Samsung’s first smartphone with a curved display screen
enter the South Korean market on Thursday, as the electronics giant seeks to
maintain its lead in the increasingly saturated market.
Galaxy Round — a 5.7-inch handset with a display that is
slightly rounded on both sides — will hit stores in South Korea by Thursday
afternoon, said SK Telecom, the country’s top wireless operator that carries
the device.
Curved screens — said to be lighter and thinner than current
display panels — are at a nascent stage in display technology, which is
shifting towards flexible panels that are bendable or can even be rolled or
folded.
The new phone is priced at about 1.08 million won ($1,000),
Samsung said on Wednesday.
It did not say when the new phone — powered by Google’s
Android system and which offers a 2.3 GHz quad-core processor — would be
available globally.
“The display (of Galaxy Round) is ergonomically shaped to
fit the curve of a hand and comfortably embrace an ear and cheek during a phone
conversation,” SK Telecom said in a statement.
The latest device arrived as global smartphone makers vie
for growth in the increasingly saturated market.
Samsung — the world’s top maker of smartphones and mobile
phones in general — unveiled in January the prototype of a bendable display
called “Youm”.
Samsung’s smaller rival LG said last week it had started
mass production of curved display panels for smartphones and is reportedly set
to unveil its own curved smartphone this month.
But companies still face a major challenge in making other
handset components — such as batteries — that can bend with the rest of the
unit.
Curved displays are already commercially available in
large-screen televisions offered by companies including Samsung and LG.
The displays are supposed to offer a more immersive viewing
experience but are significantly more expensive than standard screens.
