Samsung Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong visited the company's main R&D center in Seoul last week. That in itself probably wouldn't be very interesting informace, if Lee hadn't been caught holding a device with a very unusual form-factor. One that we haven't seen before from the tech giant.
Immediately after the photo was published, speculations swirled that the mysterious thin device could be a prototype phone with a rollable display. This possibility is not excluded, because according to older and newer unofficial reports, Samsung has been working on a similar device for a long time. After all, this is evidenced by leaked patents and the fact that already in 2016, it boasted a prototype of a stretchable 9,1-inch AMOLED display.
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The company reportedly showed off a phone with a rollable screen behind closed doors during this year's CES, and some reports say it plans to launch the first device of its kind next year.
Other companies, such as LG and TCL, also see potential in rollable smartphones. The second mentioned in October this year – as the first in the world – showed a working prototype in a video. It is not excluded that it will overtake the established technological giants and be the first to release a commercial version. After all, it would not be the first time that in the field of new technologies, Samsung et al. the Chinese company "took off". This happened, for example, in the case of a flexible phone, which was the first in the world to be launched on the market the year before last by the Shenzhen manufacturer Royole (it was the Royole FlexPai).
The concept of an expandable display is certainly interesting, and it could find use elsewhere than on smartphones, for example on smart speakers.
