X

Samsung's next Galaxy might have a wrap-around display

A future Samsung Galaxy smartphone will be released with a flexible display that wraps around its outer edges, showing information on the phone's bezel.

Campbell Simpson
2 min read

A future Samsung Galaxy smartphone will be released with a flexible display that wraps around its outer edges, showing information on the phone's bezel.

The current Samsung flagship, the Galaxy Round. (Credit: Samsung)

According to Bloomberg, the next Galaxy innovation will be a screen that wraps around the two long edges of the phone, displaying messages and other information on the phone's bezel.

Sources that asked not to be identified said that the phone would use an upgraded variant of the Samsung Youm curved OLED display used in the Galaxy Round and would likely be released in the second half of 2014.

It might be a new Galaxy S or Galaxy Note handset or might debut as an entirely new sub-brand within Samsung's already large family of mobile devices. It's also possible that the new phone will only be released in Samsung's home country of South Korea, like the Galaxy Round.

The flexible display of the new phone, like that of the Galaxy Round, is only flexible in a manufacturing sense; the screen on the Galaxy Round, for example, is fixed in place, but the design of the OLED sheet makes it bendable without placing stress on the display.

Whatever the construction of the phone, it's obvious that having a display on its edges will be a point of difference for buyers. Whether apps effectively use that unique feature remains to be seen.

Samsung's arch-nemesis Apple is apparently joining the curved display race as well; another Bloomberg report has revealed that two phones, with 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch displays, are in the works.