Samsung claims its new ‘unbreakable’ screens for future smartphones won’t crack

Samsung

• Samsung says it’s developed an “unbreakable” screen for
  smartphones that’s reinforced with flexible plastic rather than
  glass.
• The screen has been tested and certified by an
  independent company, which helps back up Samsung’s
  claim. 

Samsung announced on Thursday that it has created
an “unbreakable” smartphone display.

Samsung’s bold claim was verified by Underwriter Laboratories (UL),
an official testing partner for the Occupational Safety and
Health Administration.

The new display survived 26 drops from a height of four feet and
a single drop from six feet “with no damage to its front,
sides or edges,” according to UL and Samsung. The panel is
also resistant to extreme temperatures, having been tested at
71-degrees Celsius (160-degrees Fahrenheit) and -32-degrees
Celsius (-25.6 Fahrenheit).

Samsung’s new screen is a flexible OLED panel that’s sandwiched
between an “unbreakable substrate” and a fortified plastic
window, instead of the glass that’s used on most smartphones. If
you balked at the word “plastic,” I’m with you, but Samsung says
that the plastic should look and feel similar to glass.

I’m usually skeptical of these sorts of claims. The four-foot
drop test is “based on military standards set by the U.S.
Department of Defense,” according to Samsung, which is marketing
we’ve seen before on smartphones, cases, and screen protectors.
However, devices that underwent “military-grade testing” can
still break. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Samsung didn’t mention when we could expect a smartphone
with an “unbreakable” display. It’s unlikely to come in the
upcoming Galaxy Note 9, which is being announced on August 9
during Samsung’s Unpacked event in NYC.