14 DAY TRIAL // While Microsoft has decided not to build a Surface Phone, South Korean company Samsung appears to be much more interested in this approach, and its own foldable device launching very soon could use this idea as an essential feature.
Samsung’s foldable device has made the rounds several times lately, especially following rumors that the company could preview it in November, but specifics on its features have never been confirmed.
DJ Koh, president and CEO of Samsung’s mobile division, keeps teasing us with small details about the phone, and in a recent interview, he dropped a few more hints as to what to expect when the foldable device goes live.
By the looks of things, what Samsung wants to build is a phone that can double as a tablet, which aligns with rumors that the device could feature a 7.3-inch primary OLED display connected to a secondary 4.6-inch external OLED panel. This would technically offer increased screen estate in tablet mode, an idea that Microsoft itself is believed to have explored with the Surface Phone and Andromeda.
Microsoft and Samsung using the same approach
Not only that the two devices are very similar in terms of approach, but Microsoft’s and Samsung’s product strategy also appears to be based on the same concept.
Koh says Samsung wants to launch a device that can really respond to customers’ needs, a thing that Surface chief Panos Panay also reiterated recently.
“When we deliver a foldable phone, it has to be really meaningful to our customer. If the user experience is not up to my standard, I don’t want to deliver those kind of products,” Koh said.
“We will invent and we will create when products are right. We can’t bring new categories into the world and not be a place where customers need it,” Microsoft’s Panos Panay explained recently.
But as compared to Microsoft, Samsung is ready to bet big on a foldable phone and believes that the market for this device would expand with more similar products after the launch.
“I’m positive that we do need a foldable phone. Possibly when we start selling the foldable phone, it may be a niche market, but definitely, it will expand,” Koh concluded.