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After the release of Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge, Samsung’s mobile division is apparently doing quite well on the market and is reaping some significant profits all around the globe. So, what could be next for the popular South Korean consumer electronics manufacturer, apart from, of course – the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note 6 phablet? According to latest reports, the answer to that question is – a foldable smartphone. The company has allegedly been working on a dual-screen smartphone with what appears to be a foldable display since 2014. The mysterious device was codenamed Project Valley, but up until now there were no known updates regarding it for almost a year.
Well, that has just changed, and latest reports suggest Samsung is planning to release its first foldable smartphone in early 2017. Sources claim that the South Korean company is developing a 7-inch tablet which can be folded into a 5-inch smartphone and that it has already either partnered with or acquired all of the relevant creators of technologies required to manufacture such a versatile portable device. The rumored smartphone will allegedly feature an OLED display which users will be able to fold in half. The said screen was being worked on by the Samsung Display division and the aforementioned report claims that a prototype already exists.
Lee Chang-hoon, the head of Samsung Display recently stated that everything regarding the development of a foldable OLED display is going in accordance with his and his teams’ plans and that talks regarding mass-production and commercial launch of the said hi-tech piece of hardware are already being held with Samsung’s local and foreign partners. Regardless of the OLED display being more or less finished, Samsung allegedly has to finish designing a few other components of the rumored foldable smartphone before it can start planning mass production of the device. Certain reports from last year also suggested that the Project Valley phone might be labeled with a model number SM-G929F, though that’s naturally yet to be confirmed. In any case, it seems like Samsung may soon be launching not three, but four major flagship smartphones on a yearly basis: the regular and curved S models, the Note phablet, and a foldable device which should put a twist on the established smartphone formula, kind of like LG is trying to do at the moment with its modular G5.