Sony has revealed it has looked into producing flexible phones on multiple occasions, despite failing to bring any such products to market.
With the LG G Flex having launched last year as the world’s first flexible phone, Sony’s head of smartphone design has told us the Japanese manufacturer has been working with similar technologies.
“Yes, we have tested and done flexible concepts,” Thomas Waldner, Senior Design Manager at Sony Mobile Communications said speaking exclusively with TrustedReviews recently.
Discussing the company’s future phone plans around the launch of the Xperia Z3, he added: “Every year, after we have done our design intelligence work, we do some open design exploration work. This is about where we are going.
“Every year some flexible display or curved display idea comes up but nothing has grabbed us yet or made a lot of sense.”
Offering more detail on why exactly Sony has failed to turn these flexible concepts into consumer available products, Waldner stated: “When we question why are we doing that, the answer is just because it looks cool.
“Flexible displays can make a lot of sense if everything else is flexible, but it’s not.
“There a lot of real technical limitations to it.”
He added: “If you pick up a battery and bend it, you mess it up. A Lithium-Ion battery, you can’t bend.”
Although put off by the technical limitations, Waldner has predicted that curved displays will start becoming a more common sight in the near future.
“Right now, I think what you’re going to see is products which are bent but are stiff,” he said.
“We have a bent display already on one of our products – the Sony SmartBand Talk.
“When you do it like that you are adapting the geometry to the body. If you’re adapting the geometry to the ergonomics of the body, it makes sense; otherwise it’s just a gimmick.
“Fixed, curved displays for body wear are where it makes sense.”
In keeping with Waldner’s predictions, earlier this month Samsung unveiled a curved screen smartphone of its own, the Samsung Galaxy Note Edge.
Read More: Sony Xperia Z3 Compact review