Even though Samsung has filed a patent for a ‘foldable smartphone’, the company has not announced about any plans to launch a smartphone based on this technology. The employees have been working without much noise to probably have a bigger reveal.
According to various reports and leaks, Samsung could unveil the prototype version of the foldable smartphone by the end of Q3 2017 or start of Q4 2017. The smartphone has been codenamed Galaxy X.
The company understands the handicaps in using a foldable smartphone, but the motive is to make the smartphone more handy and smaller for users, considering the sheer size of display sizes these days. The foldable smartphone will be similar to the clamshell phones we used to have back in 2000s.
The positive side of this phone is that it can bend and become compact, and whenever you need the screen estate, you can just unfold it. There are so many possibilities of putting this handset to good use, if only there was a way to make such phones actually bendable.
The last prototype that was shown by Samsung used flexible OLED displays, but we all know that such technology cannot be put into production. Samsung is making a work around to introduce the production version using a similar technology by the end of this year. This is also the same time Apple may be launching the OLED iPhone 8.
Samsung is making a premium foldable phone
According to reports, Samsung is going to make Galaxy X a premium smartphone with a screen size of somewhere between 5.5-inch and 6.2-inch. The screen size really should be big because it is foldable and can be easily bended to fit inside a pocket or even in one hand.
The chipsets and processors have not been finalized, and considering the smartphone to be unveiled this year will be a prototype, we can get a glimpse of its prowess in Q3 2017. Samsung will gauge the demand of the phone at its unveiling and start mass production by 2018.
Making a bendable battery is also a concern, and we hope Samsung doesn’t end up making a smaller battery to compensate for the fold. Unlike clamshells, this design might have a rather ‘bendable’ design more than a foldable end, so a few features might be compromised.
Nevertheless, it is good to see companies innovating, rather than just upping the specifications of the smartphones. Foldable smartphones can lead to so many interesting developments in the tech industry and this could just be a tiny start to it.