14 DAY TRIAL // There have been a lot of rumors lately that suggest at least two companies plan to launch foldable smartphones next year.
LG and Samsung dominate the market for smartphone displays, so it comes as no surprise that their display divisions now have the technology required to mass-produce foldable screens.
Samsung in particular has been very vocal in the last couple of weeks about the possibility of launching foldable smartphones in the not so distant future.
The South Korean company trademarked a few patents that allow it to use unique technologies to bring foldable handsets to the mass market.
However, this might not be as simple as we've thought, as Samsung needs to make sure that there's a market for such devices.
Otherwise, the high-end foldable smartphones the South Korean company plans to launch in 2017 will be produced in limited quantities and sold as concept phones, just like the Galaxy Round a few years ago.
According to sources familiar with Samsung's smartphones plans, the company is “already capable of mass producing foldable phones, although premium models are usually made in small quantities, by late next year. But, the company is not sure whether there is market demand for the costly, foldable devices.”
The same source claims that if Samsung decides that there's a market for foldable devices, then the company is likely to launch foldable tablets initially, not smartphones.
These tablets will feature displays facing outwards since that implies less technical issues than inward panels. They're also much easier to accommodate inside devices due to their larger radius of curvature.
One other thing that remains to be solved by Samsung is the battery technology that will enable the company to manufacture foldable smartphones.
Samsung SDI does not have the technology to mass produce foldable batteries for the moment, but experts claim that's not a problem since the batteries don't need to be flexible.