A phone-sized screen that unrolls from the side of the body has been a Samsung showpiece for years. Nobody has sold one yet. Samsung now appears to be putting a date on it: the first half of 2028.
The timeline comes from a Korean publication, which Notebookcheck says cited a Samsung Electronics official. The official confirmed that a rollable phone is in development. Gizmodo adds that Money Today reported the same project this summer under the provisional name Z Slide, with a company representative pointing to the first half of 2028.
What the numbers say
The display would come from Samsung Display, which has reportedly begun discussions with its sister company on supplying the rollable panels. Notebookcheck says research firm Omdia expects a screen of 10 inches in a 16:9 shape, at 440.6 ppi, with a successor arriving as soon as 2030.
That size is ambitious. Notebookcheck points out that bi-fold phones such as the Galaxy Z Fold 7 reach about 8 inches of screen, and only Huawei’s Mate XT tri-fold gets to 10.2 inches. A patent discovered recently shows a rollable design with the camera module on the side that extends, which might free up room for the rolled panel.
Not a new idea, and not a sure thing
Samsung filed for a Z Slide trademark in 2021, the same year its display arm first showed a phone-sized panel that widens sideways. At CES 2022 it demonstrated the Flex Slidable, which pulled out for more space. At Display Week that year came the Flex Slide, which pulled out from both ends, and the Flex Roll, which hid most of its panel inside one edge. CES 2025 brought another slideable panel, with one design that grows from 5.1 to 6.7 inches when tugged.
Talk Android cautions against getting carried away. Samsung’s Fold and Flip lines also appeared as prototypes at display expos before reaching stores, it notes, and the wait can be excruciating. A separate leak from a tipster known as Anthony, covered by Gizmodo, suggests the phone could appear as early as next year inside what he calls the biggest foldable lineup ever, alongside a revived TriFold. Gizmodo itself treats that as a rumour. The two accounts do not agree, and Samsung has announced nothing.
The timing also sits oddly beside Samsung’s cost pressure. Electronic Times reported that Samsung is cutting Galaxy A output by about 20% for the fourth quarter. Memory now eats over half of a budget or midrange handset’s cost. Yet the A range is roughly 70% of Samsung’s yearly shipments, which run to 230 to 240 million phones.
For now, the rollable phone remains a promise from a Korean report and a trademark filing from 2021.
Sources
- Samsung Galaxy Z Slide launch timeline tipped – Notebookcheck
- Samsung Has Already Found the Next Way to Unfold a Phone – Gizmodo
- Samsung Chases Rollable Phones While Cutting Its Most Popular Galaxy Line – Talk Android
