Samsung says its wraparound phones are 'around the corner' (Take that, Lenovo)
A day after Lenovo wowed phone fans with a prototype of a flexible phone you bend around your wrist, a Samsung executive confirms two similar styles for 2017.
The fact that Lenovo beat Samsung with a public concept design for a bendable, flexible phone that wraps around the wrist has got to sting. After all, Samsung was the first to market a curved-screen phone.
Lenovo's surprise demo of the CPlus prototype on Thursday in San Francisco at the company's Tech World wowed the crowd, who pressed together for a closer look at the articulated plastic handsets behind glass. (CNET got to try it on. Check out the video here.)
Just a day later, Gregory Lee, who heads Samsung's North American efforts, publicly promised two bendable designs for 2017, Recode reported Friday. This isn't the first we've heard of Samsung's plans; in fact, it confirms a similar report from earlier this week.
Foldable and wearable designs have been in the works for years, and Samsung first demoed a flexible display, called Youm, in 2013. But making a flexible phone is harder than it looks.
The trick is to make internal components that can bend with the floppy display, says Lenovo CTO Peter Hortensius, who discussed the CPlus to a group of journalists at Tech World.
"These things need to be super flexible and super strong. They are not there yet," Hortensius said.
Samsung did not immediately respond to a request for comment.