Samsung Galaxy Slide — this could be the next big thing for phones

Samsung Galaxy Slide — this could be the next large affair for phones

(Epitome credit: Samsung)

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 may indeed exist the best foldable phone around, and it looks set to exist followed upward by the Galaxy Z Fold 4. Simply the next frontier for Samsung's folding phones and display tech could be with sliding screens.

This was hinted at by the new OLED Era microsite from Samsung Display, the screen-making arm of Samsung. The newly launched sub-site is showcasing some of Samsung Display's thin and flexible OLED panels.

While the foursquare folding displays constitute in the electric current Galaxy Fold phones get their moment in the dominicus, the site also suggests that what Samsung calls "Flex OLED" could one day appear in phones with sliding displays.

Through the utilise of ultra-thin drinking glass (UTG), Samsung could create a phone or tablet that effectively has a sliding display, allowing compact devices to expand into handhelds with larger screens.

We've come across this concept before with the Oppo 10 2021 concept telephone, in which the telephone stretches outwards, pulling apartment the edges of a foldable display on both sides — effectively sliding out behind the phone to make for a larger screen. Samsung's "Slideable Flex" concept would seem to follow this system.

Doing this could brand for a mesomorphic phone when its brandish is wrapped around the dorsum. But the ability to have folding displays sport a i.4R curvature — as seen in the Galaxy Z Fold two — could let Samsung's slidable brandish wrap more tightly around a phone'due south chassis, thus making the device slimmer.

"An even crisper, cleaner fold and less space in between. The remarkably tiny 1.4R curvature of the Samsung Flex OLED creates a sharper bend, for more compact and precise smartphone designs," explained Samsung. "Folding stress is minimized past the brandish layers' staggered structure, making such a small bend possible."

Of form, Samsung has fabricated no mention of any sliding screen devices it's working on — all we accept is the above return image to base our thoughts on. But Samsung has long innovated display tech and device form factors, so it'southward not a huge leap for it to try and make a phone with a folding-meets-sliding display.

Innovations in Flex OLED could also lead to the adjacent-generation Fold phone to accept a sharper curvature and thus fold flatter, addressing one of our criticisms nearly the Milky way Z Fold 3 — information technology's rather mesomorphic when folded.

We'd likely demand to wait until at least 2022 before nosotros see what Samsung is working on side by side. The visitor is likely to launch the Samsung Galaxy S22 line next. But we feel nosotros're very much at the cusp of a true era of devices with innovative and flexible displays.

Roland Moore-Colyer is U.Grand. Editor at Tom'due south Guide with a focus on news, features and opinion articles. He often writes virtually gaming, phones, laptops and other bits of hardware; he's besides got an interest in cars. When not at his desk Roland tin can be constitute wandering around London, frequently with a look of marvel on his face.