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Samsung heard you like weird screens so it brought some to MWC

Why not, I guess?

For a phone show, there’s an awful lot of cool non-phone stuff at Mobile World Congress this year. Take Lenovo’s ThinkBook Flip concept, which answers the question: “What if your laptop unfolded, and then unfolded again?” Samsung’s Display group has been apparently thinking along the same lines, because it has some interesting new folding concepts at MWC including a briefcase screen and a foldable gaming handheld, which I want, like, yesterday.

Samsung Display is, of course, a display manufacturer, so these concepts are just that. They’re demonstrations of what its screens could maybe, possibly do in the hands of another manufacturer. But they’re still cool as hell, and they were very popular with MWC attendees who had to constantly be told to stop trying to touch them. That was especially true of this Switch-style portable gaming handheld mockup, which opens fully flat and folds in half for storage when you’re done playing.

I don’t know if it’s the fun colors or the portability aspect, but it’s super compelling and just begs to be picked up. This, again, is not allowed, but I found someone to fold it and unfold it for me.

A PR rep was allowed to handle the gaming handheld, but nobody at the booth was authorized to touch the screen briefcase. So all I could do was look at it from a distance and admire its resemblance to the LG briefcase TV. Except, you know, with a folding screen. It’s not clear exactly how you’d use the thing — do you prop it up on its side? Maybe the briefcase would have a kickstand of some kind? Unclear. Still cool, though.

The other attention-grabbing concept on the booth was this asymmetrical Z Flip-style phone I’ve affectionately named The Claw. When it’s fully open it looks basically like a normal slab screen, but it closes with two hinges to leave part of the inner screen visible. It’s neat, but seems completely impractical and I’d be way too nervous about debris getting to the inner screen since it’s not totally protected. I do like the two-tone finish, though.

Samsung had an assortment of other examples and concepts on the booth, some of which we’d just seen at CES. If you can imagine a screen that stretches, bends, or flexes in some way, then Samsung Display probably has one. And you know what? I love them for that.

Photography by Allison Johnson / The Verge