Future Of Foldable OLED Screens

Tom's Guide

Samsung Display, the division of Samsung that drives the innovation in display form factors, went all-in on OLED for CES 2024.   Here the Samsung Display is calling the the Flex Liple and Flex In and Out, plus what might be the next generation of Galaxy Buds. Also how durable Samsung's OLED displays for foldable smartphones truly are.

Transcript

00:00 Samsung Display never fails to impress at CES,

00:03 and this year the division has brought a ton of OLED concepts to the show,

00:07 reimagining foldable phones, tablets, and more.

00:10 There's even one prototype that seems closer to market than you might think.

00:13 Let's go take a closer look.

00:15 Samsung Display is the division of Samsung that drives the innovation in display form factors.

00:23 The first folding screens that we saw from Samsung Display

00:26 eventually developed into the likes of the Z Fold and Z Flip.

00:29 Again, Samsung has that claim of bringing the first foldable phones to market.

00:33 A lot of what we see here are just prototypes,

00:35 so it's not like these phones are coming in 2024, 2025,

00:39 but it gives us an idea of what some of our future smartphones could look like.

00:42 There were two here in particular that have never been shown before.

00:45 Over here we have what they're calling the Flex Lipple.

00:48 I promised them I wouldn't make fun of the name until I could come up with a better one on my own,

00:53 but basically it's a combination of light and simple.

00:56 The idea that you can have a clamshell foldable that's even more lightweight and easy to carry around

01:01 than the Samsung Z Flip.

01:03 What's cool about this one, though, is instead of having that big external display,

01:07 which some people obviously like,

01:09 it's kind of pairing that down into a display that comes over the lip of the phone.

01:14 So it kind of reminds me of an infinity pool.

01:16 And the idea is that you'll see little bits of information while your phone is closed.

01:20 It kind of peeks up from the top, too,

01:22 so you can get that little glance of information that you might need at any given time.

01:26 It's a really cool proof of concept.

01:27 I don't know how people would feel about having a clamshell that doesn't have a display on the outside

01:32 now that we had that with the Galaxy Z Flip 5.

01:34 That said, if you want a more minimalistic look, I could see this being a cool smartphone for you.

01:39 So we had a minimalist foldable phone, and now there's a maximalist foldable phone.

01:43 Samsung Display is calling this the Flex In-N-Out,

01:46 and that's because the phone folds not just in a clamshell,

01:50 but you actually can fold it all the way around.

01:52 So it flexes both ways. The phone is pretty much entirely screen.

01:56 And if you fold it in instead of folding it out,

01:58 you get a bar of information that peeks up from the top,

02:01 kind of like how we saw on the other phone.

02:03 The hinge here looks kind of clunky.

02:05 Again, it's just a prototype.

02:07 I imagine that if Samsung Display were to see this into an actual Samsung phone,

02:11 the whole technology of it would be trimmed down.

02:13 If these types of phones were actually to come to market,

02:16 they would have to undergo Samsung's rigorous testing.

02:19 They set up this cool demonstration showing how the OLED displays

02:22 are protected from extreme heat and extreme cold.

02:25 I got to drop one in the sand, which has always been a concern of mine with foldables,

02:29 but sure enough, it was fine.

02:30 Of course, we got a water dunk test and even a different kind of dunk.

02:34 Well, kind of.

02:35 We saw a basketball bounced on the OLED display to show its durability.

02:39 In the meantime, there's actually a Samsung Display concept

02:41 that seems like it could already be viable in the market.

02:44 Essentially, it's a pair of Galaxy Buds with an OLED display on the case.

02:49 Now, we've seen other earbuds come out last year that had displays on the case

02:54 so you can check the battery life, pairing information, even pause and play your music.

02:58 This looks like that. We're seeing here the battery life.

03:00 But when I tap this one, it looks so much like a Galaxy Watch.

03:04 I'm guessing that there's going to be some learnings there, sharing the technology.

03:08 Maybe these are the Galaxy Buds 3.

03:10 What do you think of the concepts we've seen from Samsung Display at CES?

03:13 Be sure to let me know in the comments of this video

03:15 and hit subscribe to see all of our coverage from Las Vegas.

03:19 I also think you should see what we're doing on social @tomsguide.

03:22 And as always, I'm @katekosich.

03:24 Thanks for watching. I'll catch you next time.

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