Samsung has, in the past, gotten a bad rep for developing and releasing devices that are similar to others, or offer very similar features to others. That shouldn’t be the case all the time however, as Samsung is definitely a leader when it comes to inventing new technologies and creating fresh designs. Filing patent applications for designs is just one step of developing new technologies, even if you’re unlikely to be able to release such a device for some time to come. It secures your investment on the time and money spent on research and development and when it becomes viable to develop and release such a product you’re covered against anyone else trying to launch a similar device ahead of you, or after the fact.
Samsung is no stranger to filing patent applications, and one from the end of last year, discovered by Patently Mobile shows off a very interesting design concept, indeed. The patent shows a device with a flexible display that can go from being fully straight to being wrapped around someone’s wrist. It’s an interesting concept and one that you’d imagine to be quite popular in the future. The patent filing and images detail a device that could be made up of singular modules that stay connected when bent around someone’s wrist and it also shows a device that could be about the same sort of size as a smartphone. We don’t need to tell you however, that we’re a long, long way off from producing completely flexible smartphones.
What this is right now is yet another patent application, there’s no telling whether or not Samsung is actively working on something like this or if this patent is just a way of protecting future investments. Samsung are of course pioneers in the flexible display space, so it’s not surprising to see them file more and more patents when it comes to their application in real life. Devices like the Galaxy S6 Edge are slowly showing what’s possible for flexible OLED displays. This is a cool concept, but perhaps not one that’s going to prove itself practical in the near future. More can be read at the source link below, and if you like the idea of a curved smartwatch and you’re a Samsung fan, then you might like the look of the Gear S.