The Literal and Figurative Future of Flexible Technology

Chances are, you’ve heard about the flexible future of smart phones. We’re not talking about flexible features, capabilities, or apps that are both dynamic and robust; we’re talking about phones that bend into a half moon stretch, gracefully and without any signs of stress.

At a private event, held during the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Samsung showcased a foldable display that it plans to unveil by the end of 2015. While these pliable and uber-durable devices are still in their early stages of development, the technologies that make them possible are nothing short of astonishing.

The ‘miracle-material’ making flexible electronics possible is known as Graphene. With the thickness of a single atom, Graphene is truly two-dimensional. However, don’t let its size fool you – while one million times thinner than a piece of paper, the material is one hundred times more conductive than silicon and is the strongest material known to mankind. What’s the catch you wonder? Well, until recently, scientists had not been able to produce Graphene in bulk without losing its commercially-useful properties.  This year, the brilliant people at Samsung developed an efficient process which allowed them to produce Graphine in bulk, all while retaining its usefulness and value.  As you can imagine, the rush to patent this newly developed process immediately followed.

Governments and the private sector alike have been heavily investing in the recently-discovered material and its properties. While rooted in the electronics industry due to current consumer demands, the material also has the potential to transform such industries as energy, healthcare, and construction.

Ironically, in recent years, mobile devices have been adopting characteristics of the medium they are driving into obsolescence – paper. Looking ahead, the smart phone of the future may be nothing more than a reactive form of paper.

Graphene-constructed devices create infinite possibilities. How would you like to learn Origami from an app that uses your phone as a medium? And how useful would it be to be able to bend your phone in half to fit in your back-pocket? The ‘miracle-material’ puts the possibility of these activities within reach. For now though, I’d be happy with any technological advancement that increases a phone’s durability and puts my phone-dropping fears to rest. How about you?

Source: CNN