The official states that bendable phones will come soon

Jun 10, 2016 14:46 GMT  ·  By

Just a few days ago, Samsung officials announced that the South Korean smartphone manufacturer would be introducing two bendable handsets in early 2017 and that they would most likely be showcased in February, during the Mobile World Congress.

Now it seems that another company executive has talked about bendable smartphones, according to Recode. Gregory Lee, the head of Samsung’s North American business, has pointed out that bendable screens are “relatively right around the corner.” The statement was made on Thursday, at Rutberg's Future:Mobile conference in Half Moon Bay, California.

This could actually mean that phones with bendable displays are likely to launch earlier than 2017, maybe late this year, but that’s just speculation at this point.

Lenovo has already showcased a prototype for a phone with bendable display, the CPlus

Lee has stated that while Samsung has been working on bendable screen prototypes for about 10 years, the main struggle has regarded high manufacturing costs that simply make the devices unprofitable. The company executive has made some more comments suggesting that 5G will actually take off sooner than some people think. In his vision, mobile carriers will continue to be an important part of the phone distribution chain.

Samsung has already announced that it will unveil two devices with bendable displays in 2017, one that folds completely and one that transforms from a 5-inch smartphone into a tablet with a screen of 8 inches.

Samsung surely isn’t the only smartphone manufacturer to try to change the market with a bendable phone. Just yesterday, Lenovo showcased two prototypes of devices with bendable displays during the Tech World event. The CPlus came with a flexible display that allowed the device to be placed on the user’s wrist.

Lenovo also showed off the Folio tablet, which sports a large screen that can be folded in half. There’s no release date on the two products, but our best bet is next year as well.