Samsung is rumored to be showing a new slider phone privately at CES 2020. It's a slider phone, but one we've never seen before.

Slider phones made a brief resurgence last year with devices like the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3, Oppo Find X, and Honor Magic 2. These phones simply move the screen to reveal a hidden selfie camera and do not require a top bezel, notch, or punch hole.

Samsung's "sliders," however, do not move the entire display to reveal hidden elements. It actually enlarges the screen. As reported by Korean electronics trade publication ET News, Samsung's secret slider device uses a flexible panel to expand the display area from a regular 6-inch phone to an 8-inch mini-tablet.

"The sliding panel developed by Samsung Display features a screen that naturally grows larger or smaller at the push of a button," the paper reports, "much like LG's rollable TVs. The screen surface is not glass like the rumored Galaxy Fold 2, but a regular plastic skin.

If this sounds familiar, that's because the phone's rollable design was patented last July. In fact, the company patented not one, but two expandable sliders: one that expands horizontally, which makes sense, and one that expands vertically, which is rather odd and not very useful.

Knowing that this device could become a reality makes me a happy geek, even if it is just a prototype to test press opinions. Especially knowing that Samsung has a strange patent on it.

There is a patent for a wraparound phone that uses a foldable display all the way around the phone, but does not actually fold.

And there is the Galaxy Z-Fold, which folds not just once but twice for a treasure map-like design.

Some have dual screens with detachable magnets, others have wings like Xiaomi's foldable prototype. The company is even toying with the idea of a phone that transforms into a wearable wristband.

We don't know how many of these will materialize and gain traction in the marketplace, but kudos to Samsung for thinking and trying crazy new things.