LG may be shadowed by their South Korean rival in the smartphone market at the moment, but the company is reportedly preparing flexible OLED displays set for release this year.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting LG’s vice president of mobile, Yoon Bu-hyun, has stated the first flexible OLED smartphone will come out this year in quarter four.
LG has been working for a long time to develop flexible displays, investing a lot of time and money into LG Display to make this happen. Samsung and Corning have also been developing this technology, and it will be ready in the next year, we believe.
The question is, can LG bring a fully flexible smartphone to market by the end of the year. Early previews have shown part of the phone to be flexible and the other to be made by plastic and metal.
If they can get a fully flexible phone, which would be capable of rolling up into your pocket, that would be pretty impressive. The half flexible phone is a step in the right direction, but may be a little pointless to consumers.
LG has a pretty poor reputation for getting phones out internationally, with some still stuck in South Korean and other asian countries. We hope this flexible display will come to the US and Europe, as well as home territories.
Pricing on this new smartphone has not been released in the report, we may see LG go budget first and build to a high tier smartphone. With all the implications and components, it may be hard to pull of a flexible display on a smartphone.
Overall, this is a good sign, it shows Samsung will not be alone in the race for bendable displays and this will only bring down prices and give buyers more choice.
