14 DAY TRIAL // Samsung is ready to go all-in on foldable displays, and in addition to releasing a phone that features such technology, the company wants a future laptop to be based on the same idea as well.
While very little specifics were shared on this, Lee Min-cheol, Samsung’s vice president of marketing for PCs, said during the Samsung Notebook Flash launch that laptops with foldable displays are on the company’s roadmap and are a project that it’s currently working on with partners.
“Like foldable smartphones, Samsung is collaborating with display makers to develop laptops with foldable displays that will not just simply fold in and out but create new value and user experience, amid the changing market trends for laptops,” he was quoted as saying.
While Samsung says it’s working with display makers on this project, there’s a chance that the foldable screen for such a laptop would be built by its own Samsung Display division, which is already a leading company in the mobile display manufacturing world.
Possibly preview next year
However, with no details shared as to when such a device could hit the shelves, it all seems like the idea is still in its early days and a potential preview would only be offered sometime next year.
Samsung’s first foldable phone is projected to be unveiled next month, but sales may not start until the first quarter of 2019.
As for what a foldable display laptop would mean for customers, it’s all about improved usability and portability. A foldable display technically means the device can adapt to different tasks and thus support multiple form factors depending on the layout of the screen.
For portability, this would be a substantial improvement, as a device with a folded screen would require less space and thus be easier to carry around in a bag.
By the looks of things, Samsung doesn’t want to be late to this foldable laptop party, as rival Lenovo is also hard at work on making this idea happen with a partnership with LG.