Korean manufacturer LG is firmly set on delivering bendy handsets, with the construction of a spangly new factory for crafting flexible screens.
LG has already made public its plans to create fully-bendable phones and tablets in the very near future, with the end game being rollable and foldable devices in the coming years.
Of course, like most forms of tech, we’re getting there via baby steps. First we had the ever-so-slightly-curved LG G Flex and its sequel, the G Flex 2, both of which could bend a tiny bit if you pushed on them really hard. But by the end of the year – or perhaps in early 2016 – we’re expecting to see mobiles that bend properly, making them more resistant to damage (especially from idiots who sit on their phones).
To ensure it’s a market leader in flexible screen tech, LG is stumping up just over a trillion Korean won (roughly £600 million) to build a new display plant in South Korea. When it’s fully functional, LG’s factory will mass-produce flexible and foldable screens, which can currently only be built in limited quantities.
With the average smartphone size actually increasing with each year that passes, foldable phones seem like the perfect solution to bulging pockets and bags. If you can crush down your mighty 7-inch phablet to a compact square for transport, it’ll mean the best of both worlds; a portable handset that also boasts a mighty screen for media. When that happens, of course, you can kiss goodbye to the humble tablet, which will suddenly become redundant.
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