Samsung has revealed its next-generation display technologies including an S-foldable, slidable OLED display, and Under Panel Camera for laptops.
Taking part in the online-only Display Week 2021 until Friday, May 21, Samsung has shared a video highlighting all the announcements on its YouTube channel. While the products shown are currently just concepts, a recent post has already given us a sneak peek behind the curtain.
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Samsung S-foldable
Samsung Display has been at the forefront of foldable displays for smartphones for a while, with the Galaxy Z Flip and the Galaxy Z Fold 2 the most popular on the market. Now, foldable fans can expect the S-foldable, a multi-foldable device that can be folded twice.
The device can be used as a smartphone or tablet, folding out to a 7.2-inch display. According to the image, the left side of the device is has a dedicated section to host the front-facing (and possibly backward-facing?) camera. There's also a clear section on the right side of the device that looks like it is used to hold it.
Companies such as OnePlus and Apple rely on Samsung Display for display panels, and with rumors of the foldable iPhone swirling, this could be a hint of what's to come.
Samsung's 17-foldable
Samsung Display also revealed a super-sized 17-inch foldable OLED display, which aims to be similar to a tablet when folded in a 4:3 ratio and a PC monitor when unfolded.
While the tech company didn't offer any more details about the product, it does seem to focus on portability for those that enjoy the size of a PC monitor but are often on the move.
Samsung Slidable
As previously reported, Samsung's rollable and slidable displays have been in the works for a while. LG may have impressed at CES 2021 with its slick LG rollable smartphone (rest in piece), but Samsung is looking to take all the glory.
The slidable OLED display will have a function that extends the screen horizontally "while maintaining the shape of an existing smartphone." It seems like it offers enough screen space for an extra set of apps, although we expect apps will be able to utilize the full screen.
Samsung Under Panel Camera (UPC) OLED display
Samsung Display is looking to eliminate screen bezels and maximise screen space on laptops altogether with its "full-screen technology." To do this, it will use an Under Panel Camera (UPC) that hides the front-facing camera.
According to Samsung, the UPC "secures camera functions by increasing the transmittance of the panel part where the camera module is located." Whether this will affect webcam picture quality (which isn't known to be great on laptops) is unknown, but we're happy to see a bezel-less display on a laptop.
The Korean tech giant is reportedly developing an Exynos chip with an AMD Radeon GPU for an upcoming laptop. If the report is anything to go by, we could see the new UPC technology being used in the rumored laptop, too.
