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Could Xiaomi beat Lenovo and Samsung to the punch with a foldable phone?

Flexible displays have been hanging around in the peripheries of the tech scene for a while now, with Samsung, LG, and Lenovo said to be working on foldable screens for future products.

Just this week in fact, Sammy was granted a new patent for a foldable display that looks like it could arrive in the form of a highly adaptable tablet capable of being used as a notebook.

But now it looks like there could be another player in the flexible display game, if a couple of renders spotted on Baidu (via AndroidAuthority) are to be believed.

Xiaomi flexible screen
Image via GizmoChina

The images suggest Chinese firm Xiaomi is working on its own version of a bendable screen, which can apparently be bent left and right as well as backwards and forwards.

Of course, there’s no way to know whether the images are legit, but they certainly look convincing, and we wouldn’t be all that surprised to hear another company is working on flexible displays.

LG has already showed off its own rollable screen at severeal tech shows, with Samsung also investing heavily in the plastic OLED technology needed to create the bendable displays.

Xiaomi flexible screen

As AndroidAuthority points out, the two firms have both conducted research into Atomic Layer Deposition to encapsulate OLEDs.

The technology requires a thinner film than the current PECVD method, which adds further flexibility to the finished product.

With so many companies seemingly commited to developing bendable displays we’re expecting to see something concrete in the very near future, perhaps at next years’ MWC in February, so stay tuned.

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Let us know what you think of the renders in the comments.

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