WSJ: Samsung Is Betting Big on Flexible Phones

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5960408/wsj-samsung-is-betting-big-on-flexible-phones

We've known for a while that Samsung is readying phones with flexible screens. Now, though, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that it's pushing forward with the concept more quickly than ever, in order to avoid being beaten to the finish line by other firms.

The new phones simply swap plastic for glass in the screen. The OLEDs you find in plenty of other displays can be put on flexible materials—like metal foil—which then makes it possible to create a device which is both unbreakable and bendable.

Samsung hasn't told the Journal how much it's invested in the new bendy phones. However, it points out that it has been spurred along by growing innovation in the display market, from the likes of LG and Sharp. Seems that's enough to rush out a bendy phone as soon as possible.

Which is just what it plans to do. The Journal reports that a "person familiar with the situation" told it that devices will be released in the first half of 2013. Bendy phones for all!

But that raises a fine question: who the hell wants a bendy phone anyway? Aside from plenty of gimmick value and the ability to flex when squeezed into the pocket of your tightest pants, it's not obvious what it adds to the user experience of a phone. Is a bendy phone something you want in your life? [WSJ]

Image by Samsung