Samsung postpones introduction of foldable smartphone

Samsung has said that the introduction of foldable smartphones will be delayed. According to a leading Samsung technician, the devices will appear in 2019. Earlier there were rumors that these smartphones would be released this year.

The delay is said to be related to technological challenges surrounding the manufacture of the foldable devices. The good sales of screens without or with very small screen edges would also have contributed to the delay. Because of these good sales figures, Samsung has enough time to develop the foldable smartphones. Samsung technician Kim Tae-woong told the Korea Herald at the Display Tech Salon in Seoul.

This reading is endorsed by an analyst, who argues that Samsung is in no rush to release new hardware in the form of foldable smartphones, because the Korean company already has 20 percent of the market for screens without bezels. Samsung has announced that it is obvious that foldable devices will first be released where one side of the phone consists of a screen; only after that do phones come out with screens on both sides.

At the beginning of this year, there was a rumor from South Korean website The Investor that Samsung was planning to release a foldable smartphone this summer. A few weeks ago, this rumor was debunked by speculation from the same website that the foldable smartphone is being delayed, mainly due to technical difficulties in production.

The rumors about a foldable Galaxy phone from Samsung have been around for years. Names such as Project Valley and Galaxy X are circulating. Samsung has already applied for various patents on systems to make the entire device foldable. The manufacturer wants to use flexible OLED screens for the foldable smartphone. The company is already using it for making curved screens, such as those in the Galaxy S7 edge and the screens of the Galaxy S8 and S8+.