Samsung Display demos long rollable and a health-sensing OLED

The Rollable Flex is an interesting new flexible display from Samsung Display that can be rolled down from just 49mm to 254.4mm, five times its length. The screen is shown at the annual Display Week in Los Angeles alongside another Samsung panel which the company says offers fingerprint and blood pressure detection in the OLED panel without the need for a module. separate.

Aside from its maximum and minimum lengths, details about the Rollable Flex in Samsung Display’s press release are relatively slim, and it’s unclear what its size or overall resolution might be. The company says the panel unrolls on an “O-shaped axis like a roller”, allowing it to “transform a hard-to-carry large screen into a portable form factor”.

The Sensor OLED display, meanwhile, seems to have some interesting implications for future smartphones. For starters, unlike the in-screen fingerprint sensors used in most modern phones, the Sensor OLED display “can recognize fingerprints anywhere on the screen.” This would theoretically make it much faster and easier to unlock a phone using your fingerprint.

But perhaps more interesting is its ability to measure a person’s “heart rate, blood pressure and stress level” from the fingers. The technology works by reading light from the OLED screen as its reflection changes due to the “contraction and relaxation of blood vessels inside the finger”. Samsung Display’s press release shows it works with just one finger, but also mentions reading this information from two fingers simultaneously for more accurate blood pressure measurement taken on both arms.

All of these features are built right into the OLED display itself, without the need for a separate module like most modern fingerprint sensors. It’s unclear how accurate these readings can be, how long the process takes, or if they can be taken at the same time a fingerprint is used for authentication. But the Sensor OLED display opens up exciting possibilities for future smartphones that could offer health features normally found on smartwatches.

Samsung Display does not produce consumer devices directly, so it is up to other Samsung companies or divisions to purchase these displays and integrate them into real-world products. But announcements like these are an interesting indication of the kinds of devices that might be possible in the years to come.