Samsung unveils incredible rollable display concept for laptops and PCs
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Let the good times roll! Samsung unveils an incredible roll-up display concept for laptops and tablet PCs
The animated, unfolding organic LED (OLED) screen is perhaps somewhat reminiscent of the Daily Prophet newspaper from wizarding Harry Potter.
Samsung Display unveiled their Rollable Flex concept this week, a monitor that rolls up and down like a scroll or a small yoga mat.
The device rolls up to approximately 2 inches (49 mm) and extends to a maximum vertical length of 10 inches (254.4 mm) – five times its storage height.
Earlier folding or sliding screens could only offer triple scalability as their form factor at best.
With Rollable Flex, Samsung hopes to help consumers by making larger devices such as laptops, tablets and monitors smaller and easier to carry.
Samsung’s Rollable Flex rolls up to approximately 2 inches (49 mm) and extends to a maximum vertical length of 10 inches (254.4 mm), five times the storage height and longer than previous bendable displays
Samsung Display unveiled Rollable Flex along with their other OLED screen innovations at the company’s trade show booth (pictured) during SID Display Week 2023 this week in Los Angeles
The company says the device’s secret is a carefully designed O-shaped shaft, around which the display wraps like the world’s most expensive sheet of toilet paper.
“We were able to turn a hard-to-carry large screen into a portable form factor,” Samsung Display said, “by making it rollable.”
But Rollable Flex isn’t the first scroll-style screen on the market. Other companies have ventured into this space before, including South Korean flat-screen TV maker LG, which wowed CES for years with a giant 65-inch rollable TV concept piece.
After two years of trade show teasing, LG’s 8K definition, rollable Signature OLED R television finally hit the market in South Korea, for the eye-popping retail price of $87,000.
Samsung first showed off Rollable Flex alongside a host of other wobbly, bendable new tech this week at SID Display Week 2023, an industry showcase in Los Angeles.
Samsung Display also unveiled a new prototype foldable phone, Flex In & Out, which folds 360 degrees both inward and outward, and the Flex Hybrid, which combines both folding and sliding technologies.
There’s no word on when Samsung will make their Rollable Flex display available to consumers, but promise they’ll let the good times roll soon enough.