After a unusually long hiatus, Samsung is back on the patents map, being granted a new patent for a ‘Flexible Display device’. Now, we already know what that would mean. However, this new foldable display will be quite different from what Samsung currently deploys on the Fold and Z Flip.
According to this new patent (via Pigtou), the company is apparently working on a new roller-based display for tablets. The patent explains that the display in question is indeed a touch display and “at least a portion” of said display is rolled around a roller.
“The touch bar is disposed between the roller housing and the touch display panel and contacts the touch display panel. The panel driver divides a display portion of the touch display panel into a display area and an non-display area according to positions of touch sensing elements contacting the touch bar,” the patent states.
Now, by the looks of several drawings that Samsung has submitted, the patent seems to be for a tablet-oriented display. The patent does not specifically mentioned ‘Tablets’ or any mobile device for that matter. However, the kind of mechanism that Samsung has explained, looks fairly well suited for a large screen device, most probably tablets.
The patent looks similar to the one Samsung got in 2018. That one was titled “Rollable display device with separate rollers for display and display window”, while this one is titled just “Flexible display device”.
