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Curved Handheld Displays Almost Ready for Market

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Both LG and Samsung plan to release phones that feature curved displays in the near future, reports Reuters. Flexible curved displays, which have been utilized in television sets, are a developing technology for smartphones and other consumer electronic devices.
Curved displays are in the early stages of development and allow bendable or foldable designs that could eventually allow mobile and wearable gadgets to take new forms that could radically change the high-end smartphone market.
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Apple has been rumored to be working on curved displays for several years, with rumors from 2011 suggesting the company could debut a curved glass iPhone. A patent for such a device was published in March of this year, depicting a phone with a wraparound body.

corning_willow_glass.jpg
Corning's Willow Glass​
More recently, it has been suggested that the company's rumored iWatch could incorporate a curved glass display, using bendable Willow Glass. While Gorilla Glass has claimed that the technology is not yet ready for consumer devices, a plastic-based flexible display similar to the one used by LG and Samsung is readily available.

The debut of LG and Samsung's initial curved display products will provide a glimpse of what the future could hold for upcoming smartphones and other electronic devices, including the iWatch.

LG's smartphone is said to utilize a 6-inch display that curves from top to bottom, while Samsung's will curve from side to side. Both displays are built on a plastic substrate that allows them to bend and flex, and according to LG, its display will be among the world's thinnest mobile panels.

While the phones incorporate displays that bend, it is unclear whether the finished smartphones themselves will be flexible or rigid, similar to the impliable designs used in television sets from both companies.

Samsung's smartphone will launch in October, while LG's will come slightly later, in November. Apple's iWatch is not expected to debut before late 2014.

Article Link: Curved Handheld Displays Almost Ready for Market
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2013/10/07/curved-handheld-displays-almost-ready-for-market/
I don't get the hype over curved displays. They seem rather novelty. I couldn't see myself using one.
 
Normally, I can imagine a use for a given technology, but not this. Why would I want foldable glass (unless that means I can carry it in my wallet or pocket without wrinkling/breaking it.)

Any ideas out there of what the utility proposition would be?
 
Something like a watch makes sense for these, but I absolutely hate it for TVs and phones. The geometric distortion effect that it gives makes me want to just shut the thing off. It screams "gimmick" in those cases.
 
This is a technology that will be useful, but like 64-bit is more forward-looking. Once displays truly become flexible then they will be more useful. For now, curvature might help reduce glare. Anyway, we should probably wait to see what LG and Samsung actually produce before passing further judgment. The fact that both of them are in the game means that Apple has options if it wants to incorporate any similar designs next year or in the future.

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roadbloc said:
What would the benefit be of having my display curved?
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Potentially it could reduce glare if it is concave. Also, it could be a way of reducing the bezel size or increasing the usable area of a screen without increasing the physical size.
 
Curved Tv screens

While it makes sense for VERY large tv screens, so that people sitting at the far edges, can see a better picture! I can't for the life of me figure out what the point is with a small phone screen.

If anything, it seems like a detriment. Flat is what we need. Curved screens will make straight lines look curved if not looked at straight on, and make curved lines look straight. What is the point to this other than for the sake of marketing?
 
KPOM said:
This is a technology that will be useful, but like 64-bit is more forward-looking. Once displays truly become flexible then they will be more useful. For now, curvature might help reduce glare. Anyway, we should probably wait to see what LG and Samsung actually produce before passing further judgment. The fact that both of them are in the game means that Apple has options if it wants to incorporate any similar designs next year or in the future.

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Potentially it could reduce glare if it is concave. Also, it could be a way of reducing the bezel size or increasing the usable area of a screen without increasing the physical size.
Click to expand...

Curvature won't reduce glare, it will increase glare. You might be too young to remember, but one of the benefits of going with flat screens was to reduce glare in monitors.
 
This is hilarious, because when flatscreen LCDs came out, everyone breathed a sigh of relief because they wouldn't have to deal with the curved screens of CRT monitors that distorted shapes and couldn't be hung on a wall.

Now, everyone wants curved screens again. Oh, the irony.

Change for the sake of change is not progress. Change is easy... improvement is much harder.
 
roadbloc said:
What would the benefit be of having my display curved?
Click to expand...

The true utility of Willow Glass is not the fact you can get a pre-curved display, but is illustrated by the proverb: "The tree that does not bend with the wind will be broken by the wind."

Something flexible will not break as easily.
 
melgross said:
Curvature won't reduce glare, it will increase glare. You might be too young to remember, but one of the benefits of going with flat screens was to reduce glare in monitors.
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Older CRTs were convex because that's the only way CRTs can emit photons (from a cylinder). A concave display could reduce glare because less of the surface is facing a light source. A convex display has more glare because more of the surface faces a light source.
 
melgross said:
Curvature won't reduce glare, it will increase glare. You might be too young to remember, but one of the benefits of going with flat screens was to reduce glare in monitors.
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That was because the older CRT monitors all had a CONVEX surface, which indeed increased glare. Relative to a convex surface, a flat screen reduces glare. But the OP said if the surface could be made just slightly concave, it surely would further reduce the glare, which is very true physic that you totally missed.
 
ywshang said:
That was because the older CRT monitors all had a CONVEX surface, which indeed increased glare. Relative to a convex surface, a flat screen reduces glare. But the OP said if the surface could be made just slightly concave, it surely would further reduce the glare, which is very true physic that you totally missed.
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If you make a screen concave, now it's suddenly NOT pocketable and would add to the net thickness. Set it on a table, and it starts bouncing around.

Curved screens are stupid on a phone or tablet any way you look at it.
 
I can see the forum threads now. We will have gone from "My iPhone 5 is bent" to "My iPhone 7 is not bent enough".
 
Could it be completely rolled up between two metal rods. Can't remember the film but they had them on it. Think like a scroll from Roman times, just with a touchscreen instead. Cool.
 
You may not want a curved iPad but a flexible screen means a screen that will not shatter if dropped, pretty much for the same reason a pair of socks don't shatter when you drop them or place a heavy object on them. The iPad/iPhone screens would be very damage resistant.

Next they can work on coatings that make Apple product more water proof.
 
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