As Samsung unveils its first foldable smartphone, how will affect online video viewing?
Author:
Jenny PriestleyPublish date:
Nov 8, 2018
Samsung has unveiled its first flexible smartphone at an event in San Francisco.
It described its Infinity Flex Display as "the foundation of the smartphone of tomorrow" and said it intended to start production within months.
The evolution of the smartphone, and its screen, has had a huge impact on the media and entertainment industry, particularly in terms of mobile video.
According to Stephen Mears, analyst at Futuresource, foldable phones probably wont have that much of an impact to begin with: "The limited initial uptake of flexible phones will dull any impact larger screens may have on the online video industry," he tells TVBEurope.
"With only low levels of ownership expected in the next 2-3 years, flexible displays won't create any new opportunities or challenges for media providers initially. Furthermore, media players and other video apps are generally developed for use on both the smartphone and tablets, meaning that larger screens are already catered for by software thanks to the tablet."
Samsungs foldable phone
Mears says the smartphone is generally used as a secondary video consumption device, with consumers choosing to watch long format online videos on Smart TVs opposed to personal devices. "There is certainly a strong appetite for video on mobile devices and technologies such as 5G and flexible displays will improve the overall experience of consuming content on the go," he continues.
"There is a growing trend of users downloading content to watch offline and on-the-go, with 49 per cent of Amazon users across the US, UK, France and Germany occasionally or regularly downloading content to watch later. A flexible display smartphone would enhance the viewing experience, with the ability to download and watch content on a larger screen."
In the short term, and on a worldwide basis, flexible displays won't have a significant impact on traditional TV, predicts Mears.
"Flexible displays would allow users to own a larger screen in a device that is already very widely owned and seen as a necessity product. We expect the impact for this kind of market would be a faster adoption of flexible display smartphones, opposed to a significant change in viewing habits," he says.
"With smartphone prices increasing, there is only limited room in a consumer's mobile technology budget. It is expected that flexible smartphones will have more of an impact on the sales of tablets and video consumption from tablets, opposed to traditional TV."
Mears concludes, "Flexible displays are an exciting new technology, however will certainly be a niche product until consumers are convinced of the benefits compared to standard handsets."
Most recent headlines
24/03/2019
pros
Mar 24, 2019
We are stoked to welcome freeride mountain biker Jackson Goldston to the GoPro Team! Actually we are stoked to welcome the future of fr...
24/03/2019
The axing of Japan's Sunwolves from Super Rugby will damage efforts to promote the sport in Asia, the team's chief executive said Saturday.
The Sunwolv...
24/03/2019
The National Qualifications Amendment Bill is not here to play, ladies and gentlemen. The adjustment to the existing legislation comes with some pretty stern up...
24/03/2019
Sri Lanka won the toss and sent South Africa in to bat in the third and final Twenty20 international at the Wanderers Stadium on Sunday.
Sri Lankan captain Las...
24/03/2019
That's the stuff! Ed Sheeran performed for the first time during the South African leg of his Divide tour on Saturday night and brought the house down with ...
24/03/2019
Blackmagic Design gana tres premios iF Design Los productos reconocidos entre m s de 6.000 proyectos de 55 pa ses fueron el modelo Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Cam...
24/03/2019
La ltima hora del Plan Nacional, en el 5G Forum M laga Antonio Fern ndez-Paniagua, del Ministerio de Econom a y Empresa,acudir a M laga para explicar la lti...
24/03/2019
Rethink Technology Research expected to reach SVOD traditional television in jus...
24/03/2019
The new set of virtual reality Movistar employs Fujinon HD lenses El estudio dotado con tecnolog a de Vizrt, c maras de Sony (con pticas Fujinon) y una Camb...
24/03/2019
PlayBox Neo multimedia show cloud at any scale with the launch at NAB 2019 Cloud...
24/03/2019
PMD-750: the new wireless microphone system Marantz for DSLR cameras El nuevo sistema PMD-750 est compuesto por un transmisor de petaca, un micr fono lavalier...
24/03/2019
The Film Academy explores the role of the new television series Profesionales del cine y las series debaten en la instituci n sobre los formatos y el nuevo con...
24/03/2019
Crystal Vision will show at NAB a flexible IP platform and the Elimination of de...
24/03/2019
NextRadioTV implements a comprehensive solution of routing Riedel MediorNet El sistema MediorNet de 204 nodos ha sido instalado en las nuevas instalaciones de ...
24/03/2019
The Spanish, great film nominated in the Platinum Awards Campeones', la ltima pel cula de Javier Fesser, cuenta con 5 nominaciones, entre ellas Mejor Pel...
24/03/2019
Atresmedia film presents The summer we live Dirigida por Carlos Sedes, la pel cula comenzar su rodaje en el mes de agosto y tendr como escenario principal Je...
24/03/2019
Maurizio Carlotti retires after more than forty years of successful professional...
