We had been hearing rumors on potential flexible displays from Samsung for months towards the end of 2012. At CES 2013 this week, they are a rumor no more as Samsung has officially unveiled some interesting prototype smartphones, including one with a flexible display called Youm. These secret models were only shown to the press after the company’s keynote, but luckily we have a video to show you giving you a look at how flexible displays may be incorporated in future Galaxy phones from Samsung in a few years time.
The fact that the flexible display wasn’t given a proper unveiling is largely due to the fact that they are nowhere near ready for release yet. Because of this, Samsung hasn’t even given us a hint on when Youm-based smartphones will be hitting the market, but it’s still nice of them to bring their concepts to CES 2013 to give us an indication of their ideas for the future.
A handful of devices with the new flexible technology were shown, but the one that is receiving all the attention is the one which can be seen in the clip below. It is a smartphone with a 5-inch curved Youm display, featuring a 720p resolution (prototype remember) and slanted edges where the display is still intact. It definitely looks a bit unusual at first glance, but considering this is the first time that Samsung has shown off the tech – it does look rather slick for a prototype.
Samsung has said that the slanted edges will also serve as a moving ticker, so that users can view different types of information, like stocks, messages, the weather and so on – when the main area of the display is not in view or is covered with a case for example. These curved sections of the device are still fully touchscreen enabled, and we’re guessing that we will get to a point where cases are designed purely to take advantage of the curved interactive ticker while keeping the phone mainly covered at most times.
Is it a gimmick in your opinion though, or is it a feature that can really take off in a few year’s time? It is obviously very early days yet, but hopefully we’ll hear some updated progress of Youm based Samsung smartphones throughout the year. Watch the clip below and let us know what you think about it.
Would you buy one of these phones or does it feel a bit pointless to you?
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