Google and Samsung worked together to develop the Flex mode for the Galaxy Z Flip, which debuted in February of this year. That is why it comes as no surprise that Samsung announced today the addition of support for that feature to the YouTube app.
Flex mode splits the 6.7-inch screen of the folding device into two 4-inch displays when the phone is partially unfolded. In that situation, each portion of the display can show different types of content from a single app. In the case of YouTube, users can watch a video on the top half of the screen while using the bottom half to perform other tasks like searching for other videos or writing comments with no interruption to playback.
The Flex mode also enables the YouTube app to adjust playback regardless of the video’s aspect ratio. For instance, square and vertical videos will almost fill the entire space of the display"s upper half while 16:9 videos will adjust to the center. The collaboration between Google and Samsung also involved integration of the Android Support Library in order to introduce Flex mode to more third-party services.
The updated YouTube app is available to download today from the Play Store, although availability varies by market and carrier. Its version number is bumped up to 15.15.38. Samsung also revealed that it is adding support for Google’s Rich Communication Services (RCS) to Galaxy smartphones as part of a partnership that started in 2018. Earlier this year, Samsung also began working on the integration of Google Duo with its messaging app.