14 DAY TRIAL // It’s no secret that Samsung is working on a series of foldable phones, as part of Project Valley, and some details about the upcoming devices are already known. The latest leak reveals the name of two upcoming foldable smartphones by Samsung, as well as the operating system that they’ll be running.
The leak comes from Chinese social network Weibo (via The Android Soul) and reveals that Samsung’s foldable phones will carry the Galaxy X1 and Galaxy X1 Plus monikers.
This would suggest that the South Korean smartphone maker intends to release a whole line of foldable smartphones and perhaps the Plus model will have a larger display compared to the standard one. However, it’s a bit too early to speculate on that.
The Galaxy X1 Plus will run Android 7.1.1 Nougat
Moving on, the leak also mentions the codenames for the upcoming phones: the Galaxy X1 has the SM-X9000 code, while the SM-X9050 model is the Galaxy X1 Plus. Codenames don’t reveal anything about the phones, but they do help identify the phone model when it’s featured on benchmarking sites or receives certification for its features.
An interesting piece of information is that Samsung apparently intends to run Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow on the Galaxy X1 and Android 7.1.1 Nougat on the Plus model. It seems a bit disappointing that the company would go with 6.0.1 Marshmallow seeing how many smartphone makers are testing the Nougat update even on their mid-range phones.
However, the main selling point for Samsung’s foldable phones will be the design, while the company still has time to make changes to their specs. Rumors say that Samsung intends to feature a 4k display on its foldable phones and incorporate various forms of biometric authentication, including iris, fingerprint, face and palm patterns.
Samsung is expected to announce at least two foldable Galaxy X smartphones in Q3 or Q4 2017, both having dual-screen displays, with a flat screen on each side. Another foldable model with a single flexible OLED display may be scheduled for a 2018 release.