Samsung previews phone with a screen that folds like a book

Justin Denison, senior vice president of Samsung Electronics America Inc., speaks while holding the new Infinity Flex smartphone at the Samsung Electronics Co. Developers Conference in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2018. Samsung introduces a smartphone with a flexible screen that allows the screens to be folded in half. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

Samsung Electronics Co showed off a new phone with a foldable screen in a bid to shake up a smartphone business awash with black, shiny rectangles that look increasingly similar. 

At its conference Nov 7 for software developers in San Francisco, the company previewed what it called an Infinity Flex Display, and announced new software for controlling the large phone. Developers will be able to create apps for the gadget, which like other Samsung phones, will be based on the Android operating system.