24/03/2019
WTT 2019 tennis streaming world tournament will be held with the JVC Mobile Stud...
24/03/2019
Are you ready for the Lotto and Lotto Plus draw on Saturday, 23 March? It's yet another chance to find out whether or not you're South Africa's late...
24/03/2019
CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Steve McQueen, Bob Mackie, Patti Labelle, David Suzuki, Annabella Sciorra, Peyton Manning, Alyson Hannigan, Sharon Corr, Robert Ca...
24/03/2019
Former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela has been the thorn in Jacob Zuma's side for quite some time now. During her time in office, she compiled the damning...
24/03/2019
pros
Mar 23, 2019
Adam Cianciarulo is having a season for the books. He's currently leading the Supercross Lites 250 Western Region and is showing zero...
23/03/2019
Reckeen MVP-100 @ NAB2019 posted: 23/03/2019
Reckeen MVP-100 is an advanced video processor for universal use, that can mimic multi-camera live production...
23/03/2019
Robe SuperSpikies for Triggerfinger Shows posted: 22/03/2019
Belgian rock band Triggerfinger played four highly energised, sold-out shows at the beautiful...
23/03/2019
Bridge Technologies to Highlight Breadth and Depth of Solutions That Will Ease I...
23/03/2019
Net Insight, Red Bee Media, Telestream join SRT open source video streaming proj...
23/03/2019
It's Friday night and that can only mean one thing; cash dollar bills (not really) are ready to be won in the Powerball draw.
Powerball and Powerball Plus ...
23/03/2019
The Hurricanes earned a hard-fought 34-28 win over the visiting Stormers in Wellington if you missed it don't worry we have the Super Rugby highlights you n...
23/03/2019
If all goes well on the load shedding front, you'd be able to watch Ant-Man And The Wasp on Sunday, on M-Net Channel 101 at 20:05.
If you haven't seen ...
23/03/2019
M-Net's Sunday movie Deadpool 2 is the 11th installment in the X-Film franchise, and also serves as a direct sequel to the first Deadpool movie.
If you en...
23/03/2019
Loyola University Chicago Head Coach Porter Moser to Join Saturday and Sunday...
23/03/2019
Former Kaizer Chiefs defender, Godfrey Walusimbi has shed some light on how his stint at Naturena became an all-too-brief one.
The Ugandan international arrive...
23/03/2019
Proteas seamer Kagiso Rabada feels that the Delhi Capitals, formerly the Delhi Daredevils, have the quality in their squad to challenge for the IPL title in 201...
23/03/2019
We've all seen the efforts by digital artists to create lifelike human faces. It is arguably the most difficult task in computer graphics, and many have mad...
23/03/2019
Kicking off the first day of Nvidia's 10 th annual GTC conference, CEO Jensen Huang focused on three chapters of innovation in his keynote: computer grap...
23/03/2019
tools of the trade
Mar 22, 2019
We're about to get super meta here. But not in the self-referential, that's so meta way that became nomenclature ...
23/03/2019
Oslo -- March 22, 2019 -- Netflix today announced Home for Christmas, a brand ne...
23/03/2019
Anna Cathcart (The Descendants, Odd Squad), Janel Parrish (Pretty Little Liars: ...
23/03/2019
Nokia Corporation
Stock Exchange Release
March 22, 2019 at 16:45 (CET +1)
Nokia comments on market rumors related to its annual report on Form 20-F
Espoo - ...
23/03/2019
ESPN Connects Abu Dhabi and Bristol via IP for Expanded Special Olympics Product...
23/03/2019
SVG Venue Summit at Little Caesars Arena: Full Program Announced, Call for Speak...
23/03/2019
First FA Foray into Esports Broadcasting Finds eLions Champions Ready for FIFA e...
23/03/2019
Sports Graphics Forum: Successful On-Air Packages Call for Open Communication Be...
23/03/2019
BT Sport, Sunset+Vine To Produce Amazon's Premier League Football Coverage By Will Strauss, Contributing Editor
Friday, March 22, 2019 - 1:05 pm
Print ...
23/03/2019
SVG Sports Graphics Forum: How Fox and drive studio Created the 2018 FIFA World ...
23/03/2019
We have yet another exciting announcement and addition to the team in the form of Sumit Arora, Our New Operations Support Engineer.
Sumit, moved to Norway with...
23/03/2019
Television Network Affiliate Groups to Hold Meetings at 2019 NAB Show WASHINGTON, D.C. - The affiliate boards of directors of ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX Television ...
23/03/2019
Avid recently announced that FotoKem, a leader in digital and film post production for over five decades, has renewed its multi-year enterprise agreement with A...
23/03/2019
Scale Logic, Inc. is going back to school at NAB, with two days of media management workshops on the show floor with some of the industry's most prominent t...
As Samsung unveils its first foldable smartphone, how will affect online video viewing?
