Samsung teases Flex Titanium tech, a key innovation for its next-gen foldables

The Galaxy Z Fold7 featured a third generation of Armor FlexHinge, which was 27% thinner and 43% lighter than the hinge inside the Z Fold6. Now the company is introducing the next innovation that will make foldable displays even tougher and slimmer while minimizing the crease – Flex Titanium.

This is just a preview of what is to come on Wednesday next week. The Flex Titanium technology promises a more refined viewing experience for the new Z Folds, while making the display more resistant to external shocks and the wear and tear of being folded and unfolded hundreds of thousands of times.

This new design features two key components – a titanium alloy film along with a flexible titanium plate. The newly developed Titanium alloy film is super thin – it allegedly measures only one-third the thickness of a human hair – but it is reportedly 20x stiffer than the polymer film used in some older designs.

The Titanium alloy film sits in the display module under the OLED panel and supports it while flexing. And below that is the titanium plate – this supports the whole display panel for a flatter, more uniform surface. The latter was introduced back with the Z Fold7. Samsung engineers have clearly managed to remove further air gaps between the display and the supporting plate, which has created a tighter bond between the two.

“By introducing sophisticated micro-patterned holes to the folding section of the titanium plate, we have successfully secured flexibility with robust durability. Combining high-resolution display architecture with new organic materials that maximizes power efficiency, we will further strengthen the competitiveness of next-generation Galaxy foldable devices,” said Kyung-Jin Yoo, Corporate EVP and Head of Mobile Display Product Development Team, Samsung Display.

The Flex Titanium design builds on knowledge and innovations accumulated over seven generations of Galaxy foldables. Samsung listened to consumer feedback to focus its attention on the key factors that users care about.

Titanium is a tough material to work with, but it is strong and lightweight, which makes it the ideal choice for foldables. Incorporating it into the thin and flexible structure of the display was a major engineering challenge, however.

The Galaxy Unpacked event in London will introduce a new form factor too – Samsung is still keeping the details under wraps, but the event’s tagline is “A New Shape Unfolds”. The open secret is that it’s a wide book-style foldable, something that will be halfway between a Z Flip and a Z Fold.