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

by Daniel Petrov / Mar 14, 2017, 5:06 AM

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

Despite that it has allegedly increased the screen-to-body ratio of its upcoming S8 and S8+ phones drastically by reducing top and bottom bezels, Samsung is still bent on introducing bendable phones to the market. The whole premise of a foldable handset is that it will be compact when folded, but when you need a larger screen area, you can unfurl it and watch a movie, browse, or showcase media, for instance.

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

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20 Comments

1. Phonehex

Posts: 768; Member since: Feb 16, 2016

Samsung FTW !!

posted on Mar 14, 2017, 5:08 AM 5

2. Arch_Fiend

Posts: 3951; Member since: Oct 03, 2015

Sigh, no one makes good smartphones anymore or should I say no one has good ideas for innovative smartphones anymore. Foldable is just super lame if you ask me. It just isn't as cool as people seem to think it is. Seeing as how they don't exist yet, I will save my final opinion for a finished product.

posted on Mar 14, 2017, 5:22 AM 0

4. twens

Posts: 1184; Member since: Feb 25, 2012

You're welcome to bring your ideas for that cool phone that will blow your mind. People are just impossible to please

posted on Mar 14, 2017, 5:51 AM 12

11. Arch_Fiend

The world of tech hasn't caught up to my ideas yet but I'll let you know when it does :), either way foldable phones are not going to be a hit product at all.

posted on Mar 14, 2017, 9:00 AM 0

18. juandante

Posts: 679; Member since: Apr 23, 2013

So many newbs don't know about when Nokia was king. Nokia is returning and this is good. See when the iPhone came out it was a success due to marketing. Sheeps like Samesung blindly follow the trend of slimmer, lighter and now we have always the same and the same phone coming out. They are all afraid to innovate. Nokia was on a different path, to innovate, they had the E series phone with keyboard and else. Good design. There is a reason why people so much like Nokia. Nokia was good in taking risks. You can check all the previous Nokia phones to see for yourself. So to answer your question, yes it's unfortunate, but with Nokia return we could be less excited.

posted on Mar 14, 2017, 3:44 PM 0

19. AlikMalix unregistered

Seriously dude, shut up. You must be techie or his lost cousin - you spew garbage 2 posts straight, and try to make it sound legit.

posted on Mar 14, 2017, 5:36 PM 0

6. tedkord

Posts: 17464; Member since: Jun 17, 2009

Seriously? You don't see any utility for a device that can be either a 6 inch phone or 9 inch tablet?

posted on Mar 14, 2017, 6:45 AM 1

10. KingSam

Posts: 1505; Member since: Mar 13, 2016

My problem is how firm will it be when unrolled? a wobbly mess? I think a rollable TV or monitor would be cool.

posted on Mar 14, 2017, 8:58 AM 0

12. Blessed777

Posts: 17; Member since: Feb 23, 2017

I think hot have a frame to hold it firm, but is something I want more real estate better God bless

posted on Mar 14, 2017, 9:07 AM 0

20. Chuck007

Posts: 1416; Member since: Mar 02, 2014

I'm wondering this myself. Flexing plastic = major nono in the long run.

posted on Mar 15, 2017, 1:42 AM 0

13. SleeperOne

Posts: 370; Member since: Feb 25, 2017

I know how dare Samsung do anything different right?

posted on Mar 14, 2017, 10:10 AM 2

15. AlikMalix unregistered

I'm not sure what foldable or rollable will be lick in practical life? But for me the ultimate next breakthrough would have to be wireless charging or batteries that hold week (weeks) worth of charge in same form factor. That will be the big one for me. Foldable, well, it will still need a hard shell/box for battery/components - so it's not like hiding a folded piece of paper or plastic film. Will just have to wait and see.

posted on Mar 14, 2017, 12:02 PM 0

17. juandante

Even if there is a huge leap in batteries I think your joy will be short period because stupid Apple (cause it's always them starting stupid trends) will increase CPU power it whatever and phones will still not last one day. Batteries are in some way better than those 15 years ago and and we still have same autonomy. The question is the market. Standard Joe doesn't give a fck about having a smartpone last more than one day.

posted on Mar 14, 2017, 3:38 PM 0

3. Loubielou

Posts: 603; Member since: Jul 11, 2012

Samsung knew they need another phone available when Apple announce there new phone,so the Note 8 or Flexible Screen phone will challenge Apple,just dying to see the pricing of this new type of phone

posted on Mar 14, 2017, 5:51 AM 0

8. remixfa

Posts: 14605; Member since: Dec 19, 2008

the one thing I don't want to see is the pricing! ha

posted on Mar 14, 2017, 8:29 AM 0

5. youssef44

Posts: 547; Member since: Apr 29, 2014

I wait it!

posted on Mar 14, 2017, 6:14 AM 2

7. krystian

Posts: 423; Member since: Mar 16, 2016

This is likely why Samsung is getting into a close relationship with Microsoft for windows 10 2-in-1 tablets. They may start releasing full windows 10 versions now that it can run on 835 processor. This should be interesting.

posted on Mar 14, 2017, 7:28 AM 0

9. joelcane

Posts: 31; Member since: Mar 05, 2016

Bring it on! I dont even care about the price.

posted on Mar 14, 2017, 8:36 AM 0

14. mikehunta727 unregistered

Very interesting....Wonder how they tackled a battery that would be constantly bending

posted on Mar 14, 2017, 10:34 AM 0

16. Slytherin

Posts: 268; Member since: Mar 02, 2017

Whatever it looks like, it should make for a mouth watering 2nd half of the year! Such is the anticipation i would love to fast forward! Samsung fold, Note 8, iPhone 8, LG V30, Pixel 2 OH MY LORD