Samsung confirms arrival of the Galaxy X foldable phone in late 2018

Samsung's foldable design is reminiscent of the once popular clamshell phones. (Source: NieweMobile.NL)

Samsung claims that it has conducted a series of consumer surveys and it is now confident that there is enough demand for a foldable smartphone, so it decided to move the launch of the Galaxy X from early 2019, to late 2018. The real reason why Samsung is making this move is most likely that it does not want to allow Chinese OEMs like Huawei to get a head start in this emerging market.

Bogdan Solca, 09/04/2018

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Seeing that the Chinese OEMs have doubled their efforts to release foldable smartphones by the end of 2018, Samsung is now so determined to be among the first companies to release foldable devices that it moved the release for its Galaxy X from early 2019 to late 2018.

In an interview with CNBC, Samsung CEO DJ Koh stated that the Galaxy X foldable phone will launch later this year, but it might not be available worldwide at the same time, so some parts of the world could get the model in 2019. Koh hinted at a November unveiling held at the Samsung Developer Conference in San Francisco.

When asked about how the device is supposed to differ from current smartphones and tablets, Samsung’s CEO explained that most of the functions can be used in folded mode, but users need to unfold the phone to browse the Internet or see pictures, for example.

Apparently, Samsung conducted a series of consumer surveys and is confident now that there is sufficient demand for such a foldable devices. However, since several Chinese OEMs are also planning to launch foldable smartphones in late 2018, it seems like Samsung is rushing to stay ahead of the competition, especially on this emerging market.