Samsung Display is at SID Display Week with a bunch of OLED innovations including a future laptop screen that expands to offer five times the display real estate, and a sensor-packed panel capable of reading fingerprints and checking blood pressure.
Samsung Display isn't giving too much away on the Rollable Flex OLED panel, but it reportedly expands from 49 mm (1.93 in) in height to 254.4 mm (10 in) – that's 12.4 diagonal inches at full stretch – and the resolution is given as FHD+ (1,200 x 1,920 pixels).
We've seen rollable OLED panels before of course, and the general idea behind Samsung's effort is to "revolutionize the portability of tablet PCs or laptops" – though it's no great stretch to imagine future rollable tablets or smartphones as well.
However, the current prototype unrolls from an "O-shaped axis like a scroll" and its width is a good deal chunkier than your average laptop display or computer monitor. There's also no mention of how heavy such a solution would be. No doubt such information will be made available closer to actual product launch, if/when that happens.
Visitors to the 60th SID Display Week can see the prototype in action at the company's booth, but there is a short video below for those unable to get to the Los Angeles Convention Center.
Samsung Display has also managed to integrate a light-sensing organic photodiode into an OLED panel to enable fingerprint scanning anywhere on the surface of the screen (rather than embedding under the display). When two fingers are placed on the Sensor OLED Display prototype, the sensor checks for subtle differences in reflected light caused by contractions in blood vessels and converts that into health metrics such as heart rate, blood pressure and stress levels.
"To accurately measure a person’s blood pressure, it is necessary to measure the blood pressure of both arms," said the company. "The Sensor OLED display can simultaneously sense the fingers of both hands, providing more accurate health information than existing wearable devices."
Again, you can see a short demo in the video below.
A new take on the Flex In & Out phone is also on show, which can fold inward to protect the display, like the Galaxy Fold4 for example, or outward to offer two displays back to back across the hinge – "opening up the possibility of lighter and thinner foldable phones."
Other Flex concept members joining the Display Week party include the latest versions of the Flex Hybrid folding and sliding display, and the 13-inch tablet than expands to become a 17-inch screen called the Slidable Flex Solo.
All of the concepts on show preview possible future commercial applications, though no confirmation of upcoming product development or expected timelines have been released.
Source: Samsung Display