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4

Whyisthisa

big deal?

AssomanyYouTubevideosof

the iPhone 6 Plus have shown

us,rigiddevicescansnap

under pressure. Flexible

screens have no glass to shatter

andaremuchmoredurable

whendroppedorbumped.

Another benefit is that they’re

lighter and slimmer.

5

How does it work?

Traditionally phones not

only have a Gorilla Glass cover

to protect the outside, but a

layer of glass inside containing

the circuitry to control the

pixels of the LED. Instead,

flexible P-OLED displays use

multiple layers of plastic.

9

Thefutureofflex

LG doesn’t think flexible

tech ends with a slightly

bendable screen. From 2017

onwards, the manufacturer

planstobeproducingflexible

screen phones that can be

folded in

half an

tablets

can be

rolled u

like a

newspa

8

Bendable batteries

Back in October, Samsung’s SDI

division,whichdealsinallthings

battery related,

demonstrated a

thinpowercellthat

couldbewrapped

aroundacoffeecup

and still work.

Again, this was a

prototype, but

perhaps the firm

has perfected it for

the flexible phone.

LG G

Flex 2

msung is

the only

egetting

on the

xible

rket – LG

dSony

ve also

en working on flexible devices for years.

lowing on from 2013’s G Flex, LG has

also said it will be putting out a fully

bendable phone in 2015.

things you need to

know about...

Flexible screens

10

When can you

get one?

Though Lee Chang-hoon has

confi rmed that Samsung’s

fl exible phone will be

available in 2015, no offi cial

announcement has been

made and we don’t expect

anything until at least

autumn. Fingers crossed.

2

Early experiments

This is not the fi rst

we’ve heard of fl exible

screens. Samsung

showed off similar

prototypes at CES

2014. These wafer-
      thin devices were no
      more than one
      centimetre thick, but included a 5.86-inch A MOLED
      touch screen that could be bent and folded.

3

Flex vs curve

Flexible phones

should not be mixed up

with curved displays,

such as the Samsung

Galax y Round or

(confusingly) the LG G

Flex. These devices have

contoured displays that

make them more comfortable to hold, but still

rigid to hold. Flexible phones will actually bend.

7

Flexibl

weara

Though the fi

given no time

as to when to

it, LG has also

speculated th

P-OLED scree

be made into

wearables. Ra

just having an

watch face disp y, y

could wrap fl exible screens

around our wrists.

1

Foldable phones

Following the Note Edge, Samsung

has confi rmed it will produce a

fl exible phone by the

end of 2015. Lee Chang-

hoon, vice president of

Samsung’s business strategic

team, said: “We will secure

production capacit y of 30,

to 40,000 [flexible displays each

month] by the end of next year”.