Samsung Plans to Launch Foldable-Screen Phone Early Next Year
SEOUL— Samsung Electronics Co. is planning to introduce a foldable-screen smartphone early next year, according to people familiar with the matter, as the world’s largest phone maker eyes a splashy device that can help boost longer-term demand for its slumping handset business.
The Samsung prototype, which bears the internal code name “Winner,” features a screen that measures about 7 inches diagonally, roughly the size of a smaller tablet, these people said.
The screen can be folded in half, like a wallet, these people said. When folded, the exterior of the phone boasts a small display bar on the front and cameras in the back, they added.
The foldable-screen device has long been one of the industry’s most hotly-rumored pursuits, with several phone makers said to be developing their own versions. Unlike a traditional flip phone, the device when opened would be almost all screen, giving consumers a large display akin to a tablet, with the portability of a phone that could fit in a consumer’s hand, pocket or purse.
Other manufacturers have launched smartphones that fold, but those devices used two screens connected by their phone frames.
The new Samsung design—using a foldable screen—could help energize a handset industry that has struggled to find new dazzling features to impress consumers.
Smartphone sales declined 0.3% in 2017, the first annual decline in the industry’s history, according to IDC, a market researcher. They are projected to dip again this year, by 0.2%, IDC says.
A Samsung spokeswoman declined to comment.
The foldable-screen phone would create an entirely new product category and become Samsung’s third flagship device, alongside its primary Galaxy S and large-size Galaxy Note lineups, several of the people say.
The initial rollout would be on a smaller scale, targeting specific markets like mobile gamers. If successful, it would pave the way for a broader commercial debut in the second half of 2019, these people say.
That follows a playbook that Samsung has used in the past, most notably with curved-screen smartphones, which it first released in limited quantities in 2014 before rolling them out to the mass market.
The device wouldn’t be expected to be a big seller right away, according to people familiar with the matter. But Samsung wants to be the first company to produce a foldable-screen phone, which could be the most significant leap in smartphones in several years, they say.
The timing and final design could still change, though the project has taken on a greater sense of urgency in recent months, with senior Samsung executives making it one of the company’s top priorities, the people say.
Another factor behind Samsung’s push: a falloff in premium-phone demand this year, especially for its latest flagship device, the Galaxy S9, which surprised some Samsung mobile executives expecting modest growth, according to several of the people. Instead, the Galaxy S9’s sales drop-off from the prior year’s model could be 20% or more, industry analysts say.
The South Korean company earlier this month forecast a lower-than-expected operating profit for the second quarter, largely driven by the decline in Galaxy S9 sales.
Samsung has been working on a foldable-screen phone for years and the project carried a prior code name of “Valley.” The company has acknowledged such a device is on its product road map, though it has never specified a firm release date or design.
The company does have a leg up on its rivals: the key technology that makes the foldable screen possible—the organic light-emitting diode, or OLED, display—is made by Samsung’s display division. Samsung currently controls nearly all of the smartphone OLED market.
But the new phone would face challenges. Because it would be deploying a large interior screen, plus a second smaller one—the display bar—on the outside, the device would require a bigger battery, sparking concerns inside the company over potential overheating, according to people familiar with the matter. The device would also require more powerful components, like more powerful chips, driving up costs.
The price tag could easily surpass $1,500, and would probably be steeper than that, according to people familiar with the matter. Consumers have already balked at paying more than $1,000 for the newest high-end devices, though Samsung is betting that the phone’s novelty could be enough to convince some premium users to take the plunge.
Separately, Samsung is closer to releasing another much-anticipated piece of hardware: a voice-activated speaker powered by its digital assistant Bixby, according to people familiar with the matter.
The speaker is expected to retail for about $300 and should debut in the next month or so, the people said. Its release will likely track closely with the Galaxy Note 9, which will be unveiled Aug. 9 in New York, with the large-screen smartphone arriving in stores shortly thereafter, they said.
The speaker—internally code-named “Lux”—has a bowled shape, with a legged bottom and lights at the top, one of the people said. It will be marketed as a high-end music player and boast features like sound shifting, where the speaker’s audio can be beamed in the direction of a person providing verbal commands, the person said.
Write to Timothy W. Martin at timothy.martin@wsj.com