Samsung Galaxy X - Rumours, Leaks And All We Know About The Folding Phone Coming In 2019

It started out looking like a concept, or perhaps a dream, but it now seems the Samsung Galaxy X is real"Winner", in 2019, at least according to the Wall Street Journal. 

Whether Samsung actually calls its folding smartphone Galaxy X remains to be seen, but we're pretty confident (sadly) that it won't be called the Samsung Winner, which is the codename for it internally at Samsung.

We've been following this story for months, and this is what we know so far…

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SAMSUNG GALAXY X: RELEASE DATE AND PRICE

All we have so far on this is "not this year" and "expensive AF". The X should arrive in 2019 and that might be at CES 2019 in early January, or Mobile World Congress (MWC 2019) in late February… or at a special Samsung event at some other point in 2019.

To tipster Ice Universe, for one, thinks it'll be January, although a CES debut for a major new phone seems a bit unlikely to us. It would be most unusual, anyway.

Another possibility is that Galaxy X will be teased at CES or MWC, with a 'proper' release coming later in the year. A factor that may be at play here is Samsung's determination to be the first to market with a foldable phone. Other brands said to be line one up reads like a Who's Who of tech: Apple, LG, Huawei and Motorola. 

The price of the Samsung Galaxy X is not liable to be cheap. And in fact the current rumoured cost is a rather testing £1,365. That's the current exchange rate for 2 million won, which is the mooted Korean price.

SAMSUNG GALAXY X: SCREEN

 

 

The X is all about the screen, even more so than other smartphones. It's currently expected to feature a phablet-esque, 7-inch OLED screen that folds lengthways, but not exactly in half. There's no word on screen resolution as yet but we'd obviously expect somewhat higher than HD resolution. 

Ending up looking a little like a wallet when folded, the Galaxy X would have a small amount of screen real estate still visible at the bottom for notifications, even when folded shut. It's slightly similar to the 'Edge' screens on some Galaxy S phones over the years.

A patent and series of sketches located by LetsGoDigital closely matches the look and features of the X as described in the WSJ report. 

Said patent was published originally in March 2017 and republished July 11 2018 and clearly shows a folding phone with a "hidden display" on the rear, which only becomes noticeable once the device is folded in two.

The iPhone X folds in two, much like a wallet, using a 6-axis sensor to determine which orientation or position the phone is in. This means that, for instance, when the phone is folded it knows it and, as shown in the image below, can automatically extend the size of the second display to enable extended functionality.

Given that some reports already say Samsung has begun final preparations for the production of foldable screen panels, we should know more about them very soon.

GALAXY IPHONE X: FEATURES

 

This patent sketch gives an idea of how the X's folding screen could work. When unfolded, you could message, er, 'Bass Sniper', to tell him or her that you love them.

Then, with the phone folded, Mr or Ms Sniper's replies are still visible in the message window left visible at the bottom of the screen. Apparently, if only a small part of the secondary display is visible, the screen becomes brighter, with smaller icons.

Interestingly, the patent also suggests that Galaxy X would be compatible with Samsung's S Pen digital stylus – either the current Note one, or a new variant. 

 

The other obvious use of a folding screen is that it acts like a 2019 update of the classic 'clamshell' phone shape from the days before smartphones.

If you're carrying this phone around in your pocket or bag, folded down, most of the screen is protected… Which might not be good news for phone case manufacturers. 

Other features that could be included, although we have no concrete idea, are all the ones mooted for the other 2019 Galaxy – the Samsung S10. So there might be 5G connectivity and an in-screen fingerprint reader… Or there might not. Given the amount of innovation already in the Galaxy X around its screen, Samsung might very well to keep the rest of the feature set more established.

That also goes for waterproofing. Samsung has mastered this on its other Galaxy phones, but getting it on a foldable display might prove tricky. 

One other thing that we hopefully will see is wireless charging, as once you've had that, it's hard to go back.

SAMSUNG GALAXY X: BATTERY LIFE

 

SAMSUNG GALAXY X SPEC: PROCESSOR, RAM, STORAGE AND CAMERA

Production is allegedly slated to start towards the end of 2017. As the Galaxy X will arrive next year, the successor to the Snapdragon 845 could be the chip Samsung uses to power everything. Saying that, this is a completely new design, so maybe Samsung will opt for something custom-made (as it does for the Galaxy phones in certain markets). 

The question here is whether Samsung will go all out to add bells and whistles to its most innovative phone, or whether it has decided screen innovation is sufficient, and that buyers will be able to live with a more basic – though still high-powered spec. If they're charging well over £1000 for it, you'd hope they were going down the bells and whistles route, though.

In terms of RAM, we might see 4GB-6GB installed, and the usual 64GB and 128GB storage options, although 256GB must be a possibility, assuming it can be made to fit. 

One area that could suffer is the camera if there are problems cramming components into a flexible or folding phone. That would be bad news for its prospects, however. Samsung has worked like a beast to make its smartphone cameras among the best on the market, and a phone's camera is a critical part of its appeal. So they'd better pull their finger out, on this one.

 

It has also been suggested that the Galaxy X might have 3 hinged OLED panels rather than one 'bendy' one that folds into a wallet-like shape. This would certainly be easier to make.

Tech analyst Park Hyung-Woo suggested that, "This new device is an interesting thing as it will have two inside panels and one outside panel with the two inside panels forming the 7.3-inch screen when the phone is unfolded."

Figure that one out. We'd definitely rather see a phone that 'bends' rather than clamshelling together like a Nintendo 3DS.

It's also worth mentioning that Samsung has announced a folding phone twice before, with nothing appearing at all. This time, however, it seems the dream is real…

 

SOURCE : T3.COM

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