Consumer Electronics Show: Flexible Smartphones, TV

One of the most anticipated revelations at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas involves a new line of smartphones that boast the ability to bend and twist while retaining all of their normal functions and features.

Samsung, the flexible smartphone's maker, is already heavily invested in stretchy, unbreakable mobile phone screens. The company's new product is rumored to be so flexible it can fold up and fit into a standard-sized wallet.

Samsung's bendy screens are reportedly in the final stages of development. Now the firm is apparently promising to ship devices using these unique displays, sometime during 2013.

Ultra-Thin OLEDs The Secret Behind Flexibility

This new generation of smartphones is made flexible through the use of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). These are ultra-thin, and can be anchored to flexible materials such as plastic or metal foil.

The screen itself offers a high-definition resolution of 1,280 x 720 pixels, with a 267-pixel-per-inch density.

And while Samsung has unveiled similar flexible phone concepts in the past, all its previous offerings were much smaller and provided a much lower resolution display.

In addition to smartphone screens, Samsung also plans to unveil a 55-inch high-definition television (HDTV) screen that reportedly can perform similarly bendable actions. (Source: gadizmo.com)

But Samsung is just one company to have invested in developing bendable high-definition display screens.

Nokia has also hinted at a new kinetic interface for its smartphones that would reportedly respond to the contortions of its user. Gamers, for example, would benefit from this technology, since twisting and bending their screens could elicit a suitable response from a character in their game.

Manufacturers, Consumers Set to Benefit from Bending

Industry observers are also heralding the benefits of this new bendable display technology.

For starters, manufacturing screens from plastic instead of glass would make devices lighter, more durable, and cheaper (which would be a positive business model for others in the market to follow). (Source: dailymail.co.uk)

Also, the tactile features of the phone could have some recreational benefits for users.

For example, many people now tend to shy away from e-books because they feel current devices offer a reading experience that is less 'authentic' than reading an actual printed paper book.

With flexible displays, however, they might feel a new generation of ebook devices more closely mimic the feel of paper and give them a better tactile experience as they read through the ebook's 'pages'.