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Ever since the iPhone made a slab of pure screen the smartphone norm, the next step off in distance has been a slab of pure screen that can fold. Part throwback to the flip phone days, part sci-fi vision of flexible displays, these theoretical gadgets have been floating around in concept and prototype form for years. Now, the CEO of Samsung's mobile division says it's finally coming this year. We'll see.
Foldable screen tech has poked out its head in various forms, including flexible 18-inch displays from LG and tablets that can literally fold themselves in half from Lenovo. Clearly, the tech exists, but that's really only the very first step to a gadget you can buy, as Samsung's mobile CEO DJ Koh suggested to CNBC when he said that the impetus for finally bringing the product to market is not technology, but rather a consumer survey indicating there's actually some demand. Enough to finally plow through with a concept that's been kicking around for about five years now, evidently:
Of course, Samsung's threshold for demand might be a bit low, considering it's the company that decided to make giant Dick Tracy smartwatches you can make a real phone call from, and questionable useful curved screen features. If Samsung can put out a real foldable phone, it will be a (no doubt very expensive) first, but unless it manages to fix any of the things that are actually wrong with smartphones, it's hard to imagine how it's destined to be anything but a gimmick.
Source: CNBC
