Samsung's mobile chief says to expect a foldable smartphone in 2018

Perhaps in a bid to distract all of those smartphone fans watching out for Apple's introduction this afternoon of the tenth anniversary Apple iPhone X model, Samsung had a big announcement itself. Samsung's top mobile executive, Koh Dong-jin, said today that the company will be releasing its long awaited foldable smartphone in 2018. The manufacturer has been working on this for some time. Back at CES in 2011, Samsung introduced a 4.5-inch flexible AMOLED display.

Samsung's press conference today was held to show off the highly regarded Samsung Galaxy Note 8 phablet to the media in the company's home country of South Korea. In the country, and in the U.S., pre-orders are running at record levels. Before this Friday's launch of the phone in South Korea, 650,000 units have been reserved. That is impressive considering the price tag of the Galaxy Note 8, which is 1.1 million Korean Won (the equivalent to $969 USD in South Korea) and $930 USD in the states.

The Samsung foldable smartphone will feature a bendable screen. Analysts have said that mass producing such a device with high-end specs and a thin form factor will not be easy. And while there has been talk almost every year about such a handset, we now actually have Sammy's top mobile executive giving us 2018 as the year that the company's foldable phone will arrive.

Koh also said that its Harmon speaker division is working to develop an artificial intelligence based speaker that users can speak to for music and to handle other tasks. This does sound a bit like the smart speaker that Samsung has already spoken about. This would compete with the Amazon Echo, Google Home, Microsoft Invoke the Apple HomePod and a smart speaker launching next month from Sony. The Samsung unit is also expected to include personal assistant Bixby.

source: AP