An article by Albert Cuesta published by Mobile World Live comments on the progress made by Samsung researchers in demonstrating that extendable screens can be introduced into the market with a commercial objective. The South Korean firm works on innovation in this segment of devices and affirms that researchers at its Research and Development center have made progress in free-form screen technology, which overcomes the limitations of extendable devices. According to Samsung, screens of this type are gaining ground as a next-generation technology that will allow “obtaining high-resolution images and portability at the same time.” Although it is still an incipient technology, research is being carried out on screens that can "stretch in all directions and change shape as if they were elastic bands."
The Samsung team explains that it has also been able to integrate an extendable OLED screen and a heart rate sensor into a single device. This configuration would allow the user to measure heart rate in real time, creating an “extendable electronic skin” format and demonstrating the viability of such a display for other applications. The sensor and screen can be stretched by up to 30% without causing abnormal perspective or worsening performance. Youngjun Yun, principal researcher at Samsung, says this technology could be especially useful in wearable health products: “The strong point of this technology is that it allows biometric data to be measured over a longer period of time without having to remove the device while sleeping or exercising, since the patch feels like part of the skin.”