Samsung already offers several smartphones with foldable displays including models that fold in half like a book and others that fold closed like an old-school flip phone. Now the company is showing off new flexible OLED display panels that could pave the way for different kinds of devices.
One is the S-foldable, a phone/tablet display with two folding points, effectively dividing the screen into three parts. Another is a Slideable display that rolls up inside the body of a device when you don’t need it, and slides out when you want extra horizontal space.
Samsung’s S-foldable display measures 7.2 inches diagonally when it’s fully unfolded, giving you a small tablet-sized screen. But it can be folded twice, once inward and once outward, giving the display an accordion-like design that lets you fold it up into a smaller, pocket-sized shape.
The company has provided fewer details about its new Slideable display, but a promotional image shows an expandable screen that looks similar to the ones used in the Oppo X 2021 and the cancelled LG Rollable.
Samsung will provide demos and more details during the virtual SID Display Week 2021 exhibition. The company is also showing off a an under-panel camera system that could be used in upcoming slim-bezel laptops, as well as a 17 inch foldable OLED display with a 4:3 aspect ratio when unfolded, which could be used in tablets or laptops similar to Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Fold, which has a 13.3 inch foldable display.
Update:Â Samsung’s promo video for the new displays, posted to YouTube by Charbax, shows some interesting applications for the new screens. For example, the S-foldable display could be folded in a triangle and used as an alarm click, or held flat with three different screen sections used for multi-tasking with different apps running in each section.
As expected, the 17 inch screen could be used as a laptop or tablet.
And the slideable display can give your phone a little extra screen space when you need it.
via SamMobile
Instead why doesn’t someone try to invent/develop something like mobile phone projector or screen reflector with very simple materials like paper or something? I think this folding tech is little bit weird, inefficient and expensive..
The AMOLED parts of these screens are good enough, but the outer layer still needs to be figured out. Right now you can permanently damage these screens just with your nail. THat’s probably accepptable if it folds inside a clamshell and is protected, but if it’s outside at all times I don’t think it’ll survive a year of actual use and probably far less in a state that makes you want to own it (MrMobile’s videos shows how it can self-destruct in half a year). You can’t use glass, this needs to be soft enough to fold, but hard enough not to let the AMOLED layer damaged… maybe a self-healing plastic? Maybe a hard glass layer on parts that don’t fold and softer plastic where it does? Dunno. But until they figure that one out I’m not considering a foldable.