Samsung can be accredited with single-handedly creating a sizable market for foldable smartphones. The company is now readying its fifth-gen foldables, while rivals are rushing to catch up to it. However, the Korean firm doesn’t want to limit the foldable tech to just smartphones. It sees the potential of foldable displays in other device categories as well, including laptops, tablets, and PC monitors.
Since launching the first-gen Galaxy Fold in 2019, Samsung has showcased various types of foldable devices in concept videos and prototype units. In fact, the company’s work on flexible displays dates back more than a decade. It showed off a prototype device at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) back in January 2013. The tech giant also released an ad showing the futuristic device that would finally become a reality about six years later.
All this while, Samsung continued to work on foldables and applied for patents for a host of such products. We have seen foldable laptops, foldable tablets, and even new types of foldable smartphones. While it currently only makes two types of foldable devices — the book-like Galaxy Z Fold series and clamshell folding Galaxy Z Flip series — the company hasn’t given up on other ideas. A Samsung executive recently reaffirmed that it still plans to pursue those ideas.
Speaking at the Display Technology Blueprint Presentation in South Korea on Tuesday, February 21, Samsung Display Vice President Sung-Chan Jo talked about the evolution of smartphones over the years. He discussed how these hand-held tech pieces have become smaller yet more powerful. And with the arrival of foldables, the landscape has further changed. We now get bigger screens in smaller devices that are more portable.
“Mobile phones, which were big and heavy like bricks in the past, have evolved into foldable smartphones,” Jo said (Google translated from Korean). He suggested that the foldable tech can similarly change other device categories. “We will spread foldable devices widely,” the Samsung executive affirmed during the event, which was organized by the Korea Display Industry Association and held at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Jung-gu, Seoul.
Samsung may launch its first batch of foldable laptops this year
While Jo didn’t reveal any product roadmap, we may see Samsung launch a foldable laptop sooner than later. The company has been working on a 17.3-inch foldable OLED panel for at least the past couple of years. It can be folded from the middle to get two screens of 13.3 inches diagonal each. The Korean media recently suggested that Samsung may launch this product this year. Time will tell whether that happens. We will keep you posted.
2023-02-22 15:15:27