Are foldable phones and tablets cool again? It will depend on Samsung, LG, TCL and other device manufacturers.
But after seeing the Samsung Flex Hybridwho bends and slides, this week at CES 2023, I’m starting to get excited again about cutting-edge technology that hasn’t caught on yet. While the concept model remained in the hands of a member of Samsung staff, seeing it for myself renewed my hope in the possibilities we have yet to explore with screens that can bend, bend, slide and roll.
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As someone who has used a number of these early devices since Samsung, Motorola, Oppo and others, I admit being a little disappointed with the appeal of foldables in recent years. The Flex Hybrid and other prototypes from Samsung’s Display division may have changed that.
There were sliders, foldables, and even some devices that used multiple technologies, and any of them could appear in the not-too-distant future. The Flex Hybrid is a foldable tablet that has an extra screen that pulls out, with the demo giving an example of watching a football game on the tablet’s full screen before removing the extra screen real estate to see stats and more. ‘other information.
Other prototype models, like the Flex S, can fold up multiple times, giving you a smartphone-sized screen when closed and a large tablet when open. It is something straight out of HBO’s Westworld.
Samsung Display’s Flex S looks like a tablet screen straight out of HBO’s Westworld.
David Katzmaier/CNET
The new displays appear to be bringing the foldable era to life, which got off to a rocky start with a Original Samsung Galaxy Fold that had well-documented issues in 2019. Later models like the recent Turnaround Z 4 and Z-fold 4 showed a lot of promise and panache, but neither caught on despite being pretty excellent devices – we’re talking around 1.1% of the global smartphone market share for foldables, according to the research firm IDC.
Still, the appeal of foldable devices grows among buyers as prices gradually drop and improvements are made. IDC expects foldable phone shipments to reach 41.5 million units in 2026, up from 13.5 million units in 2022.
Again, these prototypes aren’t meant to be finished products, but rather showcases of the technology the company has been working on. It is also developed by Samsung Display, which is a different part of Samsung than the Samsung Electronics unit that produces and sells phones, tablets, computers, TVs, and other electronics (although the two also work together ).
Samsung Display is one vendor, and its screens find their way into a host of products not made by the South Korean tech giant. So, while Samsung manufactures the screens, it is very possible that another company is marketing some of them.
“These are all prototypes, concept devices, obviously,” says John Jacobs, vice president of sales and marketing at Samsung Display. We won’t go out and build millions [of these displays] Until we have customers. Jacobs hopes those customers, from phone and computer makers to automakers looking for displays for their next cars, will see the concepts and be inspired.
“That’s what we want to do here is help, if you want to…enable creativity and imagination.”
It’s up to other companies to take those displays and build working products around them. While Samsung was demonstrating the technology at CES, it wasn’t letting media attendees pick up and use the prototypes for themselves. Instead, the company has staff members running the demos.
But unlike so many products and concepts at CES, Samsung seems ready for these displays to take the next step to becoming a real product. In fact, Jacobs doesn’t think we’ll have to wait too long.
“I think [in] 2024, especially multiply devices, become much more of a possibility.
There’s still a lot of work to do by Samsung and others to get us there, but I can’t wait.
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