Foldable smartphone: Will Samsung finally put an end to the Concept?

The folding smartphone is still a dream in the high tech world. Even if its potential users do not well understand the technology yet, Samsung wants to unveil its model by the end of the year.

We’ve been talking about it for years: the foldable smartphone is one of the most anticipated evolution in the small world of technology that never ceases to fascinate users. Samsung is the one who is most intended to use this format – even if other Asian manufacturers seem to be racing. And Samsung could also draw the first one: the CEO of the Korean company told CNBC that a first model of a folding smartphone could be presented as early as November 2018 at the conference for the giant’s developers.

DJ Koh felt that this was “the time to keep the promises,” even if the project is challenging. Samsung is no fool: if folding a technological object is just a gadget, the format will never break through. If the unfolded smartphone is just a tablet, it will have no interest. If the folded smartphone is just a smartphone, it will only be too thick a smartphone. The challenge for the manufacturer is, therefore, to create an experience at the service of uses that can take advantage of both forms of the smartphone.

It is a beautiful profession of faith, but the challenges are many. Beyond the novelty on the formal side, it will be necessary to make an efficient and effective operating system – two adjectives that do not correspond to what Samsung offers today on Android, the manufacturer having the reputation of overloading its devices. But we will also have to think about the whole ecosystem around it: in-house applications may be enough for a proof of concept, but they will not replace a real marketplace with thousands of apps designed for the format.

And as often with radical newness, you never really know where to start: developers will have no interest in creating applications for a platform that has no customer and customers will not buy an object that has no use. It is why an announcement at a conference dedicated to professionals is interesting: Samsung has a keen interest in providing tools well in advance to developers, or even financing development programs to ensure a significant application market.

Once achieved, the Korean will have to find the right price for a commercial product and given the trend towards increasing the cost of high-end smartphones, we can only bet on a device exceeding $1,000. Bit expensive for such a device!