Fans of LG phones can look forward to new devices with curved screens next year.
The phone manufacturer unveiled plans Monday to introduce the new devices that will compete in the growing market of display phones the company announced in a press release on its website.
"LG Display is launching a new era of flexible displays for smartphones with its industry leading technology" Dr. Sang Deog Yeo, LG display executive vice president and chief technology officer said in a statement. "The flexible display market is expected to grow quickly as this technology is expected to expand further into diverse applications including automotive displays, tablets and wearable devices.
"Our goal is to take an early lead in the flexible display market by introducing new products with enhanced performance and differentiated designs next year," the statement said.
The new device has the world's first flexible OLED, or organic light-emitting diode panel for smartphone. The display has a radius of 700 millimeters or 28 inches. The phone is also the lightest smartphone in the world, weighing seven grams or a quarter-tenth of an ounce. Despite it's light-weight dimensions, the display is the largest current smartphone OLED displays.
"I think LG is doing this to show it is innovative, to do something different and to stand out from the rest of the bar-style screen devices that we have at the moment," David McQueen, a mobile device expert at tech consultants Informa told BBC News. "But I don't think consumers are going to be that interested by a slightly curved design. However, we do think there will be interest if flexible screens are used to offer different form factors.
"For example a device that you snap round your wrist or a traditional shaped smartphone whose screen wraps around the sides onto a bit of the back so that the edges become touchscreen rather than hard buttons," he said.
