Samsung Delays Flexible AMOLED Until 2013

Samsung has reportedly pushed back its flexible AMOLED production plans, with the continued success of regular displays meaning it will be 2013 before such panels hit the market. Although Samsung had previously suggested screens under its flexible YOUM brand would show up by Q3 2012, the mass production schedule encountered problems, ETNews reports. Meanwhile, Samsung is selling traditional glass AMOLED panels with no signs of slowing.

The Galaxy S III, for instance, is a Samsung best-seller, and uses the company's 4.8-inch Super AMOLED HD display. The recently released Galaxy Note II also uses the technology, and Samsung has reportedly increased production of glass AMOLEDs to keep up with sales.

In fact, Samsung is hoping to increase its AMOLED substrate production from around 56,000 units per month to 64,000 units, and in the process is occupying lines that were previously earmarked for flexible displays. Unlike regular displays, which are based on glass substrates, the new flexible models will use plastic and thus open the door for more unusual form-factors.

Those form-factors might not actually include smartphones and tablets that fold in half, however. Instead, Samsung is believed to be experimenting with designs where the display continues around the edge of the device, such as adding a status screen to the top panel of a phone that could be glanced at without removing the handset from a pocket or bag.

There's no exact indication of when flexible AMOLED production will begin in earnest, nor when we might see the first products using the screen technology.

[via OLED-Display]