organic light emitting diode) panel similar to the ones used on OLED TV sets, although in the case of TVs the panel is fixed so that it is can’t be bent.
Samsung is expected to reveal the special edition flexible Galaxy Note 3 in the next month, while LG is just going into production for a phone which should be out in 2014 and which they say will be the first mass produced phone with this technology.
A World of Innovations?
The LG press release states that the screen on the phone would be curved from the top to the bottom. They say that this design leads to a display which is bendable but at the same time “unbreakable”. The radius is of 28 inches (700 mm) and the word from LG is that this design is going to lead to a “world of design innovations” in new smartphones.
It is also said to be the lightest display in the world, with it weighing 7.2 grams (0.25oz). Doubts remain about how popular this innovative design will be with phone buyers but there is no doubt that it could lead to interesting new designs which make our phones look very different in the future.
Is the time right for flexible phone displays or is just a gimmick?
