Phones with foldable screens that bend in half are now edging toward the mainstream, or at least more common than ever. But at CES 2024 (here’s everything we love at CES so far), I watched a Samsung representative open the shiny Flex In & Out Flip concept device and fold it in both directions and completely backwards so that you use the phone’s 6.7-inch screen even when the device is shut.
When it’s bent backwards, one side of the Flex In & Out Flip is slightly shorter than the other, to avoid covering the camera. The larger side was big enough to show several icons in the phone’s quick settings menu, media playback controls and the time and battery level.
Although I wasn’t allowed to bend the Flex In & Out Flip concept device myself, it’s a standout concept from Samsung’s Display team that opens a window into the future of devices that roll, flex, bend, fold and otherwise contort in an effort to make our tech fit more uniquely and interestingly into our lives.
The low-hanging fruit would be a more flexible Samsung Galaxy flip phone. That said, the Flex In & Out Flip is only a concept for now, so there’s no indication that the technology will ever show up in a real product just yet.
But it shows that Samsung may be thinking about ways to make its nearly 4-year-old flip phone line more versatile and potentially more useful. Samsung has shown concepts of its larger book-shaped Galaxy Z Fold-like design that can bend all the way backwards, but this is the first time it’s showing a flip phone with that capability publicly.
Read more: Best Flip Phones
Based on the limited time I’ve had to check out the concept so far, it seems like the biggest benefit would be having one screen that can be used consistently whether the device is opened or closed. The Galaxy Z Flip 5 has a reasonably large external screen, making it much more useful for using apps and reading notifications than the Galaxy Z Flip 4 and other older models. But since it’s…
Read the full article here