Samsung's foldable phone to be 'luxurious ultra premium' device, first samples coming in Q3

With the rumored 5.8" S8 and 6.2" S8+ fitting in bodies not much larger than the S7 or S7 edge, that selling point of foldable handsets may become somewhat moot, but Samsung could be cooking something unique, as it has played around with foldable OLED displays for years now. We'll know more come the fall season, it seems, as Korean media is reporting that Samsung will have a foldable phone ready for show in Q3, right around the time that an OLED iPhone 8 may be announced.

Samsung's foldable handset prepped with 'luxurious and elegant' chassis

The bendy handset is expected to be a "luxurious" device made with top-shelf materials, and gunning for the ultra premium class of phones, as this is a unique technology that Samsung hopes would give it an advantage before the competition. The company is reportedly planning to produce thousands of prototypes, and distribute them directly to carrier partners for testing and evaluation, before it decides whether it will make business sense to introduce a foldable smartphone commercially in mass quantities. 

Not very surprisingly, Chinese display and phone makers are planning to create foldable phone prototypes in exactly the same timeframe, tips the source, and, while they don't have the resources of Samsung, they are capable of quickly throwing something together, and stealing away the title of "world's first foldable phone," so Samsung is apparently keeping an eye on Chinese copycats, and bent on striking first in Q3. As to how would a device that is, say, a 5-incher when folded and 8-incher when unfurled, look like, remains to be seen, but there are plenty of Samsung patents that shed some light on the matter to keep us warm until after the summer.

source: ETNews