Skip to main content

Samsung has no plans to compete with LG’s Optimus 3D for now

On the heels of LG’s Mobile World Congress reveal of its upcoming glasses-free Optimus 3D phone is word from leading 3D TV manufacturer Samsung that there are currently no plans to bring a competing product to the market. The wording is actually a little more pointed than that, however.

Samsung Mobile UK head of product management Jim Powell said “We are world leaders in 3D, but we haven’t seen a need for 3D on mobiles as yet for UK customers,” TechRadar reports. In a market where smaller is proving to be a consumer preference, adding a luxury feature like a 3D display doesn’t add up. “There’s a trade off with when it comes to thickness and pocketablity when it comes adding 3D into a mobile phone as well.”

While Powell doesn’t specifically name LG’s Optimus 3D in his comments, as the only mobile product that offers the feature there really isn’t a lot of room for interpretation. Nintendo’s upcoming 3DS handheld gaming device will also offer a portable, glasses-free 3D experience, but one thing it doesn’t have is mobile capabilities.

Despite his indirect indictment, Powell said that the company remains open to following market trends. “We just don’t see [3D] is needed yet – good luck to the innovators though, it will be interesting to see if it works, and if it does you’ll see a response from Samsung quickly.”

Editors' Recommendations

Adam Rosenberg
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Previously, Adam worked in the games press as a freelance writer and critic for a range of outlets, including Digital Trends…
This A.I. app converts any photo into 3D, no dual lenses required
LucidPix smartphone app

3D photos literally pop out of any newsfeed -- but sharing one requires a device with dual lenses or Dual Pixel technology. Not for much longer, however. LucidPix, teased during CES 2020, is an artificial intelligence app that takes photos that you’ve already snapped and converts them into 3D images.

LucidPix works by using contextual A.I. to identify the objects in the scene, and then generating a depth map. The app, Lucid says, was trained using hundreds of millions of photos over the past several years.

Read more
The Qualcomm 3D Sonic Max fingerprint sensor lets you scan two fingers at once
ZTE Axon 10 Pro fingerprint sensor

Just a few days after rumors emerged that Samsung might be moving away from Qualcomm's ultrasonic fingerprint sensor, Qualcomm has announced a second-generation of the tech. The new sensor is called the Qualcomm 3D Sonic Max, and it offers a number of upgrades over the previous-generation sensor. The company announced the tech at its annual Snapdragon Summit, which I was flown out to.

Details about the new ultrasonic fingerprint sensor are still a little scarce, but what we do know is that it will offer a recognition area that's 17 times larger than the previous-ten sensor. The result? According to Qualcomm, the new sensor allows for increased security. In fact, the extra area essentially means that you can use two-finger authentication, instead of having to stick with one.

Read more
Doodles become augmented reality art with Snapchat’s new 3D Paint tool
Snapchat

https://digitaltrends-uploads-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/3d-create-paint-snapchat-press.mp4

Tired of Snapchat’s usual round of face filters? Soon, you can paint your own augmented reality Lenses using a new tool called 3D paint. Rolling out beginning October 30, 3D Paint allows Snapchat users to draw in augmented reality using the front-facing or rear-facing cameras on iOS 8 or later, with a future update bringing the tool to Android.

Read more