The next flagship smartphone from Samsung may go beyond the current curved screen of the Galaxy S6 edge and introduce folding displays for the Galaxy S7.

According to Business Korea an unnamed official from Samsung display has said that the commercialisation of foldable smartphones will be possible by 2016.

The key point here is that the phone will fold in the screen, rather than the way current and past clam shaped handsets have folded.

Samsung has shown off flexible displays at numerous tradeshows over the years, from as far back as 2008. But until now there have been very few hints that this tech will ever make it into publically available smartphones.

As smartphones get thinner and thinner they're becoming more able to be folded without adding too much width to fit in a pocket comfortably. Imagine a smartphone sized lump in your pocket that could be folded out to the size of a tablet.

Here’s hoping a folding Galaxy S7 will arrive next year and it will be like Samsung's Youm concept video from 2011 that shows a folding semi-translucent device (below).

How much a device like this will cost or weather it will be an option alongside a normal flagship is obviously unclear at this early stage. But we'd imagine something like this coming as an extra, more expensive option, like the Samsung Galaxy S6 edge does alongside the Galaxy S6.

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