Samsung’s announcement about their upcoming foldable phone was one of the most important news of 2018. Bendable phones have been a fantasy for a long time, and it appeared that Samsung was about to transform it into a reality.
However, it appears that this was something that did not sit right with their competitors. There has been an attempt to steal the company’s flexible display tech. One of Samsung’s suppliers is to blame.
The CEO of the supplier company created a false company, which was headed by his sister in law. A different factory was used to build the foldable displays, and the plan was to sell them to Chinese display manufacturer. They tried to sell the tech between May and August 2018, for around $13.8 million. The supplier began selling the technology after the sales started to go down.
Obviously this would have been a hard blow for Samsung. The company needed about $150 million won and six years in order to develop this technology. The screen is also the most important part of their upcoming foldable phone.
Their plan failed
The supplier was caught when they were discovered loading components into a ship. The destination was China. The ones responsible were recently charged by South Korean officials. There are nine persons in total, the CEO of one of Samsung’s suppliers, Toptec Co Ltd, and eight employees.
At the moment we do not know any other details. For example, the Chinese company that was trying to purchase the technology is unknown. However, we did receive the information that the components were related to “3D lamination”.
Samsung declared that it is “shocked at the results of the investigation by prosecutors, at a time when competitors are intensifying their technological rivalry.” Their flexible screen device is expected to be released at some point in 2019.
Nora Reynolds is a major in biology and a minor in Biological Basis of Behavior, writing about science in general. She also likes to try new gadgets and sports about the AI new era.