Related Articles
Samsung
In the market for a TV that you can bend into a flat or curved shape? Samsung now has something right up your alley, at least if you live in Korea.
In a post on its Korean Samsung Tomorrow page, the company revealed that it will introduce a bendable TV for sale in its home market on August 1. At January’s CES, Samsung offered a peek at just such a user-bendable TV , outfitted with an 85-inch screen. The screen on the bendable one due to launch Friday is a bit smaller at 78 inches.
The TV market ain’t what it used to be. In recent years, sales of flat-screen TVs have themselves flattened out, challenging Samsung and other manufacturers to come up with more innovative products. A bendable TV seems like more of a gimmick, especially since it’s likely to carry a price tag too hefty for the average consumer. Rival LG has instead cut costs in its TV business to help revive earnings, a strategy that paid off last quarter. But a bendable TV could draw consumers into the store and generate some interest in Samsung’s other TV products.
So how does a bendable TV work? On the one demoed at CES in January, you press a button on a remote control and small motors behind the screen come to life to bend the flat edges into a more curved shape. Press the button again, and your curved TV now transforms back into a flat screen.
Samsung will launch the bendable TV for preorders starting on Friday though it will only be on display in two stores in Seoul, South Korea, according to Electronista. No price or availability outside of Korea appear to have been announced, though reports from The Verge and Mashable claim it will cost around $34,000.
Samsung already sells several curved TVs with its 65-inch UNHU9000 going in the US for almost $4,500. and its 105-inch UN105S9W aiming to dig almost $120,000 out of your wallet.
CNET has contacted Samsung for more information on the new TV and will update the story with any further details.
(Via Engadget)
Now playing:
Watch this:
Samsung’s bendable TV at CES 2014
1:08
