LG, Samsung to unveil curved smartphones

Curved smartphones may be the future trend from the manner in which South Korean giants Samsung and LG are going about with their plans.

Though LG has not confirmed plans to unveil a phone with curved screen, Samsung had already announced its plans to launch a phone with curved screen this month.

Following rumours over the internet that LG was bringing out the curved G Flex phablet, specifications of Samsung's curved smartphone had also leaked online.

Tech website AndroidSAS, which leaked the specs of the upcoming Samsung smartphone, said, contrary to earlier reports, Samsung would not be bringing out a curved variant of the Galaxy Note 3, but instead would release an all-new handset.

According to the report, the device would feature a 4.7-inch curved display with 1280x720p resolution, which is said to be powered by a quad-core CPU and have 2GB RAM. It is also said to incorporate an 8MP camera with dual-LED flash.

While the battery details of the upcoming curved screen Samsung phone were not known, it was expected to run on Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean) out of the box. According to the report, the phone would form part of Samsung's Galaxy line-up.

Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reported LG was gearing up to unveil its own curved smartphone in November, dubbed the G Flex.

The device would have a 6-inch plastic OLED screen, to make it more flexible than traditional liquid-crystal display screens, an unnamed "person familiar with the matter" told the newspaper.

Announcing its next big move during last week's Galaxy Note 3 launch event in Seoul, South Korea, DJ Lee, Samsung Mobile's head of strategic marketing said, "We plan to introduce a smartphone with a curved display in South Korea in October.''

A Samsung spokeswoman confirming the expected arrival of a curved smartphone, "sometime in October 2013," declined further comment on the exact timing or availability.

At CES in January, the tech titan showed off a flexible display technology, dubbed Youm, as also a prototype device that allowed users to bend the screen back and forth with ease. The company also highlighted a tablet with a screen that extended to the edge of the device.

The race to launch curved smartphones comes following Samsung and LG earlier this year releasing curved OLED HDTV sets.

OLED displays are thinner and lighter than LCD screens, and can be curved as they do not require backlighting, according to the Journal. Their susceptibility to moisture, however, however, was a drawback.