Samsung is going to unveil a foldable smartphone this year. This is what Samsung Mobile CEO DJ Koh told CNBC. Rumors about a foldable smartphone have been in the works for years now.
Koh said that it is now “time to deliver” on a foldable device following consumer surveys that there is a market for this type of handset. Koh did not reveal how the folding screen is going to work though.
“You can use most of the uses … on foldable status. But when you need to browse or see something, then you may need to unfold it. But even unfolded, what kind of benefit does that give compared to the tablet? If the unfolded experience is the same as the tablet, why would they (consumers) buy it?,” said Koh at IFA in Berlin last week via CNBC. “So every device, every feature, every innovation should have a meaningful message to our end customer. So when the end customer uses it, (they think) ‘wow, this is the reason Samsung made it’.”
While this may sound like a flip phone, Samsung is likely going to introduce a smartphone with a single screen that bends. Koh admitted that the development process is “complicated,” but the process is “nearly concluded.” By releasing a foldable phone, it would definitely make Samsung stand apart from the competition.
In the same interview, Koh also said that the company is going to release more devices at lower price points with sophisticated hardware in order to appeal to millennials. More details about the foldable device are expected to be unveiled at the Samsung Developer Conference in November in San Francisco.
