Samsung Announces The Galaxy Fold: The First Folding Display Smartphone
by Andrei Frumusanu on February 20, 2019 2:15 PM EST- Posted in
- Mobile
- Samsung
- Smartphones
Samsung has unveiled its first ever folding smartphone - the Galaxy Fold.
Today’s at Samsung’s Unpacked launch event in San Francisco, alongside the much awaited Galaxy S10 line-up of phones, the company has revealed its first ever folding smartphone.
| Samsung Galaxy Fold | |
| Galaxy Fold | |
| SoC | Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 1x Kryo 485 (CA76) @ 2.84GHz 3x Kryo 485 (CA76) @ 2.42GHz 4x Kryo 485 (CA55) @ 1.80GHz Adreno 640 |
| Display | Main Display: 7.3" 2048 x 1536 Foldable Dynamic AMOLED (4.2:3) Cover display: 4.6" 1680 x 720 Super AMOLED (21:9) |
| Dimensions | (Thick) |
| RAM | 12GB LPDDR4X |
| NAND | 512GB UFS3.0 |
| Battery | 4380mAh (16.86Wh) |
| Front Camera | Cover Camera: 10MP f/2.2 "Selfie camera" Front camera: 10MP f/1.9 4K video recording Front camera: 8MP, f/2.2 Dual Pixel PDAF "Live focus" |
| Primary Rear Camera | 77° Regular Angle 12MP 1.4µm Dual Pixel PDAF Tri-stack CMOS Sensor (Embedded DRAM), 4K60, 1080p240, 720p960 high-speed recording Adjustable aperture f/1.5 or f/2.4, OIS, auto HDR, LED flash |
| Secondary Rear Camera | 123° Wide Angle 16MP 1.0µm f/2.2 |
| Tertiary Rear Camera | 45° / Telephoto lens 2x zoom 12MP 1.0µm f/2.4, OIS |
| SIM Size | (Maybe?) |
| Wireless | 802.11a/b/g/n/ac 2x2 MU-MIMO, BT 5.0 LE, NFC, GPS/Glonass/Galileo/BDS |
| Connectivity | USB Type-C |
| Features | (It Folds) |
| Launch OS | Android 9.0 |
| Launch Price | $1980 / 2000€ |
The Galaxy Fold includes the same high-performance innards as the Galaxy S10.
The key feature of the phone is its dual-screen design: a 4.6” cover display, and a foldable 7.3” main screen. Samsung has put a lot of engineering into the folding design, especially on the mechanical hinge which had to be extremely durable in its implementation.
Samsung’s software is said to be optimised for seamless application switching between the cover display and the main foldable display. Samsung further demonstrated three-way app multi-tasking, taking advantage of the larger screen.
In the presentation event, the phone looked relatively rough in its design, seemingly twice as thick as a regular phone when folded. So it's not too surprising then that Samsung is not officially disclosing the dimensions of the phone at this time.
Samsung’s pricing for the novelty phone is also quite shocking, coming in at $1980/2000€.
Source: Samsung
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GreenReaper - Thursday, February 21, 2019 - link
"the its first ever folding smartphone" - you put in an "its" but forgot to take out the "the"~Gunbuster - Thursday, February 21, 2019 - link
Missed the start of the livestream yesterday. Did they address how the $2000 folding plastic screen is going to hold up to folding/pockets/every day use? (I'm sure they didn't because it wont)lightningz71 - Thursday, February 21, 2019 - link
This is an amazing device, to be sure, but, I'm not so sure about the absolute value proposition for all but the most die hard of road warriors. Lets compare this to the following:Purchase a mid-tier modern smartphone. That'll run you around $350 for something that can do almost anything well. Then, buy a top of the line Android tablet without integrated cellular modem. That'll run you, save for a couple of the exotics, around $350 as well. For $700, you've got something that tablets well, something that phones well, and, with just your personal hotspot on your phone, you can have the tablet be fully functional.
Do you have to carry around an extra device? Yes. How often, when you are out and about without a bag of some sort, would you want to use a tablet? I suggest that that is a very rare case. I just don't see this as being anything more than a vanity product at north of $1000. At less than that price, you start to get value as you have something with top of the line performance, and the functionality of two different devices that would exceed its price at that performance level.
Is it amazing that they can do this? Certainly! Are there going to be people buying it that have more money than sense? Of course. I just don't see the point at that price.
piroroadkill - Friday, February 22, 2019 - link
How is it the first? Wasn't there a lot of news around the Royole Flexpai being the first?hlm - Friday, February 22, 2019 - link
Yes, the article title is misleading. It is the first for Samsung, but NOT the "first folding display smartphone".piroroadkill - Friday, February 22, 2019 - link
Rectangular pixels? Otherwise I'm not seeing how the aspect ratio is correct.porcusRex - Saturday, February 23, 2019 - link
samsung has jumped the shark. its a double wide smartphone. for 2000 you get a double wide. i dont mind paying extra for new useful things. a doublewide smartphone doesnt provide me with much use beyond a samsung 9, 9+ or an iphone.use the foldable tech and give me a smartphone that folds up to half its size. thats something i would be interested in.
badbanana - Sunday, February 24, 2019 - link
only one thing that comes to mind, and this could kick the doldrums in the industry.for those who have seen "WestWorld", notice their foldable tablet? ;-)