Samsung’s first foldable handset had its soft launch a few days ago, and the phone should hit stores at some point in the first half of 2019. The Galaxy F (image above) may not be a phone for everyone, especially considering its sky-high price, but the handset is Samsung’s most ambitious and exciting smartphone project to date. And that phone will have some serious competition next year, including a device that you’re probably not going to find in US stores.
Huawei’s foldable phone, which doesn’t have a rumored commercial name for the time being, was already shown to mobile operators in Korea, ETNews explains.
The device is expected to launch with 5G support on board. That’s why Huawei is reportedly demoing it to Korean carriers, which are expected to launch their 5G networks next year. Samsung is making a 5G version of the Galaxy S10 for the same market, although the Galaxy F isn’t supposed to support 5G.
The Huawei phone “was more complete than expected,” a senior official told ETNews, although they were not able to reveal too many specifics about the phone.
The handset should be unveiled at MWC in late February, and then launch by June in various markets, Korea included. A price for the handset wasn’t leaked.
The report says the phone will feature two screens, including an 8-inch internal display, and a 5-inch external screen. Thus, the design appears to be similar to Samsung’s Galaxy F, but Huawei is going for an even bigger foldable — the Galaxy F features 4.6-inch and 7.3-inch displays. Huawei did previously tease that the foldable handset might replace a computer in the future.
The report also notes that Chinese display maker BOE will manufacture the foldable screen of the handset, a detail that was previously featured in reports about the Huawei foldable handset.
