Samsung's flexible AMOLED display codenamed ‘YOUM’ in the works.

Samsung has been toying with the idea of using flexible AMOLED screens in smartphones for a while now. They had demoed some prototype displays during CES and then we had this little number, the Galaxy Skin, which featured a single display that can be folded in order to make it more compact. We’ve now learnt that the company is calling their flexible AMOLED screen technology ‘Youm’, which we should hopefully see in their upcoming smartphones.

The name and the logo seem pretty official as Samsung has sent it over for trademark registration in the United States. This will be their next-generation AMOLED technology after their Super AMOLED Plus screens used in the Galaxy S II. The new screens are supposed to be flexible, thanks to the special treatment given to the TFT, which makes it ‘unbreakable’, according to Samsung. Flexible displays seem to be the next step in the evolution of the mobile device display. Just last week, we heard of LG Display beginning mass production of their plastic, e-paper displays for eBook readers. Samsung had demoed this flexible display, last year at CES and even a year back, the display had some pretty interesting specifications like a 800 x 480 pixel resolution on a screen size of 4.5 inches, something that’s prevalent even today in many smartphones. Whether or not we’ll see phones with this display in 2012 is anyone’s guess. At the most we may see some functioning prototypes at Samsung’s event in May, where they should unveil the Galaxy S III.

Flexible displays open up a whole new world of design possibilities for manufacturers. Currently, the trend of large, glass slabs are getting a bit monotonous. This new technology may finally help revive the clam-shell segment, once again. This segment of mobile phones completely died out and except for places, like Japan and Korea, where it’s still popular. As touchscreen phones grew in popularity, manufacturers had no choice but to ditch that form factor and focus on what was trending, if they had to stay relevant. Perhaps Samsung’s YOUM technology may just be the ticket to revive the old clam-shell, back from the grave.