It looks like transparent, paper-thin flexible phones are now a matter of “when”, not “if”. Hot on the heels of Microsoft’s forward-thinking video, Samsung has released a short preview of what we can expect in the near-ish future.
It isn’t immediately clear where the hardware might be (I don’t know if it can be miniaturized to that point of invisibility) because the only visible element is the large OLED screen. Phones with transparent screens are already on the market – as are flexible OLEDs – so a convergence of the two doesn’t seem far off. The device in the video is quite large, with roughly the form factor of a 10″ tablet. It makes sense that tablets would be the first foldable electronics because their size limits their portability, which is their main raison d’etre in the first place. Smartphones are already small enough to fit in a pocket, so miniaturization there isn’t quite as urgent, but a foldable cell phone would certainly be much more comfortable to carry around all day!