Samsung is working on a flexible phone that morphs into a smart bracelet

It could be the phone you need and the wearable you want
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We haven't heard so much as a peep out of Samsung's wearables division in months. But in the manner of any mid-season quirky sitcom worth its salt, you just know they've been doing something zany while they've been away.

Read this: Samsung's bet on biometrics for smartwatch payments

And according to a new patent, we could see a smartphone/smart jewellery hybrid to replace or sit alongside existing circular smartwatch plans. Bear with us, it might just work.

The futuristic patent, filed in mid-2014, builds on an earlier Samsung concept for a flexible device attached to rotatable components. This can then become a wide, touchscreen smart bracelet with a flexible display that wraps around your wrist. Take it off and flatten it out and you're back to a somewhat regular phone.

Samsung is working on a flexible phone that morphs into a smart bracelet

It's a clever, if not super stylish, idea and if anyone is pushing curved and flexible screens right now, it's Samsung - just see the high-end Galaxy S6 Edge smartphone.

Less can be more

The patent lists what sounds like the obvious - this bonkers device will have processing, multimedia and communication tech onboard, it may include 'touch input' and it states that when it is bent, it can be worn on the human body, in theory anywhere not just the wrist.

The wearable is always going to be an addition, at least in 2015. But this is a less can be more approach, similar to what we've seen from Neptune which is trying to get rid of tech duplication with dumb second screens for an all-powerful smartwatch.

Maybe the future is five small devices placed in a network around our body, maybe it's one shape-shifting gadget. Our guess is Samsung will try both.

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Sophie was Wareable's associate editor. She joined the team from Stuff magazine where she was an in-house reviewer. For three and a half years, she tested every smartphone, tablet, and robot vacuum that mattered. 

A fan of thoughtful design, innovative apps, and that Spike Jonze film, she is currently wondering how many fitness tracker reviews it will take to get her fit. Current bet: 19.

Sophie has also written for a host of sites, including Metro, the Evening Standard, the Times, the Telegraph, Little White Lies, the Press Association and the Debrief.

She now works for Wired.


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