Samsung will supply its ultra-thin glass (UTG) display tech to other smartphone manufacturers, it said in a press release. The slightly misleading UTG branding (given that it is not entirely just glass) was first used commercially on the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip that went on sale on 14 February.
The announcement comes with Samsung’s new tagline for UTG, the utterly cringeworthy “tough, yet tender”, which also basically admits that yes, it contains glass, but also it’s really quite fragile still.
Samsung said that “The glass, while only 30㎛ thick, is produced using an intensifying process to enhance its flexibility and durability. In the process, the UTG is injected with a special material up to an undisclosed depth to achieve a consistent hardness.”
It may be slightly harder than the pure plastic screen of the Galaxy Fold, but as stress tests have shown the UTG in the Z Flip still dents very easily – with just a fingernail, in fact.
Samsung says the UTG layer is sandwiched in between the flexible OLED display and the scratchable plastic layer on the top. In the announcement the company said its UTG “is expected to be adopted by other foldable electronic devices, when demand arises.”
Samsung makes its own phone of course, but subsidiary Samsung Display supplies displays and components to many other rival phone companies, including for Apple’s iPhones.
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Author: Henry Burrell, Phones Editor
Henry is Tech Advisor’s Phones Editor, ensuring he and the team covers and reviews every smartphone worth knowing about for readers and viewers all over the world. He spends a lot of time moving between different handsets and shouting at WhatsApp to support multiple devices at once.