Samsung has confirmed that it is working on a “double-foldable” phone during its “Everlasting Evolution of Display with AI” keynote speech at the IMID 2024 expo in Korea.
During the keynote address, Chung Yi, the Executive Vice President and Head of Corporate Business Mobile/IT Display at Samsung, said that Samsung is developing multiple form factors to meet smartphone needs in the AI era.
The Samsung Display VP disclosed that the company is working on technologies that provide a large screen while being easy to carry. When carriers only offered 4G LTE networks, he said, most smartphones were 6 inches, but when the current 5G era dawned, Samsung introduced foldable phones with 7″+ screens. With 6G on the horizon, the demand for even larger displays will increase, too.
We are developing various form factor products, such as double-folding multi-foldables and rollables.
Samsung Display SVP, August ’24
Last year, there were talks about the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Flip 5 being joined by a dual-foldable Galaxy smartphone, and the same rumor circulated before the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6 unveil this year.
Samsung is not the only foldable phone maker that is working on dual-foldable or rollable display phones, as Oppo, Huawei, Xiaomi, and others have all shown their such concepts. To claim the bragging rights of being the first to hit the market, Samsung needs to step up its game, and not with for the 6G era to release a dual-folding device, or it will risk falling behind like with the Z Fold line of phones that is thicker, heavier, and with weaker specs than a lot of Chinese foldables.
A triple-fold design holds the promise of an expansive screen, almost like having a full-size tablet in your pocket. Samsung currently has trouble beating the 9.2mm thin foldable phones like the Honor Magic V3, so we can imagine how hard it will be to make a dual-foldable of passable size.
Now imagine a dual-foldable Galaxy | Image credit – Honor
Still, the multi-foldable form factor is seemingly going to be the new frontier for bendy devices, and it remains to be seen how everyone will approach it.
Daniel, a devoted tech writer at PhoneArena since 2010, has been engrossed in mobile technology since the Windows Mobile era. His expertise spans mobile hardware, software, and carrier networks, and he’s keenly interested in the future of digital health, car connectivity, and 5G. Beyond his professional pursuits, Daniel finds balance in travel, reading, and exploring new tech innovations, while contemplating the ethical and privacy implications of our digital future.
