TL;DR
- Samsung Display has shown off a prototype screen for foldable phones that can fold both inwards and outwards.
- It’s called the Flex In & Out and comes with a new 360-degree water-drop hinge design.
Samsung Display, the company that makes displays for Samsung, has a new prototype phone screen with a 360-degree hinge. The company shared information about the same with The Verge and even sent out some pictures. What’s special about the new design is that it can help a foldable phone to fold both inwards and outwards.
Called the Flex In & Out, the display was first shown off at CES 2023. A few days back, we saw just an image of it held next to the Galaxy Z Fold 4. At the time, all we could tell was that the prototype display looked much thinner when folded compared to the Z Fold 4. We also saw that it folds flat, with both sides sitting flush with each other. This is thanks to the new water-drop hinge, which allows the display to bend in a looser shape, also causing less of a crease than the current hinge system on Samsung’s foldable.
What we didn’t know before is that the hinge can make the display fold in both directions. A fact that Samsung has now confirmed, along with the other details about the hinge mechanism. Below is an image that shows just how it works.
Samsung Display/The Verge
If the new screen shows up on the Galaxy Z Fold 5, which is already rumored to adopt the water-drop style hinge, it could be the biggest design change Samsung has made to its larger foldable in years. We’re not sure how the software dynamics would work when the phone is folded outwards, with a part of the screen touching the palm when it’s held. But we’re sure Samsung would think of all that before commercially releasing such a display on a foldable phone.
