14 DAY TRIAL // The Galaxy S9 is just around the corner, but Samsung is busy planning substantial overhauls for its entire phone lineup, which could soon benefit from the Infinity Display currently used on flagships exclusively.
In other words, Samsung wants to use the edge-to-edge screen design that’s now available on the S8 (and soon will debut on the S9 as well) on mid-range models too, in an attempt to counter the growth of Chinese manufacturers and at the same time, breathe new life into its more affordable devices.
With an edge-to-edge flexible OLED display on mid-rangers, Samsung hopes “to improve profitability overall and widen the gap with fast-growing Chinese runner-ups,” according to a report from The Korea Herald and citing people familiar with the matter.
Bigger mid-range price
Recently, it’s been reported that Samsung is one of the parties affected by the sluggish sales of the iPhone X, as it’s the sole supplier of OLED displays for the anniversary Apple model. With the company now having large stocks of OLED screens, pushing such technology to mid-range devices could help reduce the impact that Apple’s below-expectations performance could generate on its own revenue.
But the bigger challenge is dealing with the costs such a move would involve. Until now, Samsung has been using flexible OLED panels with small bezels on flagships only, especially because the technology is expensive and premium models are the only ones that can accommodate the price.
As a result, such a design change could eventually increase the price of Samsung’s mid-range models, and the company needs to stay close to its Chinese rivals should it want to counter their growth worldwide.
It remains to be seen when the first mid-rangers with smaller bezels from Samsung hit the shelves, but expect more news in this regard later this year, most likely at the IFA show in Berlin (taking place August 31 – September 5).