Samsung is reportedly introducing the Galaxy Note 3 Active next month, a version of the phone launched just weeks ago that incorporates Samsung's new YOUM flexible OLED display technology. A Samsung official supposedly confirmed the release with the Asian Daily, but the company currently hasn't released any official information.
Sources claim this version of Samsung's phone will come packed with a high-end metal chassis. The device will also be joined by a second, cheaper model seemingly addressing the iPhone 5C with an LCD screen and lower mainstream hardware. Whether these two devices actually make it outside Samsung's home market of Korea is unknown at this point.
The company is expected to produce around 1.5 million 5 inch to 6 inch flexible displays starting in November if Samsung can achieve 100 percent yields at its factories. But even if the company managed 60 percent yields, Samsung could still produce around 1 million panels a month, enough to supply a limited edition flagship product.
However don't expect to see a super curvy phone shaped like a banana, but a thinner, lighter form factor with a screen highly resistant to major damage. Unlike LCD screens that have six layers, the flexible display tech contains only four layers: film-based TFT and encapsulation (AKA "encap") layers instead of glass substrates, the organic layer and the polarizer.
Samsung was originally believed to be introducing its flexible OLED tech in the Galaxy Note 3 announced at the beginning of the month, but obviously that didn't happen. Then rumors pointed to a Limited Edition model packing the flexible tech to be released after LG's Vu 3 that was also supposedly packed with a flexible display. LG didn't produce the screen either, but settled on the 5.2 inch IPS panel with the signature 4:3 aspect ratio.
So now we're looking at November for both companies to produce smartphones with flexible displays. Both are obviously in a race to get the tech on the market first, but in no hurry to produce utter junk. LG and Samsung originally revealed their flexible solutions back in January during CES 2013 in Las Vegas, but in June LG said that production of flexible screens likely wouldn't begin until 4Q 2013 for both in-house devices and those built by other manufacturers.
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