Screens That Bend

Where We're Headed: Many folks foresee a Roman-scroll-like smartphone —one that rolls out of a tube to create a large-screen display. This prediction would seem to result from the development of current bendable-screen technologies, such as Samsung's YOUM flexible OLED, Corning's Willow Glass and LG's unnamed flexible screen technology. More likely, however, future phones will feature displays that curve around a smartphone slab, either as a tapered glass edge, dual-sided viewing and touch functionality, or a single wide screen that can be folded in half like a wallet without a screen-splitting hinge in the middle. Think Sprint’s Kyocera Echo but much more evolved.

Prediction: Smartphone screens will be flexible, thanks to new materials like elastor polymer, flexible circuit boards and battery reconfigurations. In fact, your entire phone will twist and flex to conform to your body and supply unique control functions. For instance, you’ll be able to twist your handset to turn it on or off, as outlined in Apple's iDevice flex patents and the prototype Nokia Kinetic device. Best of all, sitting on your phone in 2018 won't crack or break it.