It looks like Samsung’s long-rumored flexible or foldable smartphone will hit the market later this year. According to Toms’ s Guide:
“Speaking to CNBC in an interview published on Tuesday (Sept. 4), Samsung’s mobile division chief DJ Koh said that the foldable phone would launch later this year, possibly as soon as the company’s developer conference in November.” It kicks off Nov. 7.
In the interview, Koh said that Samsung recently surveyed to see if there’s consumer interest in a foldable phone. After hearing from customers that they want the device, he said that “it’s time to deliver.”
“In the interview, Koh wouldn’t say in detail how the device would work, but he did reveal that “you can use most of the uses…on foldable status.” He added that the device could be “unfolded” that would give you more screen real estate to surf the Web “or see something. So every device, every feature, every innovation should have a meaningful message to our end customer,” Koh said. “So when the end customer uses it, (they think) ‘wow, this is the reason Samsung made it.”
In May, after I spent time at the Display Conference in L.A, I wrote about the various flexible displays I saw demoed by BOE, Visonex, and others. As I pointed out in this article, most of the display’s I saw was still a few years out, but they gave me a glimpse of where mobile smartphones are headed. I also pointed out that once the smartphone industry begins to integrate flexible displays into their designs, we could see one of the most substantial refresh rates in new smartphone adoption as more than a billion people will, over time, want to move to get a smartphone with a flexible display.
Then in August, I wrote about Samsung entering the foldable and flexible display market with their version of this display that uses a plastic cover to keep it from breaking.
Samsung’s decision to enter the market at this time is exciting and important and could start the competitive rush to bring more smartphones with flexible displays to market. However, being first also means they will have arrows at their back, and any glitch in this first foldable phone could set them back. Also, Apple loves to go to school with the mistakes of those who bring a new product to the market that might be of interest to them in the future.
Given that the Samsung Display was introduced this year and said it would be ready by early next year, I am assuming that Samsung Mobile will be using the new display from Samsung’s Display group. The BOE and Visonix flexible displays will not get to market until at least 2020-2021.
However, using this new Samsung flexible display does come with some risks. In the column mentioned above “While I view their advancement in flexible displays as a positive, I am concerned with their decision to use plastic as a cover for this new display. Historically, plastic has not performed well given it is prone to scratches and does not deliver the clarity you get from glass covers. Motorola found this out when they used a plastic cover in their Moto Z2 Force phones called Shatter-shield that was not well received. The replacement cover was cheap, but it was prone to scratches and peeling.
Moreover, Samsung used a plastic display cover on the Galaxy Active Tab 2, and the reviews were not the favorable due to scratching and problems with optical clarity.” Samsung bringing a foldable or flexible smartphone to market using a plastic cover is a significant risk. Glass covers for flexible displays are in the works, but I don’t believe are ready for the market at this stage.
That said, a Samsung introduction of a foldable smartphone will launch the new era of smartphones and by 2021-2022 will be the dominant form factor for premium smartphones. Also, my best guess, from seeing the BOE and Visonex models in person, these will be the leading displays used in these new phones. This is not to disparage the new Samsung foldable and flexible displays. It too could be in many smartphones, but since nobody I know of has seen this Samsung display, I can only comment on the ones I have seen in person and BOE, and Visonex are stellar displays with great potential to help drive the next significant innovations in smartphones.
Thank you for great article. I look forward to the continuation.