Forget foldable phones, Samsung has made a stretchable 13-inch OLED screen

Forget foldable phones, Samsung has made a stretchable 13-inch OLED screen
(Image credit: Samsung)

If you thought foldable or rollable screens were advanced, check out the next evolution: stretchable screens.

As the name suggests, a stretchable display is one that's able to expand in order to change shape. Even cooler, it has the flexibility to 'throb' out from being flat, like a belly rising from breathing. 

Samsung Display showed off a new 13-inch prototype stretchable OLED over the weekend – its previous effort was 9 inches – and it's the most advanced yet.

Check it out below...

As you can see, the panel pulses in time with the flowing lava on screen, adding a third dimension to your viewing.

The screen was revealed at the Global Tech Korea 2021 show, SamMobile reports.

It's obviously early days yet – this is very much a 'look what could be coming in future years' – but we could at some point see this technology trickle down to consumer smartphones, tablets and TVs (though its first implementation is most likely to be commercial use, like advertising displays). On a huge video screen, that effect could be very dramatic indeed.

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Joe Svetlik

Joe has been writing about tech for 17 years, first on staff at T3 magazine, then in a freelance capacity for Stuff, The Sunday Times Travel Magazine, Men's Health, GQ, The Mirror, Trusted Reviews, TechRadar and many more (including What Hi-Fi?). His specialities include all things mobile, headphones and speakers that he can't justifying spending money on.