Samsung Galaxy X: Everything we think we know about mysterious FOLDING smartphone
Samsung Galaxy X will purportedly launch later this year.
The forthcoming flagship smartphone is tipped to ditch the dual-curved, all-glass design that has characterised the latest entries in the Galaxy S series.
Instead, Galaxy X will boast a flexible OLED display, enabling users to adjust the available screen real-estate on-the-go.
Sources say the flexible display will fold inwards like a book, halving the physical footprint of the 7.3-inch phablet.
When the screen is unfurled, Galaxy X owners will be able to use the device as a phone, while unfolded it will function more like a tablet.
Galaxy X is believed to be codenamed “Project Valley” inside Samsung.
According to industry sources speaking to ETNews, Samsung plans to begin manufacturing its new folding OLED panels in September, ready to fire-up the Galaxy X production line in November.
The radical new hardware will launch in December, the sources say.
Flexible OLED technology is still in its infancy, and as a result, the all-new Galaxy handset is likely to be more expensive than both Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and upcoming Samsung Galaxy S9.
Since the top-end Galaxy Note 8 is priced at around £869, the Galaxy X could easily be more expensive than even the iPhone X’s eye-watering £999 price tag.
Samsung teased the possibility of its work with flexible displays during its latest earnings call.
During its financial results, the South Korean company announced: “To secure profitability, Samsung will focus on product line-ups for flagship smartphones and expand its customer portfolio.
“In addition, the company will improve the productivity of flexible OLED panel manufacturing.”
In the weeks before the earnings call, Samsung’s mobile chief Koh Dong-Jin told the Korea Herald that “there are still durability issues that we need to address” around flexible OLED panels.
Pressed about a potential release date for an all-new handset designed around the technology, Koh Dong-Jin said “it is difficult to talk about the date of the launch now.
“We want to unveil the products properly but now seems a bit early.”
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