Samsung has been teasing a foldable smartphone for years now. That came to a head when the company showed off its first prototype device in November of last year.
Now, months later, the real thing is finally here. Samsung has just announced the Galaxy Fold, its first foldable smartphone meant for the consumer market. The handset takes a unique approach to showcasing its displays, with a smaller screen on the outside of the device to handle quick use cases. However, unfolding the device will get the user a much larger display, similar to a tablet (but not that big).
The design is accented by metal, and, despite the real estate present (or perhaps because of it, thanks to the design itself) there is a notch in the top-right corner when the device is unfolded. The front display measures in at 4.6 inches and the inside display, when completely opened, is a 7.3-inch “Infinity Flex” display. And it appears that the phone does indeed unfold completely flat when it’s opened.
Samsung says the hinge system is “all-new” and it can’t be seen from the outside. When the device launches, it will be available in several colors: Cosmos Black, Space Silver, Martian Green, and Astral Blue. Samsung says the hinge system should hold up from “hundreds of thousands” of opening and closing. And owners will be able to personalize the hinge color, too.
Samsung detailed multitasking in the Galaxy Fold, saying it will be able to run three apps simultaneously. These are tiled on the bigger display, which should make using them easy enough. And with a feature called “app continuity”, users will be able to switch between one screen to another without pausing the app experience. Samsung says it worked with Google to get this all working the way it feels like it should.
There is a 7nm processor under the hood, and the Galaxy Fold will have 12GB of RAM. It has 512GB of built-in storage. There are two batteries, one in each side of the folding phone. There are six cameras in total: Three in the back, two on the inside, and one on the front (when the phone is closed).
(Worth noting here that even Samsung is billing this as a “luxury” device.)
The fingerprint reader is on the side of the device. Samsung showcased unfolding the phone while an app was in use. In this case, Google Maps. It started on the small screen, then, when unfolded, the Galaxy Fold seamlessly expanded the map. It all looked pretty good. Netflix was also showcased.
The Galaxy Fold starts at $1,980. It will have a 4G LTE variant and a 5G variant. It launches on April 26.
This is an ongoing story, which we are updating…
[images via The Verge]
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