Samsung Display, a subsidiary of the South Korean conglomerate, has unveiled a new bit of tech. The subsidiary is responsible for — you guessed it — developing and manufacturing the screens for most of Samsung’s devices and even some iPhones.
While those have largely remained unchanged, this new one has a cool party trick – it can rotate all the way around.
Someone at Samsung saw The Karate Kid recently
The new display, dubbed ‘Flex In & Out’, relies on a new type of hinge that features a waterdrop-like design. This is what allows folding in two directions. According to SamMobile (via South Korean publication Naver), the South Korean outfit patented this hinge design in 2016.
The waterdrop hinge is also supposed to greatly reduce the visible crease as seen in all of Samsung’s previous foldables to date by folding flatter than the current design without a gap between the halves.
All signs point to the tech-maker possibly using the new hinge and display in the unannounced Galaxy Z Fold 5. If that’s true, it will be the biggest change to its foldables since their inception, bringing the range closer to the Chinese competition like the Xiaomi Mix Fold range. But take that with a pinch of salt until you’ve heard it from the horse’s mouth.
It is still uncertain when Samsung will announce its next foldables. That usually happens around August. For now, all of the company’s focus is presumably on the upcoming Galaxy S23 range. That’s officially launching on 1 February. Here’s what we know about that so far.
Source: SamMobile via Naver
Images: Samsung Display via The Verge