Samsung Galaxy Slide — this could be the next big thing for phones

News
By published

Samsung hints it's working on a phone with a sliding display

Samsung Galaxy Slide concept render
(Image credit: Samsung)

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 may indeed be the best foldable phone around, and it looks set to be followed up by the Galaxy Z Fold 4. But the next frontier for Samsung's folding phones and display tech could be with sliding screens.

This was hinted at by the new OLED Era microsite from Samsung Display, the screen-making arm of Samsung. The newly launched sub-site is showcasing some of Samsung Display's thin and flexible OLED panels. 

While the square folding displays found in the current Galaxy Fold phones get their moment in the sun, the site also suggests that what Samsung calls "Flex OLED" could one day appear in phones with sliding displays. 

Doing this could make for a chunky phone when its display is wrapped around the back. But the ability to have folding displays sport a 1.4R curvature — as seen in the Galaxy Z Fold 2 — could let Samsung's slidable display wrap more tightly around a phone's chassis, thus making the device slimmer.

"An even crisper, cleaner fold and less space in between. The remarkably tiny 1.4R curvature of the Samsung Flex OLED creates a sharper bend, for more compact and precise smartphone designs," explained Samsung. "Folding stress is minimized by the display layers' staggered structure, making such a small curve possible."

Innovations in Flex OLED could also lead to the next-generation Fold phone to have a sharper curvature and thus fold flatter, addressing one of our criticisms about the Galaxy Z Fold 3 — it's rather chunky when folded. 

Roland Moore-Colyer
Roland Moore-Colyer

Roland Moore-Colyer a Managing Editor at Tom’s Guide with a focus on news, features and opinion articles. He often writes about gaming, phones, laptops and other bits of hardware; he’s also got an interest in cars. When not at his desk Roland can be found wandering around London, often with a look of curiosity on his face.