One of the major Achilles’ heels of smartphones may soon be a thing of the past. Samsung has created an OLED screen that is not only flexible, but is also “unbreakable.” The plastic display can withstand being smashed with a hammer and has even been certified to have military-grade toughness.
Samsung released a video demonstrating the toughness of their incredible new smartphone screens. The screens were put through various tests by Underwriters Laboratories (UL), an independent, not-for-profit global testing laboratory and certification company. The tests found that the new displays survived being dropped 26 times from 26 drops at 1.2 meters (nearly four feet), a drop test from 1.8 meters (nearly 6 feet), and continued functioning at temperatures of 160 degrees and -26 degrees. But if phone screens don’t ever break, how can we judge if people are trashy or not based on their cracked phone screens?
“The fortified plastic window is especially suitable for portable electronic devices not only because of its unbreakable characteristics, but also because of its lightweight, transmissivity and hardness, which are all very similar to glass,” said Samsung’s Hojung Kim in a statement.
You could expect this display in smartphones, cars, game consoles, and tablets. But also since it passed the rigorous UL testing and even surpassed military standards set by the U.S. Department of Defense, this technology could make its way into military applications. You probably won’t see this tech in the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 that is set to debut on August 9th, but it could be ready for the much-ballyhooed Galaxy S10 and S10+.
You’ll notice in the video that it was hit with a hammer repeatedly and there doesn’t appear to be any damage. This is even better results than that of Corning’s latest Gorilla Glass 6. Executives for phone case companies must be peeing in their shorts while watching this video.
[Engadget]