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Samsung shows off foldable tests and hints at Apple-ready screens
Samsung Display opened its labs to media for the first time, showing foldable stress tests, new titanium layers, and concept screens.
Image: TechRadar
A 21.7-gram steel ball dropped onto a thin flexible Samsung display with a hard clunk — and the panel survived. That hands-on demo was part of TechRadar’s first media visit inside Samsung Display’s South Korea headquarters, just ahead of Samsung Unpacked on July 22, where new foldables are expected.
The tour underscored the close but separate relationship between Samsung Electronics and Samsung Display. The display arm builds panels not only for Samsung devices such as the Galaxy S26 Ultra and the anticipated Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7, but also supplies other companies, including Apple.
Inside the facility, Samsung showed a 24-hour test lab where foldable panels are repeatedly opened and closed thousands of times a day, and exposed to temperatures from 60 degrees Celsius down to minus 20 degrees Celsius. Reflection testing included a custom barium sulfate-coated rig that shines bright light onto displays and measures what bounces back, including reflections around a foldable screen’s crease.
Samsung also demonstrated concept hardware, including a bezel-minimized dual-layer OLED illusion and a 7.2-inch hybrid display that both folds and rolls.
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Flex Titanium Technology and foldable roadmap
In a briefing, Byung Duk Yang, EVP at Core Component Technology Team, Samsung Electronics, and Kyung-jin Yoo, EVP and Head of Mobile Display Product Development Team, Samsung Display, said the companies are still working to improve foldable usability and durability after seven generations of foldable devices.
“The two companies are always thinking about how we can continue to improve the usability of the foldable.”
Yang said Samsung is also studying how to bring privacy display technology — described in the article as a feature of the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra — to foldables.
The bigger near-term change is material science. Samsung said its next foldables will use “Flex Titanium Technology”, adding two titanium layers. One updates the rigid titanium layer used in earlier Galaxy Fold models with a redesigned structure around the crease. The second is a thin titanium alloy film that replaces the previous polymer layer under the OLED, which Samsung says is thinner and better at reducing permanent deformation.
“Polymer layers are good for flexibility but [we] want to minimize permanent deformation; titanium alloy has a much better quality to reduce permanent deformation.”
Samsung welcomes more foldable rivals
Asked about Apple’s rumored foldable phone, possibly called the iPhone Ultra, Samsung Display would not address the rumor directly. But the company made clear it wants more major brands in the category.
“I think it’s more than welcome because when the other competitors and other companies join the market, this market will be standard and the owners will increase….We really welcome the big competitor joining this market…We mean it, we love other companies to join this market.”
If Samsung’s message before July 22 is any guide, the company sees foldables as a market that still needs more volume, more rivals, and tougher screens to get there.
Gadgets Editor
Eli is obsessed with the tangible future. He reviews phones, wearables, and everything with a battery. Known for his rigorous testing protocols and unabashed teardowns, Eli has broken more review units than he cares to admit, all in the name of discovering the truth about durability and repairability.
via TechRadar
