Samsung’s New Mobile Display Is a Different Kind of Flex — That Slides

Mobile devices of the long run ought to have the flexibility to fold, bend and slide, based on Samsung‘s imaginative and prescient. To convey this message, the corporate offered a small style of its newest improvements in show designs, such because the slidable and foldable Flex Hybrid, at CES.

The new idea can change between 10.5- and 12.4-inch display sizes, because of its slidable and foldable design. The left aspect of the display folds, whereas the fitting aspect slides. In addition to altering the display’s measurement, the prototype also can soar between 4:3 and 16:10 facet ratios. Although the Flex Hybrid is only a idea, it exhibits that Samsung is investigating what the following evolution of foldable telephones and tablets may appear like. 

In a Jan. 3 press launch, Samsung summarized its new show ideas, however the firm plans to showcase the applied sciences throughout an exhibition this week at CES. The Flex Hybrid is only one of a number of mock-ups. There’s additionally a 17-inch slidable show, which was previewed in September, and a digital cockpit idea meant for self-driving automobiles.

Read More: CES 2023: How to Watch the Biggest Announcements from Samsung, LG, Nvidia

Concepts like these do not at all times translate into actual merchandise, however the Flex Hybrid feels most in step with Samsung’s present product technique. Foldable telephones solely account for a sliver of the broader cellphone market, however the Galaxy Z Fold and Galaxy Z Flip have develop into well-established inside Samsung’s cell machine lineup. The firm’s early entry into the foldable cellphone area has given it an edge by way of market share as Samsung accounts for greater than 88% of the foldable smartphone market, based on Omdia.

TM Roh, the pinnacle of Samsung’s cell expertise enterprise, prompt in an interview final August that the corporate is already fascinated with what’s subsequent after the Z Fold and Z Flip. The introduction of recent ideas just like the Flex Hybrid underscores that time.

“It’s all the things you noticed [at CES] plus extra,” he stated, referencing the show ideas Samsung showcased at CES final 12 months. 

But Samsung will even seemingly face extra competitors as foldable telephones proceed to evolve. Motorola and TCL have each proven rollable cellphone ideas of their very own. Oppo’s Find N2, which the corporate launched in late 2022, additionally exhibits a variety of promise because of its light-weight design, as my colleague Sareena Dayaram wrote. 

Although Samsung is making an attempt to make foldables a extra common fixture in our each day lives, its purpose is not to exchange common telephones.

“I’d not see both only a bar-type, or only a foldable, or simply one other doubtlessly new kind issue dominating the market,” Roh additionally stated throughout the earlier interview. “But relatively I see the completely different classes coexisting collectively.”

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