Samsung’s ‘Flex In & Out’ concept has a ‘waterdrop’ hinge similar to what’s coming on Fold 5

Ben Schoon | Jan 20 2023 - 9:14 am PT

Foldable smartphones continue to advance year after year, and Samsung is still experimenting with what’s next. Back at CES 2023 earlier this month, the company showed off a “Flex In & Out” concept that apparently makes use of a “waterdrop” hinge that’s similar to what’s coming in the Galaxy Z Fold 5.

At CES 2023, Samsung Display had a concept on hand that was know as the “Flex In & Out.” Effectively, it was a display with a hinge that allowed the display to rotate 360-degrees. This means being able to close the device like the existing Galaxy Fold design, but also flipping the display all the way around the hinge. Samsung also showed off this idea as far back as 2021, but in a different form factor.

Pictures of this concept shared with The Verge show a form factor that’s overall quite similar to the Galaxy Fold design, but folds past 180-degrees. The actual use case of such a form factor isn’t really clear, but it’s a neat design nonetheless.

What’s more interesting is the ideas this hinge is employing. Samsung Display confirmed that this concept uses a “waterdrop” hinge which leaves the display in a looser shape when the device is closed up. That, in turn, puts lets stress on the display. It also leads to a device that folds flush, with no “hinge gap” as we’ve seen in Samsung’s foldables thus far.

The Galaxy Z Fold 5 is expected to adopt a waterdrop hinge like this, though it’s certainly not expected that the device will be able to bend 360-degrees. In any case, it’s neat to see the possibilities this opens.