Our first look at the collapsible Samsung raises more questions than answers

Right now everyone at Annual Samsung Developer Conference was waiting, the senior vice president of mobile marketing, Justin Dennison, put his hand on the jacket of his interior and went out first foldable phone. According to rumors, the phone "Galaxy F" – Samsung has not revealed the name of the device – this collapsible phone for 2019 represents the best chance of Samsung to retain its position as the world's leading maker of phones.

The revelation Wednesday foldable phone comes at a time when report smartphone sales and the blocked innovation have created a "recession"This threatens not only the dominance of Samsung, but also that of Apple, leaving the possibility to players such as Huawei's already closed handle. The foldable phones promise to reinvigorate this secure space, where even this year's headliners, from the Galaxy S9 to iPhone XS, varies only gradually from the best models of 2017. Although a radical new design would upset the industry in decline, it also raises questions about its usefulness and the ease with which it could stumble.

Samsung is not the only one looking for a foldable phone. LG and Huawei develop their own prototypes and a brand, Royole, has already developed the all-plastic FlexPai, whose screen folds outward rather than inward like the phone that Samsung's Dennison showed on stage.

Samsung has timidly refused to share more than the essential. We know that the screen folds inward like a book and that there is also a screen on the outside. So you can use the phone when it is folded in half. The company also explained how to create new manufacturing processes and components. Finally, we know that it uses a new interface running Android, called An interface, which will also come in future Samsung phones, probably the Galaxy S10.

What we do not know, is if the cover material is glass or plastic, how much will it cost you and if its use will be practical or whimsical. What will prevent it from igniting like the "foldable" ZTE Axon M?

"Maybe when we start selling the foldable phone, it may be a niche market, but certainly it will grow." DJ Koh, head of Samsung mobiles, told CNET in an interview of October. "I am convinced that we need a foldable phone."

"Need" is a strong word for any new category of devices, but phone makers and experts agree on a key benefit: more screen space. A foldable phone essentially doubles your available area.

The design generates new ways to use the phone. You can unfold it to play games and watch videos on a larger canvas. Or, you can divide the hemispheres of the screen into several panes for better multitasking.

For example, one screen could potentially become a virtual keyboard, while the other would form a composition window. Or, you can play the content on both screens and watch the same video clip of a friend at the other end of the table. And a phone that folds up can stand while you watch movies, without having to use them. Like the first attempts at dual screen phones, the Holy Grail of a larger screen area promises a rich possibility.

Google agrees: the future of phones is foldable

Samsung, LG and Huawei can not make a collapsible Android phone without Google's support. Moments before Samsung unpacked the foldable phone, Google announced its own support for foldable phones. The goal is to allow applications to work seamlessly when moving from the outside screen to a larger screen and from one pane to multiple active parts of the screen at once .

While these powerful laptops continue to become the center of people's lives, phone makers are struggling to increase the size of the screen without making the device itself too big and too much heavy to carry in a pocket or purse. The foldable configuration aims to change everything.

But handset manufacturers have a lot of work to do. It is easier to say than to make two screens folding back one on the other. A screen capable of bending and bending is one thing – Samsung and LG debuted "curved" screens in 2013 and 2014, respectively – but the phones themselves did not bend.

Making the body of the device foldable is a much bigger challenge: the batteries and components are rigid, and moving the battery on one side can result in an imbalance of the phone. In addition, flexible displays have been used for years, but thin glass may have a tendency to break more easily, especially when it is folded hundreds of thousands of times over the course of a person's life. apparatus.

Royole's FlexPai solves the problem of screen flexibility by using plastic instead of glass to cover the OLED display. Plastic is not a popular material today, especially considering its price (FlexPai developer models start at $ 1,588). Royole placed the battery on the right side and said it balanced the left with the other components. A rubberized hinge controls flexion at the back.

Lily: Samsung Mobile CEO: Our foldable phone will be a tablet that you can put in your pocket

Despite the design difficulties, creating a flexible phone is a risk that Samsung has to take. Samsung is betting that being the first major player to show a foldable phone could help it outpace competitors who are trying to eat a slice of its cake. A foldable phone is also a halo device, an ambitious product like Ford Supercar GT or the luxury of Nokia Vertu Phones, which gives a certain prestige to the brand. Volume sales are not the name of the game here, but capturing the attention is.

"Should the industry switch to foldable mode?" "No, but it's opening up a new category of hybrid devices," said Lam, referring to a category that includes phones and tablets. (Note that the term "phablet" was created in response to the Galaxy Note for the same reason.)

Samsung's challenge is to see that its bold new designs do not turn around and bombard. The company took a risk with the Galaxy Note series, and that ultimately paid off. Despite a difficult start, Note is now a well established and loyal brand, and the design of the giant screen phone it has launched is now the industry standard. However, only in Korea in 2013 Galaxy tower, the world's first curved-screen phone, has been a sales flop, even though it has led to the curved Galaxy phones we take for granted today.

We still have no details on the hardware specs of the Galaxy F, but the foldable hybrid would have a 7.3-inch screen, a silver finish and Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8150 processor. It is said to have 512 GB of internal storage, with support for a microSD card.

"The price of this technology will be very high," Lam said. "It will take years before a consumer version is available at the right price."

At this early stage, it's best to set the Galaxy F, and any foldable first-wave phone, as a stepping stone to a device we may want someday, rather than the one we need now.

Originally released on November 6th.
Update of November 7th: Added more details after the Samsung event.

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