Samsung announced the launch of the Galaxy Round, the world’s first ever smartphone with a flexible display. While the rumours had been around for quite a while, it was only a matter of conjecture who would launch the first flexible display smartphone, as LG was also a serious contender. However the kind of innovation and design leadership that Samsung has demonstrated over the past few years, one could have safely placed his / her bets on Samsung to get there first.
The Galaxy Round will give a new dimension to the high-end smartphones market, which had seen the arrival of a series of evolutionary form factors rather than revolutionary products. For the last few quarters we had seen the high-end smartphones market competing on specifications like processor cores (Dual, Quad, Octa etc.), RAM (from 1 GB to 2 GB to 3 GB), screens (from AMOLEDs to Super AMOLEDs ), camera (from 13 MP to 21 MP to 41 MP) and so on.
However, these evolutions in specifications always fell short of customer expectations, particularly for those who were looking to upgrade their earlier smartphones to one from the stable of a global ‘Tier-I’ vendor like Apple, Samsung, Sony, Nokia, LG etc.
Initial reviews of the Galaxy Round suggest that we might not see this innovative product with many unique apps just yet and also because Samsung does not currently have the capacity for large-scale production of curved touch-screens. But, in spite of these short-term hiccups, the introduction of curved-screen smartphones is bound to take the smartphones war to a new level. This, in turn, can set the stage for introduction of a slew of revolutionary new products in the wearable smart device category. These products can bring even bigger disruptions to the smartphones market, than were witnessed in the past when dual-SIM and touchscreen phones were first launched.
The wearable devices segment is bound to see more innovations in the field be of curved batteries, curved smart watches, smart glasses and many more.
I am happy that someone has broken the increasing monotony in the evolution of smartphone specifications and we can expect some new innovative smart devices in the hands of consumers in the forthcoming quarters.
