Samsung plans on revealing next week how its long-awaited foldable phone will operate. The company has confirmed it will unveil the user interface (UI) for its upcoming foldable phone at next week’s Samsung Developer Conference. It also aims to supply 5G equipment to major advanced markets, i.e., the U.S. and Korea. The company’s Lee Kyeong-tae made the announcement in a conference call alongside Samsung’s quarter three 2018 financial results, reports Asiae.
However, Lee suggested the phone itself is yet to be finished, casting doubt on whether we’ll see a prototype at the conference. As has been the case with past statements from people at Samsung about the phone, Lee simply said the company is working on the finalizing the device and that he can’t confirm when Samsung will be able to release it.
The company has been known to be working on a folding phone for some time now, generally known as the Galaxy X. What is known to us is that the Samsung foldable phone will take advantage of Samsung Display’s talents in flexible OLED.
Samsung is said to be considering a final design between two prototypes it is believed to be considering. One is longer horizontally when the screen is unfolded and the other is longer vertically. A 4-inch external display allows users to have access to emails, notifications, and messages without having to unfold the unit.
The company confirmed that it would launch foldable handsets and 5G phones next year. As for the outlook for 2019, smartphone market demand is expected to grow slightly mainly driven by premium segments. However, competition is likely to intensify across all segments as key features of premium models continue to expand to mid- to low-end models.
It’s unclear at this time whether the Galaxy F foldable handset will come with 5G support or not. The foldable phone is expected to be teased in November at the SDC19 developer conference. While the Samsung event begins on November 7 we should at least have a much better idea about what Samsung is planning at the conference.
