After several leaks and teasers, Samsung finally unveiled its foldable smartphone at the SDC 2018 keynote in San Francisco. Though the foldable phone didn’t precisely bare it all, quite a few details did come to light. Samsung is calling the foldable phone technology as Infinity Flex Display which allows folding a tablet-sized phone into a candy bar form factor.
Samsung dubs the Infinity Flex Display technology as the foundation for the smartphone of tomorrow. Indeed, those foldable smartphones from sci-fi movies will become a reality in a matter of a few years.
At the SDC 2018 keynote, Justin Denison, SVP of mobile product marketing, showed the foldable phone under dimmed lights and stated that concealing the design elements was necessary.
He further noted that the company had to work on new kinds of materials from the ground up and take a distinct design approach. Many elements ranging from flexible screen panel, a flexible layer beneath that, a foldable backplane and more.
Samsung will introduce the new One UI to work along with its Infinity Flex Display to provide a different experienced compared the current breed of phones. Be it viewing content or multi-tasking; One UI intends to deliver a seamless transition between the compact form factor to unfolded one and vice versa.
You can run up to three apps simultaneously, and Samsung calls the feature as Multi-Active Window. Of course, that would require a lot of developers to work on their apps to support such features, and that’s why Samsung invited them to the SDC.
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Even Google is working closely with Samsung on the Infinity Flex Display to ensure that Android platform is ready to support it. Google is calling them Foldables and is working to enhance the Android and guide its developers to start using the existing features with as less effort as possible.
LG already has the flexible OLED displays in its kitty, and it won’t be surprising if the company follows Samsung’s suite. Expect more companies to step in and further the foldable smartphone concept to a viable form factor.
Samsung didn’t reveal details about the pricing or the release timeline of the foldable smartphone. However, the company did confirm its capability to start its production in a matter of months.
