Samsung Display has unveiled what it claims is an ‘Unbreakable Flexible Panel’ for smartphones, verified by an official testing agency in the US.
The screen features a bendable OLED (organic light-emitting diode) panel paired with what Samsung says is an unbreakable plastic substrate and an overlay window. Unlike glass-covered flexible displays, the new device can continue to function even after severe impacts, according to the Korean tech giant.
“The fortified plastic window is especially suitable for portable electronic devices not only because of its unbreakable characteristics, but also because of its lightweight, transmissivity and hardness, which are all very similar to glass,” said Hojung Kim, general manager of the Communication Team at Samsung Display Company.
A press release issued by the firm states that the flexible OLED screen has just been officially verified by Underwriters Laboratories, an official testing company for the US Department of Labour’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). In tests based on US military standards, the device was dropped 26 times in succession from a height of 1.2 metres, with no loss of function. The screen was then dropped from a height of 1.8 metres and subjected to extreme temperature variation, yet still remained undamaged.
So far, so good, it would appear. However, to commemorate the achievement, Samsung - one of the world’s leading technology companies - produced a video that looks like it was thrown together by an inept work-experience student over their lunch break. Set to background music lifted straight from an 80’s buddy film, the mercifully brief clip sees a woman putting the screen through its paces with a rubber mallet, accompanied by a host of bizarre overlaid clip-art graphics. When striking the screen, cartoon impact marks appear, like some strange episode of 1960s Batman, with Adam West kapowing a phone rather than the Joker’s bad guys.
Needless to say, the YouTube video has attracted plenty of interest. The top comment comes from Rodrigo Prieto Padilla who stated succinctly: “That moment when a multi-billion company uses WordArt”. Another commenter, Martin Lima, said: “What kind of garbage is this? Where are the scientific tests? pound a piece of plastic with a rubber hammer? This is official Samsung? I refuse to believe it. It is incredible how unprofessional it is.”
For a company that produces some of the world’s most cutting-edge consumer tech, it really is quite something. Take a look yourself and let us know what you think.
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