Why Samsung’s latest OLED smartphone screen is unbreakable

Samsung has wowed fans by previewing a bendable OLED smartphone screen that the company claims is unbreakable.

The Korean tech giant says the indestructible panel has been verified by Illinois-based citification company UL, formerly known as Underwriters Laboratories, which is the official testing firm used by the US Department of Labor.

During UL’s tests, the bendable display was able to withstand 26 consecutive drops from a height of 1.2m, followed by extreme temperature tests ranging from 71C to -32C, without sustaining any damage, says Samsung.

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Flexible OLED smartphone screens are nothing new in the tech industry, says The Verge, but the technology has yet to be widely adopted by gadget firms as most displays need to be fitted behind a rigid glass panel for protection.

What separates Samsung’s prototype from other flexible screens is that it features a bendable plastic layer, similar to ultra-tough screen protectors, that removes the need for fixed glass panels that appear on today’s smartphones, the tech site says.

Hojung Kim, Samsung Displays’s communications manager, said: “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.”

Samsung is aiming to shake up the mobile market “as demand for phones slows down”, says CNet. The lack of differentiation between mobile products, as well as consumers not feeling the need to upgrade their handset as often, is believed to be behind the first drop in overall mobile sales in the fourth quarter of last year.

The flexible and unbreakable panel comes at a time when Samsung is in a heated battle with the Chinese gadget firm Huawei to develop the world’s first consumer-ready flexible smartphone, says CNet. It’s believed the tech leap brought on by foldable mobiles will rekindle consumer interest in the market.

But there’s no word on when, or if, Samsung’s bendable panel will make its way into a consumer handset. For the time being, the flexible screen remains a prototype.