Samsung finally has unveiled its foldable phone culminating the months of leaks and rumors we have had on the device so far. That said, it still is a prototype device that the South Korean major unveiled, one that lacks a name too. Samsung, however, has confirmed the device is destined for mass production and that it will start within months itself.
The device also sports a form factor that is being widely expected of the product of its class, one that unfolds to reveal a tablet while serving as a smartphone in its folded state. With the Samsung device, the cover display will be of 4.58-inches. The display will also be longish with a 21:9 aspect ratio and will have a resolution of 840 x 1960 pixels. That translates to a quite healthy screen density of 420 ppi.
Samsung is also referring to the foldable display panel as the Infinity Flex Display and is claiming to be robust enough to withstand even multiple bends without any perceptible changes both on the shot and long run. The company also assured its foldable phone won’t be a gimmick but has actually been designed to survive the same amount of rigors as say any smartphone or tablet device in isolation.
Even the battery runtimes are being claimed to be in the same range as that of a top-end Samsung smartphone. This, in spite of the fact that there are two screens to support this time. As for the bigger display, Samsung said it will be of 7.3-inches having 1536 x 2152 pixels, which again makes for the same screen density of 420 ppi.
The rest of the details such as the internal build of the device which includes the choice of processor or the memory and storage bits are yet a secret. The device though will be running Android, which again has been optimized to support the tablet mode as well. Google has said it fully supports the new foldable phone concept and will tweak the Android platform to deliver a refined working experience working in the twin mode as both a tablet and a smartphone.
Samsung also added the foldable phone will be able to run three apps at a time, something that Samsung referred to as Multi-Active Window. Now wonder it will also expect developers to develop more apps to make the most of the extended functionality of the foldable phone concept.
World’s first foldable phone – FlexiPai launched in China, priced quite steep
Also, with the foldable phone set to enter production within months, it remains to be seen if the device ends up cannibalizing the Note series with the ‘S’ series surviving as a conventional smartphone offering. Let’s hope we get to the bottom of all this soon enough.
