Report: Huawei and Xiaomi to launch smartphones with curved panels from Samsung and LG

For as long as one can remember, phone displays have been much very like the world was once considered to be flat. Curves are good, you see, so that Samsung and LG have been bending their displays for several years now. Product categories include Smartwatches, smartphones, fitness bands and television.

Following in the footsteps of last fall’s BlackBerry Priv and this spring’s Vivo’s Xplay 5 – both of which allegedly use Samsung dual curved edge panels - A new report from a Chinese site MyDrivers claims that Xiaomi will make use of a flexible LG display and Hauwei to make use of one from Samsung. The new devices are expected to be released in September.

Huawei

Huawei device is said to be called the "Mate Edge" and will use Samsung dual curved edge display OLED prowess. As Samsung is careful the brand only the screens on its own products as Super AMOLED, the phone will thus likely make use of a simple “standard” AMOLED. The phone is said to be powered by Huawei Kirin 950 SoC itself and together with 4 GB of RAM. It is expected to cost around 4,000 yuan, which is about $617.

As for design, it can be assumed that the device will visually look similar to the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, and probably follow the trend Huawei has set of putting a fingerprint reader on the back of the device.

It is worth mentioning that the price point mentioned is quite high for a company typically associated with more affordable products. By the time it would release, the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge may very well have reduced in price to around the same amount thus inadvertently creating a fair bit of competition.

Xiaomi

Xiaomi device is rumored to be called "My Edge" or "Mi Note Edge" and use a flexible display from LG. As for the display, the report suggests that it will have a curved edge, however, keep in mind that LG Display has yet to commercially produce the two edges of the panel curves shown behind closed doors at CES 2015, it is possible that the phone will use a display similar to the LG G Flex series.

In terms of specifications, it is said that Xiaomi will feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820, 4GB of RAM and a 16 megapixel rear camera. It should cost 3,000 yuan with is roughly $463, which would be much cheaper than the product Huawei is trying to bring to the market, if the price reports are accurate.

Display

Assuming this report is true, it will be good news for both Samsung and LG who can benefit from contracts with rival OEMs. This will serve to help the company’s bottom line and improve fiscal performance in the coming months and even years. LG, for example, suffered this past fiscal quarter because of lower LCD panel shipments. It has frequently been mentioned that OLED panels are the “way forward” with respect to making money from display sales. A report last year found Samsung has almost all of the profit currently.

Conclusion

While seeing Samsung’s display on a different device may not be so strange, just what LG will potentially offer remains to be seen. If the company will indeed product dual curved display panels that look just like Samsung’s, there is a real question as to why the company would have failed to release it’s own product that uses it’s own panels before letting a competitor have them.

Also worth considering: what kind of implementation would be used? Some have already argued that Samsung’s non-Note Edge curves are put to waste, could Huawei or Xiaomi put the Korean conglomerate in its place?

What do you think? Would you be interested in buying a phone from Xiaomi or Huawei with a curved OLED? Are these companies innovating or are they copying? Does it even matter?
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