Samsung is planning on building at least one million units of its first foldable phone, according to DJ Koh, the head of the company’s mobile division. At the same time, the executive noted that the company will not be the first to launch such a device. Samsung is planning on building at least one million units of its first foldable phone, according to DJ Koh, the head of the
Koh predicted that the foldable form factor will not replace the current slab used on the vast majority of smartphones (with Samsung’s Android clamshell W2019 an exception). But the executive said that the work done by his company in developing the foldable phone could lead to future models that will carry a stretchable screen. He says that Samsung will release its initial foldable phone in the first half of next year.
At the same time, Koh admitted that Samsung will not be first to the market with a foldable phone, as the Royole FlexPai was introduced on October 31st. The device, which transforms from a 7.8-inch tablet to a 4-inch handset, features high-end specs and is priced at the equivalent of $1,290, $1,435, and $1,865 depending on the model. So far, the phone is available for pre-orders in China only, and will start to ship next month. But the executive wasn’t about to heap praise on the Royole FlexPai. Instead, he said that unlike the small California company that created the device, Samsung put some TLC (tender, loving care) into the user experience that customers will have with its foldable handset.
