Rumors of a Samsung smartphone with a foldable display have been rampant of late, and the company confirmed that it’s working on such a…
Rumors of a Samsung smartphone with a foldable display have been rampant of late, and the company confirmed that it’s working on such a device at the Samsung Developer Conference this afternoon. The so-called Infinity Flex display made its debut in a « pocket-sized smartphone » that can fold open to reveal a 7.3″ display—just a bit short of the diagonal of other small tablets like the iPad mini 4. The company’s prototype device also has a screen on one of its outer faces for use when the full-size internal display isn’t needed or practical.
Samsung’s push to make foldable displays the next thing in phones has Google’s official blessing, too. In a post on the Android Developers blog, the company revealed support for a new device class like Samsung’s prototype called « Foldables. » Google anticipates there will be two-screen and one-screen devices using this technology, and it says it’s optimizing Android to deal with cases like starting a video on the outer screen of a two-screen device and seamlessly moving that video to the internal screen when the device is unfolded.
Image: Google
Google says to expect foldable devices from Samsung and « several » other Android manufacturers starting next year. The firm will be sharing more information about the possibilities of foldable devices at its own Android Dev Summit running from November 7 through 8 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.
