A foldable phone could be the future of smartphones

Samsung just unveiled a foldable phone, the malleable mobile sporting new tech the company’s calling Infinity Flex. Essentially a smartphone that can open up on itself to become tablet-sized, the prototype’s got tech lovers talking since it’s the first device that actually has a folding screen. That’s right, there’s a hinge inside the screen.

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The foldable phone was shown at Samsung’s annual developer conference Wednesday with the lights dimmed. After the company teased it for the last few weeks, a group of coders and developers finally got a look at the new smartphone.

And the first public presentation of the device came courtesy of Samsung Electronics America senior V.P. Justin Denison, as reported by Fortune, but it shrouded the phone in a bulky display case in an effort to hide the device’s true size.

The new Infinity Flex-enabled device harbors a type of flexible hinge that allows such maneuverability, as can be seen in the above clip. But not everyone is stoked about the implications of what’s being called a new-era flip phone.

Engadget criticized the prototype and predicted the new foldable phone “could easily crash and burn. Purely on a technical level, its initial form is bulky as hell. This is in order to accommodate the display and its flexing hinge.”

Still, the new folding technology could propel more forward-thinking designs among the smartphone landscape. And it’s yet to be seen how sleek the Infinity Flex device actually looks when it’s not wearing its protective promo covering.

What do you think about Samsung’s new foldable phone prototype? Would you want to carry around a smartphone that folds out into a larger, tablet-style screen at the drop of a hat? Sound off in the comments, below, with your thoughts.

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