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Samsung foldable phone: What we know and don't know about the 'Galaxy X'

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Screen size, how it works and much more.
The foldable phone era has officially begun. Samsung introduced the world to its first foldable phone this week, a device rumored to be called the Galaxy X or Galaxy F. This was not a typical announcement with every detail on display as they were for the Galaxy S9 or Note 9 unveiling. Rather, Samsung teased its foldable phone through a short video and by hoisting aloft a working prototype in an executive’s hand on stage.
Although Samsung never displayed the foldable phone up close — not even behind museum glass — the device is plenty real. It’s conceptualized enough to earn Google’s backing. In fact, Samsung’s project seems to have spurred official Android support for all foldable phones, no matter the manufacturer. Meanwhile, Samsung gathered developers in a Wednesday afternoon session to share a few more details, such as the phone’s 4.5 and 7.3-inch screen sizes .
Despite the dribs and drabs of information, the foldable phone’s brief onstage appearance raised more questions than answers. Here’s what we know — and what’s still to come.
Samsung didn’t give the foldable phone a name, but rumors suggest that it’ll be called the Galaxy X or Galaxy F. The «F» could stand for «fold» or «flex». The «X» might mean «extra» or «10», since there are 9 Galaxy S phones out — though we do expect to see a Galaxy S10 around March this year.
If we go by Samsung’s definition, a foldable phone is a device with a cellular connection (hence the «phone» part) that looks like a tablet when it’s full opened and can close to look like your usual phone. Samsung’s prototype has a tablet-like screen that closes inward like a book, but Royole’s FlexPai, another foldable phone, has an outward-folding screen, which means the «screen» is on the outside. There’s no single definition.
Last year’s ZTE Axon M was an early version of a foldable phone that attached two separate phone screens through a central hinge. Samsung’s foldable phone (and Royole’s FlexPai) appear to have unibody displays that fold at the midpoint. A magnet secures the FlexPai’s screen in the «closed» position.
We can credit the Axon M with exploring different new ways to use a dual-screen device; Royole has already adopted some of these, for example, mirroring the contents of both screens so people on either side of a table can watch the same video clip. ZTE could very well come up with a second-generation foldable (or «foldable» phone).
There are two main advantages of using a foldable phone. First, it can more than double your available screen space. For example, Samsung’s foldable phone has a 4.5-inch display that you’ll use when it’s closed. Then the inside opens into a 7.3-inch screen. You could argue that you have the equivalent of three displays to work with.
A larger screen gives you an expanded viewing surface, but it also unlocks different ways that you can use your device. For example, Samsung’s foldable display will let you multitask in three areas at once. ZTE’s Axon M lets you use the entire screen for one app, load a separate app on each screen, or mirror the same app on both screens.
Like the Royole FlexPai, this foldable phone will automatically transfer the app or screen you’re looking at in the folded-up «closed» position to the «open» position, and vice versa. We noticed some lag here on the FlexPai, but haven’t had a chance to see how Samsung will handle the transition.
Samsung created a new display for its foldable phone, the Infinity Flex Display. The company said that it had to modify the usual layers that are part of any display (this is what lights up the «screen» you see on your phone). All displays are made of layers, but they’re usually stacked and unmoving. The Infinity Flex Display uses a new adhesive that Samsung developed to laminate the display layers so they can flex and fold hundreds of thousands of times.
The company also needed to make the Infinity Flex Display thinner than any other mobile display. It cut the thickness of the polarizer layer, which helps make the screen legible, by 45 percent.
Samsung said it will start mass producing the phone in the «coming months.» The foldable phone will likely start selling in 2019. We expect Samsung to hold a separate launch event to introduce the details. Again, this was just a sneak peek.
The short answer is that we don’t know because Samsung hasn’t announced it. However, it’s easy to guess that this will be an expensive device. The Royole FlexPai’s foldable phone for developers costs $1,318 for a device with 6GB RAM and 128GB of internal storage. The version with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage goes for $1,469.
Since Samsung’s Galaxy Note 9 for power users starts at $999, it’s a fair guess that a cutting-edge foldable phone would easily start at $1,500, if not more. We can expect devicemakers like Samsung (and Royole) to justify high prices on total screen real estate. After all, they reason, you’re getting a tablet and phone in one — and phone prices are only getting higher.
Samsung aims to give its foldable phone battery life that lasts as long as current Galaxy smartphones, said Jisun Park, the engineering director and head of the system software group for Samsung’s mobile business. That’s despite the fact there’s more active screen to drain the battery. The US version of the Note 9 lasted for an average of 19 hours and 20 minutes in CNET’s looping video drain test.
We don’t have access to the design particulars, but batteries don’t bend. Expect a large battery to sit on one side and many of the other components to balance it out on the other. One major complaint we had with the ZTE Axon M was that it felt imbalanced with the battery side drastically thicker and heavier than the other half. Samsung will have to watch for that.
Almost definitely not. Samsung showed off a prototype model, commenting that the real parts were hidden within. Samsung isn’t ready for the public — or competitors — to see a final design.
If there’s one breadcrumb officially left us about the foldable phone’s eventual shape, it’s in the new One UI operating system. The company mentioned that the rounded rectangular edges that form a major design motif are meant to match its devices’ rounded edges. The prototype foldable phone has 90-degree edges and thick bezels. We can anticipate a softer look.
Materials are a big deal because buyers have been conditioned to spend more for aluminum, ceramic and glass. But the FlexPai uses a plastic screen and body to achieve flexibility and keep costs in check, and the ZTE Axon M traded down camera quality and other parts to keep it affordable.
It’s possible that the foldable phone will have at least one plastic screen. When CNE asked, Samsung’s Park suggested during a session for developers that the exterior screen could possibly have a different material topping the display than the interior screen.

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