After reports that the Samsung Galaxy S5 may not sport OIS or a metal body, a report suggests it’s about to lose another feature. According to The Korea Herald, Samsung is still unable to mass-produce curved displays in sufficient numbers to meet the demand that a flagship device can be expected to generate. As a result, the Samsung Galaxy S5 now looks set to launch without such a display.
Samsung Display is apparently currently capable of producing about 500,000 flexible displays per month. Ongoing manufacturing challenges mean that it’s only able to get a 30% yield from the 8,000 5.5-generation sheets it handles per month. According to an unnamed source, production is expected to improve to about 1 million panels a month when Samsung’s new A3 production line comes online sometime next year.
Rather than making its way into a flagship smartphone, Samsung is now looking at launching a new Galaxy variant late next year. Maybe we will see a Galaxy Round 2 in 2014.
Samsung’s main competition in the flexible display arena is not faring much better. LG Display is reportedly producing handling 12,000 4.5-generation sheets per month and producing fewer panels than Samsung. Japan Display “is even further behind.”
The challenges in manufacturing flexible displays will also likely claim another victim. Apple may also have to do without a flexible display in its next generation iPhone as it is unlikely to find a supplier able to meet its own expected demand. 2015 is more “plausible” says Shinhan Investment analyst John Seo.
Unless manufacturing improves greatly in the first half of the year, flexible displays are likely to remain a novelty and a niche product in 2014. With Samsung having reportedly only sold about 50,000 Galaxy Round smartphones (pictured above), it appears that customers are not going to miss them much anyways.
Source : The Korea Herald