Of course it is.
However, Foldable and Bendable are two very different things. Your LCD screen is bendable but go ahead and try to fold it.
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Samsung Rumored to Debut First Foldable Smartphone This Year
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Of course it is.
However, Foldable and Bendable are two very different things. Your LCD screen is bendable but go ahead and try to fold it.
True, I'd like to see a fully bendable screen, as if it's a piece of paper where you can bend it diagonally. Not sure how batteries will work with that though
That’s exactly what I was thinking. After folding and unfolding x number of times, I can see this cracking and poof goes the fold-a-phone.
Fantastic, although I’ve read this for a while now and still we haven’t seen anything..
Dread to think of the cost but it’s a start in the right direction. Give it five years and they’ll all be fold up devices.
Dread to think of the cost but it’s a start in the right direction. Give it five years and they’ll all be fold up devices.
What problem does this solve, specifically?
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In tech, smaller can be more expensive because shrinking all that down into a small form factor requires a lot of engineering.
I’m fairly sure they’ve worked that out....
Foldable displays have been in development for years now. It’s the next stage in tech which Apple will follow on and never lead.
If it actually folds, it would allow you to carry a bigger screen in your pocket.
To me this makes much more sense than a foldable/bendable phone. You could perhaps get a 50% increase in screen real estate and then potentially put a larger battery underneath it.
I'm sure there are use cases for foldable/bendable phones, but I'm struggling to think of one that justifies mass production on the scale Samsung needs to make this commercially viable.
[doublepost=1536099459][/doublepost]Crap that folds is still crap. I value my privacy and I know the best productivity is going to be from a vertically integrated company that manufactures their own chips, hardware and software. So this kind of novelty is far short of a motivation to choose something other than an Apple product.
Samsung is still on track to unveil its first foldable smartphone later in 2018, Samsung Mobile CEO DJ Koh told CNBC.
According to Koh, it is "time to deliver" on a foldable device after Samsung research revealed that there is consumer interest in such a device.
Samsung first announced its plans for a smartphone with a bendable display in September 2017, and at the time, Koh said that the device would be positioned as a Galaxy Note. Given that Samsung has already announced this year's Galaxy Note 9, it's likely the new foldable smartphone will feature its own branding and will be sold alongside the Galaxy Note and S lines.
A smartphone concept with bendable display from Samsung
Koh declined to share details on how a folding screen might work, but at IFA last week, he said that Samsung is trying to work out the details on differentiating it from a tablet design.Rumors suggest that the device Samsung is working on does not include a hinge and will instead be one single screen that is able to fold in half.
The device is said to be about seven inches diagonally, roughly the size of a small tablet, but it can be folded in half like a wallet. When folded, the exterior of the phone is said to offer a small display bar on the front and cameras in the back, with an all-screen design when opened up.
Koh told CNBC that details on the device could be unveiled at this year's Samsung Developer Conference, set to be held in November in San Francisco, but he did not offer up details on when it might go on sale. He did, however, say that while the development process was "complicated," Samsung has "nearly concluded" it.
Previous information has suggested Samsung is actually aiming to launch the device early in 2019, targeting specific markets like gamers. If initial interest is strong, Samsung is said to be planning for a broader commercial debut during the second half of 2019.
Samsung is aiming to be the first company to come out with a foldable screen, beating other companies like Apple to the new design. Rumors have suggested that Apple is perhaps experimenting with an iPhone with a foldable display.
A 2017 rumor, for example, suggested Apple is working on an iPhone with a foldable display alongside LG Display, and a Merrill Lynch analyst recently predicted Apple will introduce a foldable iPhone in 2020.
There continues to be no concrete evidence that Apple is pursuing a foldable iPhone, but the company has filed for several patents related to foldable iPhone displays.
LG's foldable display concept
Article Link: Samsung Rumored to Debut First Foldable Smartphone This Year
Would be curious to see the MTBF of the display, especially considering people check their phones 100s of times a day.
I’m also skeptical how durable the actual surface of the display would be without a glass layer.
I’m also skeptical how durable the actual surface of the display would be without a glass layer.
Carrying a 7" tablet requires cargo pockets.
There is just no way that Samsung gets this right. As others have implied, the screen will fatigue after a few hundred bends or folds and that will be the end of it. Or, they'll produce something so big and ugly that the foldable screen won't really come close to making up for the abject hideousness. Its more than likely that Samsung will try. The device will be a commercial failure. Others will improve on the concept, with minimal success. Eventually, Apple will present a polished product with refined technology that people will actually desire and buy.
OK. So thinking this through, I think we are more likely to see a display that almost "rolls out" rather than one that folds in half.
Imagine stretching a phone out to double in size rather than opening it like a book. I could see technology like this working.
However, this screen will by necessity be some type of plastic which will inevitably scratch. So I still don't think the market for this will be very large.
For the record, I am writing this as a very happy owner of a Samsung Galaxy S9+. Have nothing against Samsung products.
Imagine stretching a phone out to double in size rather than opening it like a book. I could see technology like this working.
However, this screen will by necessity be some type of plastic which will inevitably scratch. So I still don't think the market for this will be very large.
For the record, I am writing this as a very happy owner of a Samsung Galaxy S9+. Have nothing against Samsung products.