Samsung, Huawei, OPPO, Vivo, Motorola, and glory have launched foldable phones, but the existing up-and-down and left and right folding is only the more mature commercial solution. Samsung and LG showcased a variety of foldable concepts at CES 2023, exploring the changes that foldable screens bring to the shape of digital products.
At the Samsung booth, Samsung showed a number of foldable devices, the most notable of which is the Flex Hybrid, which uses a folding plus screen extension that closes like a notebook and opens to reveal a tablet-like screen.
But the really amazing factor is that you can extend the screen size and even change its aspect ratio when unfolding. The right side of the screen slides out and the display size expands from 10.5 inches to 12.4 inches. In a demo at its CES booth, Samsung showed how the display automatically adjusts to show more content as the screen expands.
Samsung has other ideas for morphing tablets, too. It also showed off the Flex Slidable Duet concept at CES, a screen that expands to the sides to provide more viewing areas for playing games or watching movies. According to a Samsung press release, the display size is 13 to 14 inches but can be expanded to 17.3 inches. There is also a version of this concept that can only expand the screen in one direction, and Samsung has appropriately dubbed this device the Flex Slidable Solo.
LG is showing two major foldable tablet concepts at CES: an 8-inch tablet that folds inward and outward in both directions, and a 17-inch device that folds in half. LG claims the 17-inch display is almost completely crease-free, and the company is positioning it as either a giant tablet or a more portable external display for laptops.
