Samsung’s Foldable Phone: Here’s All We Know So Far

After the first glimpse at the developer conference on Wednesday, Samsung now continues giving us more detail on all aspect of its upcoming foldable phone.

What’s its name?

The company did not reveal the official name, but it may be Galaxy F with the “F’” standing for “flex” or “fold”. Otherwise, it may be Galaxy X, which means “extra” or “10”.

What exactly is foldable?

A foldable phone, in Samsung’s definition, is a handset with a cellular connection which appears as a tablet in its opened stage and a regular phone in the folded stage.

What does it offer?

Firstly, Samsung’s foldable phone provides you with more than double your current screen. A single 4.5-inch phone screen when you fold it and a 7.3-inch tablet screen when you unfold it. You can even say you have three displays.

Secondly, the phone comes with a larger screen that not only expands the viewing surface but also lets you run three apps at the same time in three areas.

What if you’re using a single app and close the phone?

The app you’re using appear on the smaller screen will automatically transfer to the larger one when you fold the phone. Yes, it’s like what the FlexPai does, but there haven’t any lags spotted on Samsung’s phone.

What makes it foldable?

The Infinity Flex Display is the key word here. In regular phones, the screens are made of stacked, unmoving layers. In what may be called “Galaxy F” or “Galaxy X”, Samsung uses a new adhesive to laminate the screen layers, hence they are so flexible they can fold hundreds of thousands of times. The layers in this phone are also thinner, by 45 percent.

What’s the sale date?

Nothing confirmed yet, except for the phrase “coming months” that Samsung mentioned. The phone is expected to launch in 2019 and have its own event.

What’s the price?

Once again, nothing confirmed yet. But provided that the Galaxy Note 9 costs $999 (Rs 73,000), the innovative foldable phone should be priced at $1,500 (Rs 109,000) or higher.

How about the battery?

Despite having more screens, Samsung promises a battery that can last as long as its current smartphones. The longest battery life now is 19 hours and 20 minutes of the Note 9.

Where do they put the battery?

Batteries don’t bend. Maybe the battery will sit on one side of the phone and the other side contains components for balancing it out. Hopefully, Samsung will not get in the unbalance weight problem that ZTE Axon M had when one of its phone’s half is heavier than the other.

What does it really look like?

Remember the glimpse we had the other day? The phone will definitely look different, that one was just a prototype. Samsung isn’t ready to reveal the final design yet, but it will have a softer look with rounded edges, unlike the 90-degree ones on the prototype.

What’s the material?

Samsung did not say much, but it suggested the two screens will be made from different materials.

How does it work?

Basically, you’ll use this phone just like other regular phones. You will start with the smaller screen then when necessary, you will unfold the phone to reveal the table screen.

Samsung didn’t speak about hardware and software.

What’s the OS?

Android, of course, but Samsung will add a redesigned version of One UI. One UI is available this month but on Android Pie 9 only.

What are the apps?

Not many details revealed but there will surely be some in-house apps like SmartThings. Plus, Flipboard said they are in the process too.

As far as we know, the developers are responsible for creating apps that can run smoothly together at the same time on different screens.

What happens when you unfold the phone?

If you’re using a single app, the smaller screen will go dark when you unfold the phone, the app in use will switch to the larger screen at right where you left off.

Who maybe Samsung’s rivals in this competition?

ZTE Axon M or the Royole FlexPai cannot compete for sure. But Huawei and LG are on their way, planning for foldable phones too. LG may launch its foldable handset at CES 2019.

Will Samsung sell this technology to other producers?

Samsung refused to give comments, but since it’s among the major makers in the world, Samsung is likely to sell its technology to other device makers.

What’s next?

Samsung’s Denison said the company is aiming at rollable and stretchable phones after this.

Though not much has been revealed, at least we are sure that the foldable dream will come true. More to expect in the coming months.