The next flagship smartphone Samsung launches will feature a larger bezel-less OLED display screen than most phones on the market, which according to Forbes analyses would enable a more immersive VR gaming experience.
Korean media The Investor cited a Samsung executive revealing the upcoming Galaxy S8 after the flopped Galaxy 7 would have an edge-to-edge or bezel-free OLED display.
“Samsung Display wwould roll out a full-screen display whose display area ratio (a scale that measures space taken up by a display on the front part of a handset) reaches more than 90% next year,” said Park Won-sang, a Samsung Display principal engineer, at the iMiD 2016 conference in Seoul.
A conceptual photo of a Galaxy S7 edge with a home button removed at the bottom part of the device was showcased during the conference.
According to Forbes, the new Samsung display design is larger than the average smartphones 80% display area ratio.
Samsung’s aim is to raise the screen-to-body ratio to 99% within the next few years, said Won-sang. Giving the possibility that the Galaxy S8 would be a completely bezel-free display.
By increasing the display ratio, a potential benefit is the Galaxy S8 would be able to provide an immersive VR experience, which would enable it to work smoothly with Samsung Gear VR and Google Daydream VR headsets.
In the smartphone industry, Xiaomi has been the first to release an edgeless display device. The Xiaomi MIX boasts a 6.4-inch IPS LCD edgeless display with a screen-to-body ratio of 91.3%.
Preorder prices of the ceramic black version of the Xiaomi Mi MIX with 4 GB RAM, 128 GB storage and dual SIM will be sold for US $669. Apple is also planning to introduce a similar design to the iPhone 8 next year.
A Samsung Display researcher also told The Investor that the Korean electronic manufacturer was developing a “bendable VR device with a flexible OLED display that can be bent to cover a user’s eyes completely.”
The estimated launch date for The Galaxy S8 will be on Feb. 26, 2017 to meet the Mobile World Congress.