Now that curved OLED TVs aren't a novelty anymore, the next level is coming

Dec 3, 2013 13:07 GMT  ·  By

In the past, when we saw or heard the words “flexible” and “display” in the same sentence, it usually had to do with small, bendable phones and gadgets that never actually came to be. Now, though, Samsung is thinking bigger.

According to sources from Samsung's home country of South Korea, the company is preparing to show off flexible OLED TVs at CES 2014.

CES stands for Consumer Electronics Show and is a convention that happens every year in January, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Thus, it makes sense that if Samsung is working on a prototype bendable TV, it's at CES that the formal announcement will take place.

Not that corporations don't make announcements at times other than trade shows, but usually they hedge their bets on the extra publicity and media coverage that comes with them.

Besides, it's not like there will be any flexible TVs up for sale in the near future, even if a prototype is put on display somewhere, so there is no reason to rush things and have the thing out for Christmas.

Now one might wonder why on earth Samsung would want to render a TV flexible, and just how far the display could bend and all.

For the latter, the answer is not much. Sure, OLED can be really, really thin, as both Samsung and LG demonstrated at IFA 2013, back in September, with their 4 mm-thick curved models.

Still, glass substrates aren't up to much bending, not without permanently losing shape or suffering visible material strain marks.

Samsung means for the flexibility to be controllable via remote. In theory, a user would be able to have the screen bend to suit their viewing angle.

Samsung may or may not restrict access to the flexible screen to closed-door meetings. Since LG is planning to reveal something similar, we're betting on “not.” It's all about one-upmanship.