Samsung's Next Gamble: Bendable Screens

Have you ever looked at your phone and thought, "This is cool and all, but why can't I roll it up?" Well, Samsung has. That's why its display arm, Samsung Display Co., is moving forward on a plan to mass-produce screens made out of flexible plastic, which will allow the South Korean tech giant to make phones that are lighter, nearly unbreakable, and, yes, bendable, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The screens will take advantage of OLEDs, which can be placed on flexible materials like plastic or foil. Samsung has been researching the technology since 2002, and thinks it can be the first company to mass-produce it effectively, though it won't say when it might unveil these bendable marvels or how much it's investing in them. Analysts say the new displays have advantages, but that they could drag on Samsung's profits, because the company still needs to produce the old screens for its current products. (More Samsung stories.)