The panel can be folded twice to be smartphone-sized or, when stretched out, provide a 7.2-inch panel.
Image: Samsung Display
Samsung Display on Tuesday unveiled an OLED panel that can be folded twice.
The S-Foldable, when fully stretched out, provides 7.2 inches of screen but when it is folded twice, it transforms into the size of a conventional smartphone, the company said.
The panel was one among many displays exhibited by Samsung at 2021 SID Display Week, which is being held online this year.
Among those other displays was the company’s slidable OLED panel. In its normal form, the panel is similar in size to those used in conventional smartphones, but more of the panel can be slid out horizontally to expand its size. At a glance, the technology looks similar to what LG and TCL showed off at CES 2021 earlier this year, which were marketed as being rollable rather than slidable.
This particular panel can slide horizontally to become wider from smartphone size.
Image: Samsung Display
Another large panel unveiled by Samsung was a 17-inches, 4:3 aspect ratio display that could be folded to the size of a tablet.
Samsung Display also showed off its under panel camera technology, where the front camera is hidden completely under the screen.
Samsung Display didn’t say when these technologies would be commercialised, but the under panel camera is rumoured to be on one of Samsung Electronics’ upcoming foldable phones. Samsung is expected to unveil the successors to its foldable smartphones, the Galaxy Z Flip and Galaxy Z Fold 2, later this year.
Outside of the display exhibition, the South Korean tech giant separately announced new power management chips that will be integrated with its DDR5 memory module. The chips, S2FPD01, S2FPD02, and S2FPC01, will be packed into the module itself instead of a motherboard, making it more reliably connected to the memory. In addition, they also offer enhanced voltage control and power efficiency, Samsung said.
