Future Samsung phones to come with unbreakable, flexible displays

Samsung on Thursday announced that its recently developed flexible and unbreakable OLED-smartphone panel has received certification from US-based global safety consulting and certification company, Underwriters Laboratories (UL).

Developed by Samsung Display, the flexible OLED panel is designed with an unbreakable substrate and an overlay window securely adhered to it, the company wrote in a blog post.

"The fortified plastic window is especially suitable for portable electronic devices not only because of its unbreakable characteristics, but also because of its lightweight, transmissivity and hardness, which are all very similar to glass," said Hojung Kim, General Manager of the Communication Team, Samsung Display Company.

Current generation flexible display products attach a glass-covered window to their display that often breaks when severely impacted.

"According to UL, the unbreakable display developed by 'Samsung Display' passed the rigorous real-time durability test that is based on military standards set by the U.S. Department of Defence," the post added.

The tests included 26 successive drops from a height of 1.2 metres and extreme temperature-based tests including 71 degrees Celsius and -32 degrees Celsius, sustaining all of which the unbreakable panel continued to function normally with no damage to its front, sides or edges.

In addition to being used on smartphones, the newly developed display is expected to find viable markets with other electronic products such as display consoles for automobiles, mobile military devices, portable game consoles and tablet PCs for e-learning.