Samsung's Galaxy S11 Could Rock This Futuristic Design With Flexible Slider Display

Samsung has, on the other hand, taken some steps into a radical new direction with the Galaxy Fold. According to newly uncovered design patents, Samsung could be looking to expand its use of flexible display technology to its more mainstream product lines. This shift comes to us courtesy of LetsGoDigital, which has produced some sleek renders based on the design patents that show an innovative slider-type smartphone that could point to a future Galaxy S11/S12 or Galaxy Note device.

Unlike Samsung's Galaxy S10 and Galaxy Note 10, this smartphone concept doesn't employ a punch hole cut-out for the selfie camera(s). In fact, it even has a relatively large bezel at the top of the display, which is no longer "in style" for most flagship Android phones. But the phone does have a flexible display which seems to unfurl as you slide the phone upwards.

When the display is fully extended, you get about 25 percent more vertical screen real estate, which more than makes up for the bezel. Of course, with this being a flexible display, it means that it is likely made out of plastic which makes its much more prone to scratching. Also, the slider mechanism could be prone to picking up dirt and debris, which is something that plagued the first run of Galaxy Fold smartphones. Samsung was able to reengineer the device to solve these problems, so the lessons learned there could transfer over to this device.

The slider design also hides the primary rear cameras, which keeps them protected from everyday abuse. However, that protection also means you'll need to extend the display every time you want to take a photo which could annoying pretty quickly. With pop-up selfie camera in some Android flagships, the operation is automatic when you open the camera app. But accessing the rear cameras on this concept would likely result in a many "missed shots" as you'd have to remember to extend the display beforehand.

Now of course, there's no guarantee that Samsung will ever release a design like this for the public. However, not many people ever thought that the Galaxy Fold would see the light of day, and Samsung proved everyone wrong. This design isn't nearly as ambitious as the Galaxy Fold, but it does break up some of the monotony that we've been subjected to in the smartphone space.