Samsung smart phone: 2013

Samsung Debuts Flexible Smartphone Prototype

While its CES 2013 press conference took place earlier this week, Samsung has seemingly saved the best announcements for later in this week as the company showed off its flexible display technology, which the company calls Samsung Youm, on a prototype that sports the flexible OLED technology that will likely eventually be implemented into some of Samsung’s devices.

Read: Galaxy S3 Demo Gives Hope for Waterproof Galaxy S4.

The company made the announcement today in Las Vegas, several days after it held its press conference, and the unveiling of its flexible display technology comes weeks after Samsung was rumored, to be bringing its flexible display to the Consumer Electronics Show once again.

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Samsung has shown off a flexible smartphone prototype using its “Youm” technology.

Samsung made good on those rumors, showcasing its flexible display that it has dubbed ‘Youm.’ And instead of keeping the tech behind glass like we’ve seen in the past, the company rolled out a prototype on stage, showing off its very noticeable flexible qualities.

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The company also showed off a video where a prototype smartphone display was shown transforming into a functioning tablet thanks to its flexible OLED display. The video also hinted that the software user interface will be able to be shown, as normal, and as expected, when a device sporting this type of technology is laid flat.

Read: Gorilla Glass 3 Could Dictate Galaxy S4 Release Date.

Of course, these demos are merely demos and they don’t mean that Samsung will be introducing a phone with a flexible display in the near future. We’ve seen this type of technology before but this is the first time that Samsung has delivered an actual name, ‘Yohm’ to go along with the technology.

There have been rumors suggesting that the Samsung Galaxy S4, a device that is rumored to be coming out in the first half of 2013, and the fact that Samsung finally debuted its flexible OLED display might give consumers hope for later this year. However, we’ve heard that Samsung is likely far off in delivering this type of screen to its flagship devices. And with companies like Sharp still showcasing flexible displays behind glass cases, flexible smartphone displays seem to still be on the horizon but out of reach.

Samsung, Apple, Nokia Prepare For Smartphone Battle

Samsung, Apple and Nokia all recently released financial figures for Q4 2012, and there is plenty to think about regarding the future of those three perennial titans in the smartphone marketplace. Yes, Apple does sell more than iPhones, Samsung is a worldwide conglomerate that produces everything from kitchen appliances to semiconductors, and Nokia calls itself a multinational “communications and information technology company”, but its main focus is mobile handsets. Those three companies presented their 2012 year ending financials within a 24-hour period of each other, and we were eager to take a look at the results.

Though they do sell things other than smartphones, the recent announcement accompanying the release of their year-end financials displayed just how important smartphones were to Samsung’s profits. Openly crediting the Galaxy Note, Galaxy Note II and global bestseller Galaxy S III smartphones as reasons for their success in Q3 and Q4 last year, Samsung claimed an impressive 87% profit increase over the same time-frame in 2011.

And market goliath Apple delivered equally as impressive numbers, with its single quarter results from the final quarter of 2012 offering numbers that most smartphone manufacturers would be happy to have for an entire year. Apple reported profits of $13 billion in the 13 week period, and a profit of $1 billion per week for any company in virtually any industry bodes well for that company’s future. The Cupertino-based consumer electronics manufacturer sold 48 million iPhones (comparing favorably to the 40 million Galaxy S III handsets sold the same time period) in Q4, and the profit margin for an iPhone is higher than for a Samsung Galaxy S III.

Samsung and Apple both warned that market saturation and increasing competition would bring down their growth numbers in the future, but certainly not their overall dominance in the marketplace. Nokia was as early as 2010 the far and away leader in smartphone manufacturing and sales. And they understand how incredibly fast the landscape can change in the smartphone marketplace, but the end of last year saw a much-needed uptick for the Finnish company. After what could only be described as a terrible start to the year in 2012, Nokia finished on a strong up-tick, with their sales up 26% in the last quarter over the same time-frame in 2011.

The Nokia flagship Lumia lineup brought in sales of 4.4 million, proving that there is room and support for a non-Android, non-IOS-based product in the smartphone marketplace. The Lumia Windows-based phones have done surprisingly well, but the profit margin on each Lumia handset pales in comparison to that of the Apple iPhone. Samsung is making their profits on sheer numbers, and BlackBerry (formerly RIM) could enter the conversation of top smartphone manufacturer with the release of their BlackBerry 10 operating system and smartphone next month. And the Mobile World Congress the last week of February in Barcelona, Spain could also throw a monkey wrench into the best laid plans of Samsung, Nokia and Apple to continue their positive sales growth.

Samsung Galaxy Q folding smartphone tipped for MWC 2013

This month we may very well be looking at the first market-ready glimpse we’ll have of the Samsung Galaxy Q, a dual-display smartphone-like device tipped by the manufacturer more than once before. The clues are lining up with MobileGeeks showing a GL Benchmark result that they suggest is the final straw on the pile that’ll topple the whole mess in for a Mobile World Congress 2013 reveal. This device will be appearing in some capacity or another soon, bringing with it a 1080p set of two displays that fold out into one – is the world ready for such an oddity?

Though we were less than enthusiastic about the dual-display Kyocera Echo when we first saw it way back in February of 2011 – the technology that allows such a concept to be more of a real-world possibility for actual user-friendly working has come a long way since then. Now Samsung is up to bat with a smooth no-break display that spans both halves of this device – fold out with delight!

The keys to the puzzle that is this device’s appearance work as follows: this device was given its first solid details back in October of 2012 with a note that Samsung would release it in early 2013. The images provided of this device thus far have each been from the FPD display show in Tokyo that took place in late 2010 and once again in May of 2011 where the hardware was a very early concept mockup. The GL Benchmark results appearing this week show the code-name of the device (GT-B9150) along with a change in specifications from 720p (tipped with the original release window info) to 1080p – much more realistic for 2013 and forward.

The video you see above is just about the earliest Samsung foldable display demonstration in the universe, all the way back from 2008. This should be seen as a very VERY loose concept demonstration/suggestion of what might be coming later this month. A whole lot has changed since back in 2008. Check out the original announcement of Samsung’s YOUM brand as well for more timeline action on the origins of this display technology.

Samsung has also been tipped to be pushing around 6 new smartphone devices at Mobile World Congress 2013, mind you. Last year we saw devices like the Samsung Galaxy Beam – an interesting smartphone, to be sure, but much more on the niche side of the release spectrum than a wide-release hero phone sort of deal. Samsung will quite likely be showing off tablets and smartphones outside their Galaxy S lineup, saving the big announcement for the Samsung Galaxy IV for a separate singular event.

This device has been tipped to be coming with two displays at 5.3-inches each that fold out into one single larger display. Previous reports suggest a dual-core 1.7GHz Exynos 5250 processor inside alongside 2GB of RAM, an 8 megapixel camera on the back, 2 megapixel camera on the front, and a 3500 mAh battery. Inside we’ll likely be seeing Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean and the whole amalgamation would make a lot of sense as a limited release as sort of a “test-phase” release before wide adoption.

Stick around our Mobile World Congress 2013 tag portal for more information as it appears, and make sure you’re down for Samsung’s announcements especially. We’ll be at MWC 2013 from then 23rd through the rest of that week, so keep it tuned to SlashGear!