For years, Samsung has teased fans with flexible and foldable smartphones and tablets, but the company is yet to released any commercial product that people can prod and poke and buy. Sure, the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S6 both have “edge” versions with curved displays, and they’re gorgeous screens, but the curve isn’t a must-have feature in a smartphone. However, Samsung is working on a different type of foldable display, and that’s something to be excited about.
Rumors claim that a Galaxy X flagship smartphone will join the Galaxy S and Galaxy Note lines next year, sporting a flexible display. The technology is apparently already there, and Samsung demoed a rollable OLED screen in San Francisco at the SID 2016 event.
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Captured on video by Slashgear, the rollable screen measures 5.7-inch diagonally, offering Full HD resolution (that’s 1920 x 1080 pixels). When rolled up, the OLED panel hides away in a metal cylinder that has a radius of 10mm.
The foldable OLED screen weighs just 5g and is 0.3mm thick – that’s without a touch layer on top of it.
The technology is impressive, and could help Samsung and other smartphone makers bring new form factors to the smartphone market, compact devices that can be turned into phablets or small tablets with the help of a foldable screen.
Existing reports say that Samsung’s foldable smartphone will fold in half like a wallet, but the company is yet to announce any product.
Check out Samsung Display’s demo in the following video.
