Coming Soon from FujiFilm: Flexible Speakers
eReaders with a flexible screen might be only a pipedream, but if they do make it to the market chances are they will likely be using this flexible speaker from FujiFilm.
DigInfo caught up with FujiFilm in Japan last week at the NanoTech 2013 tradeshow. They got the first look at FujiFilm's latest prototype. This speaker not only works no matter how you flex it, it even rolls up into a tube.
It's made from a ceramic and polymer composite film, and that composite nature is why the film has minimal sound distortion no matter how the speaker might be folded or bent. And just to show one extreme example of how it might be folded, FujiFilm made the fan at right from the film. It's not a practical product yet, but it does offer decent sound.
Even if this never shows up in mobile devices, it still has great market potential. This film would make a great alternative to the existing tiny mobile speakers on the market now. It's both lighter and larger, and yet can simply be tossed into a bag when not in use.
I'd really like to see this speaker film be adapted for laptops. Most of the ones I've used have only marginal sound from tiny speakers. But if this film were mounted behind the screen, that could change. It would probably need to slide out of the case for best effect, but I think that's a fair trade off.
I would like one of these for a pillow speaker.