I should also note, to those who have been not following the graphene flexible screen story:
It's a Microsoft and Samsung co-owned patent, developed back in the balmer days. Should the world discover a means of making flexible, seamless screens affordable, not only will both Samsung and Microsoft have access to the technology for the OLED graphene screens, but it's highly probably they'll work together.
They have a good working relationship, they are both angsty towards google, both "underdogs" in the tech world, windows works better on a bigger screen already (and by the time this happens, it'll be fairly tuned), and they co-developed the screen together. I'd bet money when this comes around, one of the first devices Samsung released will run some variety of windows (maybe one chrome or something else as well though)
But again, that's awhile off.
The day graphene becomes easy to manufacture, will usher in an age of new technology that will make the silicon chip blush. It'll come at us thick and fast. "Computer paper" (ie they can actually in the lab make CPUs, circuits and batteries in graphene), ultra high capacity batteries (technically superconductors not batteries) that can fast charge in a minute, and drive trucks and super heavy machinery. Filtration systems for cleaning up the environment, and desalinating ocean water at no energy cost (bringing hydrogen fuel closer and solving the water crisis). Nanomanufacturing, and even printing basic objects like foods, eventually even complex objects like cars and houses eventually. The science is so broad on graphene possibilities, that it makes something like the polymer or silicon chip seem limited.
That day is not next year. It's not for awhile. When the day comes, you won't hear about it because Samsung released a smartphone. It'll be an explosion of technological excitement. When we get there, graphene will be a pillar of a new technological age.
This is what Samsung and microsoft, as people who know this technology, are preparing for. They are not releasing seemless folding devices in 2019. No way, no how. But they know it's coming, and they want to be first off the boat - so they are both developing the best currently available imitation, early "betas", in the form of folding screens that minimise visually, the seam.
NOT btw, because of already shrinking markets in smartphone sales, or some petty OS user war. But because each company wants to be part of the NEXT wave of consumer uptake, they want to be dominant in the future, and this is part of that _long term_ investment.
Investing in folding screen environments and hardware right now, is like investing in the earlier iterations of VR, or AR. It's not supposed to change the world. It's suppose to hone their game for when the battle is properly here.
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