CES 2024 | Samsung flexes more pliable, durable, and versatile folding phone and laptop displays

Samsung has largely been leading the charge in the folding display world, even if devices like the OnePlus Open (curr. $1,699.99 on Amazon) have overshadowed its own Galaxy Z Fold 5 (curr. $1,499.99 on Amazon), mostly thanks to advanced software support.

The headline device at Samsung's CES 2024 showcase has to be the In&Out Flip, which more or less mirrors the Flex In and Out from last year's show, but stuffs the 360-degree hinge into the more compact Flip form factor. The idea with devices like these is that the screen folding both ways could eliminate the need for a second external display — components which can eat up as much as 18% of a regular phone's overall bill of materials cost.

Eliminating the second screen could not only make folding and flipping phones cheaper, but it could also make them thinner, or allow more room internally for bigger batteries. The 360-degree foldable phone arguably keeps all of the benefits of a regular folding phone — more screen in a smaller footprint, taking selfies with the main camera array, and the satisfying snap of ending a call — while potentially making foldables more affordable.

Alongside the In&Out Flip, Samsung also debuted a slew of folding and sliding displays at CES 2024, including the Rollable Flex — which Samsung claims can grow by up to five times, unrolling in a scroll-like motion — and the Flex Hybrid, which both folds and slides to expand even further than the 2× possible in most folding devices.

There's no word yet on whether any of these prototype displays will make it into any production devices, or if they have any supply deals with other phone or laptop brands for the new prototype displays. It should be said that Samsung did show off rollable and foldable display prototypes before the first Samsung Galaxy Z Fold devices emerged.