When Samsung said this year it would launch a smartphone with a folding screen, the big question was whether the innovation was something people actually wanted or needed.
April 16,2019
When Samsung said this year it would launch a smartphone with a folding screen, the big question was whether the innovation was something people actually wanted or needed.
Is the Galaxy Fold a gimmick to help sell more smartphones in a slowing market or a true breakthrough that will change how we use our devices?
Major manufacturers have in recent years been largely updating smartphones with marginal improvements like better cameras and face scanning technology, so skepticism has been high.
The South Korean electronics company this week offered the media a hands-on preview ahead of the release in the U. S. this month, and the first impression is that a folding screen in some circumstances might be a useful innovation—but at a cost of almost $2,000 it won’t be a mass market product anytime soon.
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WHY A FOLDABLE SCREEN?
As people increasingly use their phones to do data-hungry tasks like view photos on Instagram and watch movies or TV shows on YouTube or Netflix, Samsung says the case for a folding phone has become clear: People want bigger screens but they also want a phone they can carry around in their pocket.
Skeptics might say that folding phones are a sign that the smartphone industry has run out of good ideas and fallen into an innovation malaise. Samsung isn’t alone. Little known Royole started selling its FlexPai in China last year while Chinese tech giant Huawei announced its own folding phone, the Mate X, days after Samsung’s announcement.
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OPEN AND SHUT
Closed, the Galaxy Fold is about 6.3 centimeters wide and 16 centimeters long (2.
