According to the report, Samsung Display is developing a 17.3-inch foldable OLED display to supply to its sister firm Samsung Electronics. The latter will use this display on its first-gen foldable laptop. In its full form, you will have a large display that could serve various purposes. You could use it as a massive tablet or maybe a slate for making presentations. When half-folded like a laptop, you will get two screens of 13.3 inches diagonal each. The upper half will serve as the laptop’s screen while the lower half will be your touchscreen keyboard, trackpad, and everything else. Maybe, a portion of the lower half can also be used to display content, like how Samsung’s Flex Mode works on its foldable smartphones. A design patent from the company has hinted at this possibility. Unfortunately, details about this rumored product are scarce. It’s not even clear whether Samsung intends to launch such a product commercially next year. But, these reports suggest we are getting closer to seeing a foldable laptop come out through the Korean firm’s doors. Whether that happens in 2023 or we’ll have to wait longer, only time will tell.
More companies are preparing to enter the foldable laptop market in 2023
Samsung isn’t the only company looking to enter the foldable laptop market in the coming years. HP could also soon join the likes of Lenovo and ASUS in this niche. The latter will reportedly use a 17-inch foldable panel from Samsung’s compatriot LG Display, which supplied the 13.3-inch display for the world’s first foldable laptop, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold. BOE and Sharp also recently started making foldable laptop panels. All of these display manufacturers are likely hoping for this new market to boom in the coming years. Perhaps, the market perception is that the demand for OLED laptop panels will increase in 2023. Samsung Display reportedly plans to ship 8.5 million large OLED panels next year, 43 percent more than its estimated 2022 shipment figure. ASUS will be its biggest customer along with Samsung Electronics. The latter used displays from BOE and Sharp on its foldables laptops this year. Whether it switches to Samsung Display in the coming years remains to be seen.
