Exec: Samsung to release device with flexible display next year

While Samsung may be facing “dire straights” as far as finances go, visually speaking it’s interested in a cool curve. While last year’s Galaxy Round was more of a proof of concept to show the world what was a-round the bend, the recently released Galaxy Note Edge has some real productivity power given the Edge panel and its intuitive customizable features.

Like it or not, things are going to get even more flexible next year: according to a report by ZDNet, Korea’s digital dominator is planning to release a flexible device by the end of next year.

Samsung Display’s Lee Chang-hoon (VP of Business Strategy), has said that “[Samsung] will secure production capacity of 30,000 to 40,000 [flexible displays each month] by the end of next year” with respect to a flexible phone.

Indeed, the exec has been quite vocal about his company’s prowess, stating at the 2014 Samsung Investor Forum in NY that there is “no company [except Samsung] that has this great production capacity by 2016. We plan to provide consumers with a product that has a flexible display by the end of the year. However, nothing has been decided on the finished product.”

Suffice to say, with LG recently promoting its foldable vision of the future, and a host of other companies offering flexible display technology, we’re literally on the Edge of something big.

One thing to keep in mind is that the Galaxy Note Edge itself is being touted as a limited edition handset, with 2014 seeing only a million mobiles produced. It’s also very expensive, a topic that has been on the tip of everyone’s tongue.

Even if Samsung were to manufacture 40,000 flexible displays every month for the entirety of 2015, that would still be essentially half the production of Edge phablets. What does this mean? BIG costs to bear, and a high probability that the device(s) in question will most certainly have an astronomical cost to consumers.

On a slightly different note, it’s also worth mentioning the aforementioned report indicates that Samsung will begin to reduce the cost of AMOLED panels so that more OEMs can make use of them. Of this, Lee was quoted as saying “one of the superior things about AMOLED is that [because it has no backlight] it can become cheaper to produce compared to LCD. We are prepared to compete directly with LCD.”

With all this in mind, it’s quite possible that Samsung may yet enjoy a prosperous new year indeed. The future is just around the corner!