We destroy our phones all the time, either through accident or incompetence. Thus, device manufacturers have spent years trying to figure out ways to make phones impossible to smash. And Samsung just scored a fairly major breakthrough, engineering a screen that you’ll have to work hard to destroy.
Samsung has spent years developing screens that are unwreckable, not to mention able to bend in neat new shapes, and they’ve gotten the go-ahead from Underwriter’s Laboratory, the people who clear electronics and their parts for quality, to ship their least destructible screen yet, according to CNET:
The flexible OLED panel is constructed of an unbreakable substrate with an overlay window adhered to it, Samsung said. Flexible displays currently commercially available tend to shatter when subjected to severe impact… The display passed rigorous durability tests, Samsung said, including being dropped 26 times in a row from a height of nearly 4 feet and continued to function normally, suffering no damage to its front, sides or edges.
This won’t allow your phone to survive being run over by a car, or a lengthy dip, but it will increase day-to-day durability. And the screen is strong and flexible enough that it appears folding smartphones are on the horizon, which Samsung’s spent years chasing. But even if we never get a foldaphone, this will mean the day-to-day abuse we put our phones through will cause that much less damage, helping our devices last longer and survive those drops.
Now, Samsung, what can you do about adding a headphone jack?
(via CNET)