Credit: Samsung
While celebrating the 10th anniversary of their Galaxy S range was the focal point of Samsung’s latest Unpacked press conference, the event also saw the company formally unveil their first foldable phone: the Galaxy Fold.
Garry McGregor, Vice President of IT and Mobile, Samsung Electronics Australia says that “Galaxy Fold is a symbol of the future of mobile technology, ushering in a new category of smartphones that will change the way we live, work, and play on a mobile device."
“From the moment you pick up the Galaxy Fold and open it, you’ll discover an entirely new experience, seamlessly moving between displays without missing a beat. The Samsung Galaxy Fold is built to deliver all the power and performance Aussies expect from Samsung, now optimised for the foldable experience.”
First teased at last year’s Samsung Developer Conference, Samsung’s Galaxy Fold is a Galaxy smartphone with a unique dual-display form-factor that allows users to change between a more conventional smartphone experience and something closer to that of a tablet.
When used as a normal smartphone, the smaller cover display on the Galaxy Fold offer up 4.58-inches of screen space and a resolution of 840 x 1960 pixels. Meanwhile, the larger QXGA+ Dynamic AMOLED tablet-style screen offers a hefty 7.3-inches of screen space. The one caveat here is that the device does have a quirky side-notch, perched on the upper-left side of the screen.
Under the hood, the Galaxy Fold has a 7-nanometer processor, 12GB of RAM, side-mounted fingerprint sensor, 512GB of on-board storage plus a staggering six camera lenses. There's a 10-megapixel (f/2.2) cover camera, a dual-lens selfie cam (10-megapixel f/2.2 + 8-megapixel f/1.9) and a triple lens configuration on the back (16-megapixel f/2.2 + 12-megapixel f/1.5 & f/2.4 dual-aperture + 12-megapixel telephoto f/2.4).
The Galaxy Fold also touts a unique dual-battery power system to the sum of 4380mAh with support for regular wireless charging and a form of sharable wireless charging called PowerShare.
Given the software challenges presented for foldable form-factors, Samsung say they'll be kitting out the Galaxy Fold with a specialized software UX that brings support for multi-window operation and app continuity.
Samsung Australia say that customers in Australia will be among the first in the world to experience the Galaxy Fold smartphone when it’s launched. Samsung’s first foldable mobile device features a breakthrough design coupled with an entirely new user experience on a Galaxy smartphone.
Of course, pricing is still a bit of an unknown. In the US, the Galaxy Fold will be available from April 26 at a price-point of US$1980. Australian on-sale date and pricing details for the Galaxy Fold will be announced closer to its launch in the first half of 2019 but given the American pricing, we don't expect it to come cheap.
In the meantime, Samsung are inviting customers to register an expression of interest to purchase the Galaxy Fold when it becomes available in Australia over at www.samsung.com.au.
