Bendable Screen Brought to You by Samsung

Just this early September, Apple has launched its newest addition to its collection of iPhones, the 5s and the 5c. The 5c is considered—for some reasons—the replacement of its predecessor, the iPhone 5. Apparently, the cost for producing a phone covered in colorful polycarbonate plastic is cheaper than opting for a lighter, aluminum casing, which exudes elegance.

Meanwhile, the 5s has replaced the iPhone 5 as Apple’s flagship phone. The newer handset is packed with a number of innovative features, with the fingerprint sensor being the breakthrough cream of the crop feature. Bluntly, the truth of the matter is, the fingerprint scanning technology is not the “latest” technology there is. It already existed decades ago in some known and widely used biometric systems. What consumers are really waiting and yearning for is a novel technology that has the wow factor.

Last January of this year, Samsung has showed off its prototype products with a flexible screen and a display that extends from the side of a device. It’s just a matter of time till the tech giant makes the innovative technology available on the market. According to D.J. Lee, Samsung’s mobile business head of strategic marketing, “We plan to introduce a smartphone with a curved display in South Korea in October.”

However, although the new-found technology is promising, mass producing the parts cheaply will seem to take more time as the tech firms that will support the flexible display technology have yet to figure out how to lower its production cost. Furthermore, there are still a bit more developments to be done in order to produce display panels that can be as thin as a sheet and highly resistant from heat.

We may see the bendable screen as a cutting edge technology for handheld devices today, but perhaps some of us may wonder, “What is it really for?” Well, for starters, once the flexible screen is fully materialized, it will be virtually “unbreakable.” Additionally, the lighter, thinner plastic-based display is presumed to utilize less energy than the current displays. This could serve as a supplementary yet temporary solution to the complaints of mobile consumers regarding a short battery life of their handheld devices.

A more potential development of the bendable technology might just be beneficial for the next generation of gadgets—the wearable devices. Because of the display’s flexible nature, it can be wrapped around a person’s wrist. Also, the relatively thin make of the display will allow for more space to add in other components to produce a more powerful device. Anyway, October is fast approaching; let us just wait and see if the talked-about flexible display will really come into reality on commercially-available smartphones as said. With technology, the possibilities are endless.