# Could Samsung be producing a phone with a screen that folds in half?



## editor (Sep 15, 2015)

This reminds me of the amazing doomed Microsoft Courier project. *want










> Samsung has always been at the pinnacle of smartphone display innovation, and a couple of steps ahead of its competitors. The company released the world’s first smartphone with a Super AMOLED display back in 2010, and the world’s first smartphone with a dual-edge curved display, the Galaxy S6 edge, earlier this year. Now, it is being reported that Samsung is eyeing to launch its first smartphone with a foldable display early next year.
> 
> According to a tipster from China, who claims to have in-depth knowledge and an early scoop on Project Valley, the device is currently undergoing testing. Apparently, the company is testing the device in two hardware configurations; one with Snapdragon 620 processor and the other with a Snapdragon 820 chipset. The device is, which is said to be launched in January 2016, would sport 3GB of RAM, a microSD card slot, and a non-removable battery.


Samsung’s first smartphone with a foldable display might launch in January


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## skyscraper101 (Sep 15, 2015)

Looks very interesting.


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## Belushi (Sep 15, 2015)

That would be clever, big screen and able to fit in a pocket :thumbs :


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## Jon-of-arc (Sep 15, 2015)

The photo looks like a screenshot printed on a piece of a4, and placed inside a filofax. Im not convinced by this article.


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## editor (Sep 15, 2015)

Jon-of-arc said:


> The photo looks like a screenshot printed on a piece of a4, and placed inside a filofax. Im not convinced by this article.


They've been inching towards this techology for years, so it's definitely coming soon.


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## mauvais (Sep 15, 2015)

That's an early version of Android 4, from around 2012, so I have my doubts.


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## editor (Sep 15, 2015)

mauvais said:


> That's an early version of Android 4, from around 2012, so I have my doubts.


How much do you want to bet that we won't get folding screens in - say - three years? They're coming alright.


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## Jon-of-arc (Sep 15, 2015)

editor said:


> They've been inching towards this techology for years, so it's definitely coming soon.



Cool if it is, but i remain sceptical. So many of these hyped developments never appear (i have a vague memory of a folding phone that was basically a piece of celophane), or dont live up to expectation (google glass or that gadget to read motion that looked a bit minority report). But then that phone with an e ink screen on the back looks cool, so maybe...


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## mauvais (Sep 15, 2015)

editor said:


> How much do you want to bet that we won't get folding screens in - say - three years? They're coming alright.


In short, I don't really care, but three years isn't _that _long in consumer-ready tech - it's the S3 to S6, for instance - and I have my doubts about whether form factors etc (i.e. device thickness) will accelerate to make folding screens a useful proposition in that time, if indeed they ever will be regardless.


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## Bob_the_lost (Sep 15, 2015)

It would allow you to have a small screen phone in your pocket but a large screen for reading or watching media on. I think it's got a lot of potential, not all the market but a decent chunk.

Still, i'll believe it when i see it.


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## twentythreedom (Sep 15, 2015)

Can't see much use for it on phones yet, maybe on a flexible watch / wristband sort of thing 

Seems a bit like a solution looking for a problem to solve atm but it'll find good uses


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## souljacker (Sep 15, 2015)

That looks shit.


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## Private Storm (Sep 15, 2015)

I already had something very similar


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## mauvais (Sep 15, 2015)

Bob_the_lost said:


> It would allow you to have a small screen phone in your pocket but a large screen for reading or watching media on. I think it's got a lot of potential, not all the market but a decent chunk.
> 
> Still, i'll believe it when i see it.


It would, but it'd still need a power source and either a brain or an input. When the long term trend is arguably still consolidation of devices rather than adding extra ones, and obviously wireless instead of wires, I don't quite see it.


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## editor (Sep 15, 2015)

Flexible screens were being shown off in 2013


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## salem (Sep 15, 2015)

That mockup is sub-GCSE student level 

However I think the idea is solid and I have have no doubt that something like it will come along before long. IIRC Samsung have been developing a flexible screen and demoed one a couple of years back - this would be a good place for that research to go.

Personally I'd love one (although I'll wait until they cascade down to affordable levels). Something with a eInk display on the outside and a big colour screen on the inside would be great. I wouldn't honestly be happy even if it was 3 x the thickness of my nexus 4.

It's amazing what I can do on my nexus 4. Even though it's a few years old tech now it allows me to do basic work when out and about without having to drag a bag about with a laptop/tablet.

Something that gave me a bit more screenspace and still fit in my pocket would make things even easier. But a decent battery is as always as if not more important.


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## Crispy (Sep 15, 2015)

Bendable screens have been around for a while now. The tricky bits are 1. Making them bend tightly enough to fit in a phone and 2. Making sure they still work after being bent 1,000 times


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## maomao (Sep 15, 2015)

Surely it doesn't actually need to be 'bendable', just to have two screens that touch at the hinge.


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## elbows (Sep 15, 2015)

maomao said:


> Surely it doesn't actually need to be 'bendable', just to have two screens that touch at the hinge.



Not good enough, especially given swiping gestures and how small pixels are these days, the join would be annoying.

I am looking forward to the day this technology is available. I have insufficient data to be optimistic about timescales or hazard any guesses. Certainly no reason I know of to be confident that they will be with us in 3 years.


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## elbows (Sep 15, 2015)

editor said:


> Flexible screens were being shown off in 2013



Funny you should mention 2013. I just tracked down the original source of the images of the flexible phone featuring in the article and your opening post - its from that bloody January 2013 video that was a sort of Apple parody featuring wankers.

See around the 3 mins 23 seconds mark of this video:


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## salem (Sep 15, 2015)

that is gobsmackingly bad on so many levels!


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## elbows (Sep 15, 2015)

Old pictures from terrible adverts aside, and aside from the single anonymous source of unknown quality, the reason for rumours now is probably because in 2013 they stated a desire to have a foldable device by 2015.

For example:

Samsung to bring Bendable Displays in 2014, Foldable Displays in 2015

But look at their roadmap slide - there are technological barriers shown between bendable and foldable, and the schedule had bendable screens for 2014. In reality we haven't got past curved yet have we?

Analysts were also shown some prototypes in late 2013 which they hoped to evolve into consumer products within a few years:

Samsung demos foldable phone prototypes - CNET


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## elbows (Sep 15, 2015)

By the way my high degree of skepticism regarding timescales is because of the extreme difficulties of getting almost any material to fold directly and tightly back over itself without the fold damaging the material.

If they are planning something far less dramatic than that, then I could imagine them hitting a 2016 timescale.

For example some of the images in the following patent story show a more believable possibility at this stage of the game:

Samsung Invents an Advanced Flexible Hinge for Future Foldable Smartphones, Tablets & Beyond - Patently Mobile


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## pesh (Sep 16, 2015)

best of luck to the early adopters with this one.


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## editor (Sep 16, 2015)

pesh said:


> best of luck to the early adopters with this one.


I'll be in for one.


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