Samsung’s most exciting phone ever might be the foldable Galaxy phone that the company has been teasing for years. Samsung has kept postponing the phone, explaining to reporters when asked about the delays that development isn’t quite finished. But pressure is mounting, and the Korean giant is expected to unveil the phone in November before Huawei can claim it made the world’s first foldable handset.
At least, that’s what we thought last week when reporters relayed DJ Koh’s latest comments on the matter. Samsung Mobile chief said it’s “time to deliver” on a foldable device, revealing the foldable phone will not just become a tablet when folded out — here are his comments again:
You can use most of the uses … on foldable status. But when you need to browse or see something, then you may need to unfold it. But even unfolded, what kind of benefit does that give compared to the tablet? If the unfolded experience is the same as the tablet, why would they (consumers) buy it?
So every device, every feature, every innovation should have a meaningful message to our end customer. So when the end customer uses it, (they think) ‘wow, this is the reason Samsung made it’.
But a new story from The Korea Herald says that reporters may have misunderstood Koh’s remarks. Samsung dismissed the rumors saying that the Galaxy F will be unveiled in November during Samsung’s Developer Conference. Galaxy F is the latest rumored name for the handset, which was previously called Galaxy X in a myriad of rumors.
“We will have more to say about the phone under development by that time, probably some details about specifications,” a Samsung official said.
In other words, Samsung will keep teasing the phone at the conference, with an actual launch to follow at CES or MWC next year.
The Herald does say that the phone, codenamed Winner, is in the last stage of the development and that it’ll be released early next year. The prototype will be built around November, and the handset will feature an in-folding structure, packing 3.5-inch OLED screens.
The report notes that Koh has revealed the phone will have a foldable screen instead of a display hinge as seen in some patent applications. However, a few paragraphs later, The Herald also says that it’s still not certain whether Samsung will adopt a hinge. Well, any foldable phone will have some hinge mechanism. The hinge can be visible or placed under the screen. Foldable phones with visible hinges already exist, and they’re pretty ugly.
