Every year, smartphones are getting more complex, smartphone companies are now looking for more ways to innovate. Principal Engineer at Samsung Electronics’ display unit, Kim Tae-Woong expects foldable smartphone displays to be ready for the consumer market in 2019.
As reported by CNBC, just because the bezel-free display currently sells so well, Kim Tae-Woong is confident that they still have time to develop foldable displays. As he said, the technology is expected to be mature around 2019. With foldable display technology, the market is going to change in a drastic way. Imagine the already existing gadgets such as a tablet to be able to fold into a smartphone that can be folded into something even tinier like a smartwatch.
There have been some experiments by phone-makers in the past. Kyocera worked on rather unsuccessfully foldable technology before. They released a phone on Sprint named the Echo that could fold in half, albeit the phone used two separate display panels instead of a truly foldable display.
According to Investopedia, Samsung is not yet ready to commercialize foldable phones. The company is already enjoying 20 percent of operating profits with the bezel-free display. They have no need to start selling the new hardware soon. Once the demand for bezel-free gadgets slows down, Samsung will probably unveil the foldable display as their next card.
There were some earlier rumors that Samsung was about to come out with foldable phones sometime during 2018. But with the comments from their display engineer, the technology won’t be ready until 2019. However, Samsung is not the only one pursuing foldable phones. Nokia first filed a patent for a foldable device back in 2013, but reports said it was granted at the end of 2016. According to the diagrams, the patent revealed a clamshell design that upon opening includes a screen that bends in half when closed.
Apple is another company that got their own patent for an iPhone that can fold. The patent was originally filed in July 2014 and showed off a smartphone that could open and close like a notebook.
With the launch of Galaxy S8, Samsung was able to regain some of its design and technology luster. However, if they are the ones pioneering the foldable display technology, it could cement them to the top.
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