The Phone that Stretches

There’s something to be said for designing smart mobile devices that feature just a bit more wiggle room. After all, how many of us are prone to sticking our cellphones in our back pockets and then traversing around town? It’s a terrible but easy way to misplace a phone that just isn’t designed to conform and move with our bodies.

A few months ago however, Apple made negative headlines with the release of the iPhone 6, after consumers began to claim that the phone was bendable. What made those reports undesirable though, is not really the fact that the phone could bend, but that it was not properly constructed or meant to do so. If Apple had purposefully set out to make a flexible phone, it would have been announced as such, and let’s be honest- everyone would want one.

Luckily, this thought has also occurred to Samsung, who is currently endeavoring to make a phone that is not only bendable- but also stretchable.  You heard that right- stretchable. Apparently, the tech giant believes they could potentially create a phone which could stretch to the size of a tablet, laptop or even, as crazy as it sounds, a television!
Though this may sound a little too futuristic, Samsung has declared that they anticipate that their first designs will be presented by the end of 2015 and analyst Paul O’Donovan believes that production of foldable, stretchable smartphones is a mere five years away.  Their biggest challenge so far?  Well, batteries can’t fold and the cost to manufacture such a product would be very high.  Still, Samsung Display Executive Chang Hoon, hailed the innovative undertaking, stating “Personally, I believe that design innovation using a flexible display will be one of the most important factors of the future.”