A Foldable Smartphone from Samsung

Justin Denison, head of Samsung’s mobile product marketing, presented a prototype of the company’s new product – a smartphone with a foldable screen. Flexible and foldable screens are the next step in...

Justin Denison, head of Samsung’s mobile product marketing, presented a prototype of the company’s new product – a smartphone with a foldable screen.

Flexible and foldable screens are the next step in equipping mobile phones with fancy functions that are perhaps not so essential. However, many manufacturers are extensively pursuing this field that provides room for a good marketing move, a technological challenge and the determination to maintain leadership positions in the market with an eye for the promising or trendy solutions developed by the competitors.

Samsung's foldable smartphone was one of the new products most widely discussed at the San Francisco conference. The gadget measures 7.3 inches diagonally, when unfolded, and fits perfectly into your pocket, when folded.

Watch Samsung's foldable phone in action, from its #SDC18 demo 👀 pic.twitter.com/OTuCtviIL0

— CNET (@CNET) November 7, 2018

Samsung is encouraging Android developers to create and adapt software for devices with folding screens.

Google developers claim that Android has already developed a full-fledged support for Samsung’s folding screens. Dave Burke, Vice President of engineering for Goodle’s Android software platform added that the company expects to see similar devices from several other manufacturers.

Samsung is going to launch the manufacturing of a full-fledged device within the next few months and present it in early 2019. The prototype suggests the possibility of two design solutions. In one, the screen folds inwards, and there is an additional display on the back of the case, if you want to use the smartphone folded. In the other, the screen folds outwards forming two smaller displays on either side of the phone, and all interface elements come to one of the halves.

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Other companies developing foldable smartphones include Huawei Technologies and Royole. Huawei is promising to present its new phone in the middle of 2019 and Royole has already unveiled its new phone with a 7.8 inch screen and $1,300 price tag.