Samsung intends on releasing the first flexible smartphone capable of folding in half.
Samsung Display, the company’s display unit production division, intends to release a line of flexible-display smartphones, a dramatic step up from the first wrap around display seen on this year’s Galaxy Note Edge (above).
“We will secure production capacity of 30,000 to 40,000 [flexible displays each month] by the end of next year,” Samsung Display vice president of business strategic team Lee Chang-hoon told ZDNet from the Samsung Investor Forum 2014 in New York. “There will be no company [except Samsung] that has this great production capacity by 2016.
“We plan to provide consumers with a product that has a flexible display by the end of the year. However, nothing has been decided on the finished product,” added Lee.
Samsung also intends to release significantly less smartphones in 2015 following huge profit losses.
“In 2015, we will lower the number of smartphone models by one fourth to one third compared to this year,” said Robert Yi, senior vice president and head of investor relations at Samsung Electronics.
“[Lowering the model number] will allow us a chance to lower the prices of [remaining models] through mass production,” said Yi. “In low-to-mid-end products, price is the most important, and for high-end products, it is innovation.”
The South Korean smartphone giant recorded 50 per cent drop in third-quarter net profit earlier in the month, following a 20 per cent dip in the previous quarter.
Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has put more pressure on Samsung this year than any other competitor, leading the Chinese market with affordable high-end devices.
Xiaomi reportedly shipped 1 million more smartphones than Samsung during the 2014 second quarter before recently becoming the third largest smartphone producer in the world.
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