For a few years the South Korean electronics giant has already been working on a foldable smartphone and more than once an actual device was expected to launch. According to the Wall Street Journal Samsung is going to launch a foldable model for good by the beginning of next year and the price could be a whopping $1500 US.

Samsung seems to be pretty sure about it’s foldable smartphone, since they’re developing it under the codename “Winner”. Looking at it from the outside, the company certainly doesn’t lack self-confidence. Are we to believe what the Wall Street Journal states, then a foldable Samsung smartphone could launch at the beginning of 2018. At that point in time only the unit is supposed to be available in low numbers while later down the road in 2018 wide availability should be a given.

Developing a smartphone with a truly foldable 7-inch screen makes Samsung face quite a few tricky challenges – even by their standards. When closed there is supposed to be a side display like the one on the first Galaxy Note Edge, which is to provide status information. The combination of two displays currently requires a juicy battery pack, which would require for a thicker enclosure, yet this foldable unit should be all about compactness. Next to the horrendous research and development costs this device brings along a high-end SoC would add to the overall cost at launch as well.

Currently it seems like the smartphone market needs something new. With the launch of the Galaxy S9 the market and Samsung appear to have reached a plateau when it comes to growth. For the first time in about a decade the smartphone market is not bringing the company increased revenue streams.



Source: TheVerge