Samsung Display showcases the future of rollable, foldable smartphones

• Samsung has shown off a new range of foldable display concepts, addressing potential use cases.
• Samsung Display makes OLED panels for Samsung and other companies.
• The concepts were shown off at the ongoing 2021 SID Display Week.

The future of smartphones could be rollable, foldable and could even flex, going by the next-generation OLED products shown off by Samsung Display at the 2021 SID Display Week.

The virtual event, organized by Society for Information Display (SID), includes a long list of industry heavyweights, including Samsung’s rival LG Display, BOE, JDI Display, TCL, Tianma, AU Optronics among others.

Samsung Display is a division of Samsung Electronics. It rolled out the first mass produced foldable display for smartphones, which was used in the Samsung Galaxy Fold, launched in 2019.

Here are the foldable display concepts showcased by Samsung

Samsung’s foldable display concepts could give rise to a new range of form factors.

17-inch foldable device


You could essentially have a foldable phone with a huge 17-inch display that could replace tablets, and in some cases, even laptops.

If this seems like something you have already seen, it’s probably because of the ill-fated Microsoft Surface Neo concept. Samsung’s solution is just bigger.

S-Foldable

This is closer to the traditional foldable phones that are available in the market today – like the Galaxy Z Fold 2. However, Samsung has slightly tweaked the design that allows you to fold the display two times, making it more compact than the current phones.

Slidable phones could be a reality one day, too


What if you can simply pull out an additional display from under your existing one, and it can act as an extended screen? This is what Samsung’s slidable display concept looks like.

It’s essentially like pulling out a drawer extension so you have more space to work with, while maintaining a minimal footprint.

Under display camera


Lastly, Samsung has also shown off a concept display with a camera that can be hidden under the screen. This concept works for both phones as well as laptops, but it remains to be seen how it affects the image quality.

It is worth noting that these are just concepts and may not necessarily end up being manufactured. However, this shows us that Samsung is continuing to work in this direction, and some of this may eventually end up being used in a future smartphone.

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