Samsung Unveils its First Foldable Smartphone [Updated: Demo Video]

Samsung unveils its first foldable smartphone

What has been rumored and teased for years now is finally, officially official, and with it welcomes the next major design cue for smartphones.

The first foldable smartphone wasn’t made by Samsung, that goes to a company with a much smaller footprint than Samsung, but this here marks the first major turning point for what will likely be a major design cue for smartphones moving forward. The Verge has the first clear look at Samsung’s foldable smartphone, which, at the time of publication, doesn’t have an official name just yet.

Samsung actually dimmed the lights on the stage to hide some of the design elements of the upcoming device, even though it appears to be a prototype and several elements of the physical design may change in the future. We can see the device folds out into a tablet-style with a larger main display, and then folds into a candybar-like style when closed. That bigger display measures in at 7.3 inches, with the cover display quite a bit smaller.

With what Samsung calls “multi active window” future owners of the foldable phone will be able to run three apps at the same time. That foldable display is being called the “Infinity Flex Display” in a “matter of months”, but that’s all we know about a potential launch date. The company isn’t confirming a release date for the foldable phone just yet.

Samsung is not the only company working on foldable phones. LG is rumored to be launching its own device in early 2019 (Samsung’s own device is expected to arrive sometime early next year as well). Intel is working on support for dual-screen devices as well. And then there is Microsoft, with the oft-rumored project “Andromeda” which features a pocketable dual-screen surface device.

And, of course, there are patent applications that point to a future where there may even be foldable iPhones.

Here’s the video of the Samsung foldable phone demo from the event:

[image(s) via The Verge]

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