Wish there was a gigantic smartphone that curved to meet the contours of your face when you hold it up to your head to make a call? LG appears to be working on a new phone called the G Flex which has a 6 inch curved glass display. It’s not just the screen that’s curved — the whole phone has a bit of a slope to it.

Engadget, CNET, and others have obtained leaked images of the upcoming phone, but it’s not exactly a big surprise that LG is bringing this sort of device to market. Earlier this month the company announced that it had begun building a 6 inch flexible OLED display.

lg g flex

The screen is built on plastic substrates instead of glass, allowing LG to build a screen that can bend without breaking. While the rest of the phone is pretty rigid (you can’t just roll it up into a ball), the flexibility doesn’t just mean LG can produce a phone that curves. It also means that it’ll be much harder to break the screen by putting pressure on it.

There aren’t many other details about the G Flex at this point, but given its LGpedigree (and the lack of physical buttons below the screen), it’s likely going to be an Android phone.

Samsung recently revealed its own phone with a flexible display, but the Samsung Galaxy Round is concave width-wise, while the LG G Flex bends along its length.

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6 replies on “LG’s first phone with a curved 6 inch display on the way”

  1. So LG curves its phone from top to bottom and Samsung curves its phone side to side? Does any manufacturer do usability studies before the devices go to manufacturing? I can see where a SLIGHT curve might make a phone fit in a pocket better or fit your face better but both phones appear to curve too much. Of course, I have not actually handled either myself. I hope Brad gets samples in soon so he can give us his opinion.

    1. Now if you could ordere the phone with a curve gradiant to fit your leg or arm for a better fit (be it in your pocket or an arm band for runners).

  2. Samsung pedigree?
    Anyway. I find these curved phones to look silly even when they manage elegance and probably problematic as they’ll take up more room when stored. But they are an important step in furthering the technology so I applaud them.

    1. Man, I’m having a lot of proof-reading fails today. Thanks for pointing that out. Clearly I was already thinking ahead to the next paragraph when I wrote that.

      I’m looking forward to getting my hands on one of these curved phones to see how they feel, but I’m a bit skeptical at the moment too. It might be little more than a gimmick at first, but if it really leads to phones that are more durable, and maybe one day phones with big screens that you can fold up and fit in your pocket, I’m all for it.

      1. Yeah, I figured that was the case.

        And yeah, hopefully this leads to full touchscreen smartphones that can fold or roll or something leading to better storage capabilities and maybe things like smart wristbands which would provide better functionality than smartwatches (flashbacks to so many shows like Inspector Gadget and penny’s wrist phone, Torchwood and Captain Jack Harness’ bracer, etc. =)

        I still want the Toq though.

        As for the other part, the flexible screens are the first part. We also need flexible batteries (I remember reading about someething like that years ago) and flexible circuitry/pcb boards. It’s also a matter of the different components being resistant to multiple bendings. I remember when one of the screen makers was displaying flexible screen tech like two years ago saying that you could fold it/roll it ten times (I think it was Sony).

        As for the flexible screen tech I think its best use currently would be for smart phones/buildings. Guide rails which can light up and show you where you are going (maybe using a key fob, bluetooth or something to identify you and your route). Lamps which can act as a simplified control center for your smart home from your bed, curved smart dashboard on a car and other stuff like that. But it has to start somewhere.

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