Samsung to Release Two Smartphones With Bendable Screens in 2017? [Video]

Samsung could release a pair of smartphones early next year capable of bending and folding in half “like a cosmetic compact,” without damage, and one of them should be a five-inch model that could be opened to an eight-inch tablet size, Bloomberg reported this morning, citing unnamed people familiar with the project.

Project Valley 

Code-named “Project Valley,” the new phones won’t be marketed under the Galaxy S moniker because the South Korean firm does not see these bendable smartphones as its next-generation flagship devices.

One folds in half like a cosmetic compact, says Bloomberg corroborating an earlier report from ETNews.

The devices using organic light-emitting diodes could be unveiled as soon as early 2017, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. That would likely give it a head start on new Apple Inc. iPhones. The second Samsung model will have a 5-inch screen when used as a handset, that unfurls into a display that’s as large as 8 inches, similar to a tablet, the people said.

“This product could be a game-changer if Samsung successfully comes up with a user interface suitable for bendable screens,” said Lee Seung Woo, an analyst at IBK Securities in Seoul.

“Next year is a probable scenario. Their biggest obstacle was related to making transparent plastics and making them durable, which seems resolved by now.”

[Bloomberg]