Samsung's recently announced curved display smartphone, the Galaxy Round, is most likely an prototypic device with Samsung producing it in very limited quantities, if a new report is to be believed.
The
Samsung Galaxy Round is a prototype meant to showcase and test curved OLED displays according to a
report by SamMobile, which claims that Samsung has priced the device steeply even in its home market, South Korea, for this very reason, and doesn't have a lot of units to sell. It says Samsung doesn't intend to sell the Galaxy Round outside South Korea. The report doesn't mention any sources to back its claim, however the site has got a good track record in terms of accurately reporting on rumours about Samsung products.
As the publication notes, it's not the first time that Samsung has launched devices with limited availability just to test the markets. It had earlier launched the SCH-W850, to test AMOLED technology, and the Samsung Galaxy S II HD LTE (SHV-E120S), to test HD AMOLED displays.
Samsung had launched the Galaxy Round, earlier this month. It's a variant of its Galaxy Note smartphone, with a display that curves side-to-side (horizontally). The phone sports a 5.7-inch OLED full-HD display and is powered by a 2.3GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor and 3GB RAM. It sports a 13-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel front facing camera. The phone runs Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. It comes with a 2800mAh battery and offers LTE-A high-speed 4G connectivity.
Its key features include a tilt function which allows users to check information such as missed calls and battery life, even when the home screen is off. Users can also scroll through media files by pressing the screen's right or left.
Samsung's rival,
LG, is also reportedly working on a curved display equipped smartphone, which has leaked in press renders. The press renders suggest that LG 'G Flex' smartphone's 6-inch display would be curved from top to bottom (vertically), unlike Samsung Galaxy Round's side-to-side curved display. The phone is likely to be launched sometime in November, though the pricing, hardware specifications and availability details are not known at this point in time.