Samsung shows off flexible display phones at CES keynote

The YOUM line of flexible displays.
(Credit: Reuben Lee/CNET Asia)

LAS VEGAS, US--Samsung sure knows how to keep the best for last. Just when we thought we'd seen the last announcement from the chaebol yesterday with the Samsung Curved OLED TV, the Korean electronics giant today unveiled a concept phone with a screen that extends around the edge at its keynote.
The screen on the prototype handset, developed under the "YOUM" flexible display line, uses a thin plastic instead of glass, making it more bendable and virtually unbreakable even when dropped, according to Samsung.

Eric Rudder, Microsoft's chief technical strategy officer, showing off a prototype flexible display that may one day be used on a Windows Phone device.
(Credit: Reuben Lee/CNET Asia)

Brian Berkeley, senior vice president of Samsung Display, believes that this flexible form factor "will really begin to change how people interact with their devices, opening up new lifestyle possibilities ... [and] allow our partners to create a whole new ecosystem of devices."

See the message displayed at the thin edge of the device.
(Credit: Reuben Lee/CNET Asia)

To illustrate the innovative possibilities of flexible displays, he showed off a prototype smartphone which has a screen that extends to the sides, where messages can be read quickly. Hopefully, more of this can be seen from Samsung at next month's Mobile World Congress tradeshow in Barcelona.
In today's CES keynote in Las Vegas, Dr. Stephen Woo, president for the Device Solutions Division in Samsung Electronics, shared the company's vision of "Mobilizing Possibility" where he highlighted the importance of components in supporting innovation in the mobile space. He also unveiled the latest Exynos 5 Octa mobile processor, which will sport eight processor cores onboard.