Samsung isn’t any stranger to foldable display tech, with it being the primary firm to essentially push the thought of foldable telephones with its Samsung Galaxy Fold and Samsung Galaxy Flip telephones. Nonetheless, now the corporate has taken the one logical subsequent step and demoed a brand new idea, displaying off a gaming handheld that may do the identical screen-bending trick to halve its footprint, making for an much more moveable gaming machine.
Samsung doesn’t at present make a tool that will compete with the likes of the Steam Deck OLED and Asus ROG Ally X for a spot on our greatest handheld gaming PC information. Nonetheless, it has a protracted pedigree in producing each moveable gadgets reminiscent of a few of the finest foldable telephones, in addition to tablets, and it makes Home windows laptops too. A gaming handheld is just a small step away from a lot of its common {hardware} output.
The brand new Samsung Flex Gaming foldable gaming handheld idea is being proven off by the corporate on the upcoming Cell World Congress (MWC) commerce present in Barcelona, the place our cell gaming sister website PocketTactics noticed the machine. Samsung supplies no particulars concerning the machine however photos present the machine sporting what seems to be a typical 7-inch measurement display as discovered on most different handhelds, however right here it buckles within the center, permitting the entire machine to bend in half.
Notably, the machine isn’t proven in a number of totally different bent states, so we are able to’t inform simply how skinny the machine is when it’s folded, or how flat the display lies when opened up. Nonetheless, Samsung’s foldable telephones have proved spectacular on each fronts, so we see no motive why a gaming handheld couldn’t work simply as effectively.
Samsung has even considered how the machine would possibly truly fold flat, whereas nonetheless sustaining protruding typical controls reminiscent of thumbsticks. The idea has holes on the other facet of every thumbstick that enable the sticks to poke by the machine. The extension of this concept to have the D-pad buttons encompass the holes appears ergonomically terrible, however not less than Samsung has clearly thought of this prevalence extra than simply slapping a hinge and a bendable display on a handheld-shaped plastic shell.
The opposite draw back to the design, although, is that once more in an effort to make it skinny – and thus a worthwhile endeavor to make it foldable – Samsung has seemingly omitted any hand grip bulges on the rear of the machine. As a substitute, it seems to simply have a flat pill form, which we suspect wouldn’t be comfy for lengthy gaming classes.
Nonetheless, if Samsung can steadiness all these components and give you a tool that basically does have half the standard footprint of a gaming handheld, we are able to see it being interesting for those who truly use their handheld whereas touring.
Additionally demoed by Samsung at this present is a brand new 500Hz OLED gaming monitor, that we first heard about again in November 2024, however there’s no additional phrase but on when that panel is arriving.
Would you be fascinated about a foldable gaming handheld? Or is the likes of Lenovo Legion Go a much more smart strategy for tweaking the gaming handheld system? Be part of our group Discord and you’ll tell us your ideas. Plus, you may observe us on Google Information for day by day PC {hardware} information, opinions, and guides.
