As mobile makers look to differentiate product offerings, the Wall Street Journal reports Samsung plans to mass produce a somewhat novel form factor-- devices with flexible displays. 

Using OLED technology, the displays are made out of plastic (not glass) meaning the result is unbreakable, lighter and bendable, as well as cheaper to produce.

Samsung actually owns the suitable technology, thanks to electrowetting technology developer Liquivista. 

According to "a person familiar with the situation," Samsung will release such devices sometime during H1 2013. We have no idea what such flexible devices will look like, but they might be similar to the prototypes the company showed off back at CES 2011.

As well as novelty value, bendy devices represent a push towards alternative display technologies. Sharp and LG Display sell displays with "in cell technology" integrating touch sensors directly into the LCD, eliminating the separate touchscreen layer. 

Samsung is not the only company stretching out more flexible productions-- as early as 2009 Sony showed off a flexible display at CES, while a year earlier Plastic Logic had a bendable e-reader. More recently a bendable "Nokia Kinetic Device" was spotted at Nokia World 2011. 

Go Samsung Stretches Lineup (WSJ.com)

Go 2012: The Year of the Bendy Mobile Device?

A Swiss blog claims it has images of a Nexus 4/Galaxy S III rival from Sony-- the "Yuga" (or Sony C6603), an unconfirmed 5-inch Android handset with some fairly impressive specs.

The photos in question show a device similar to the recent Sony Xperia models. It has a glass unibody, MicroSD slot and what looks like a micro HDMI port.

Android 4.1.1 appears to be the OS of choice.

According to Android Schweiz the device has a 1920 x 1080 resolution, making it one of the first 5-inch handsets with a 1080p display.

Further alleged internal specifications include 2GB RAM, 12MP camera and a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 quad-core processor.

Is the "Yuga" an actual device? Sony provides no comment as yet but the company will surely reveal a smartphone or two come either CES or Mobile World Congress next year.

Go Sony C6603 Yuga Appears (Android Schweiz)

If one is to believe "officials" from component suppliers in Asia, Microsoft is testing out a smartphone design-- even if said officials are not sure such designs will even head to mass production.

According to the Wall Street Journal one of the Microsoft smartphones being tested measures between 4- and 5-inches, making it similar in size to either the iPhone 5 (4-inch) or the Samsung Galaxy S III (4.8-inch).

Rumours of a Microsoft smartphone are not exactly new. Last month, the China Times, BGR and The Verge simultaneously reported on Microsoft plans to take on Apple and Samsung (and its own vendor partners!) with a Surface-branded smartphone.

In reaction to the rumours Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer tells the WSJ "we're quite happy this holiday [season] going to market hard with Nokia, Samsung and HTC... Whether we had a plan to do something different or we didn't have a plan I wouldn't comment in any dimension."

HTC reveals a massive smartphone with one of the most impressive displays around-- the HTC J Butterfly, a follow-up to the HTC J with a 5-inch 440ppi Super LCD 3 display.

The current HTC flagship, the One X, carries a Super LCD 2 display.

While being pretty big the HTC J Butterfly is only 9.1mm thick, weighs 140g and has a fairly slim bezel. The insides also impress, with a 1.5GHz quad-core APQ8064 processor (aka Snapdragon S4 Pro), 2GB RAM, 16GB internal storage and wifi, Bluetooth 4.0 (LE), NFC, LTE, and CDMA/GSM/UMTS/GPRS connectivity.

The handset also carries 8MP rear/2.1MP front cameras, and will be available in either red, white or black. However it does have a problem-- HTC has to confirm a European release, although we are sure the company will use the display in an offering for the international market.

Go HTC J Butterfly