In the past few years, tech companies have been really expanding the ways we can interact with our displays. Rollable LED, bendable monitors, and foldable screens have allowed us to customize exactly how we want to view our displays, or even just help us shrink down our devices for convenience. Samsung is adding another innovation to the list as they debuted the Flex Hybrid at last week’s CES in Las Vegas.
Not a device that’s about to appear on the market, the Flex Hybrid is a concept model meant to showcase the direction Samsung is looking to take interactive display technology. When closed, it has a small footprint, appearing to be nothing more than a notebook or planner. When opened up it is revealed to be a tablet-sized display measuring 10.5 inches. The real treat, however, is that the display can be “stretched” another few inches, bumping up the display size to 12.4 inches.
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In reality, the user is sliding out more display area that is tucked cleverly away inside the device. The additional real estate will instantly populate with sidebar content, or, if simply upsizing the content being displayed, the Flex Hybrid will automatically shift from a 4:3 aspect ratio to 16:10 to compensate for the extra space. The result is an adjustment that looked to me at first more like a magic trick than a new piece of tech.
While all of the form-shifting displays that have come out of late has left me a bit impervious to the novelty of new screen innovations, the Flex Hybrid has gotten me excited. I look forward to hopefully seeing this technology implemented into displays of all shapes and sizes.
