Samsung Announces Infinity Flex Displays for Foldable Smartphones

[cageymaru]

Samsung has revealed its new foldable smartphone technology at the 2018 Samsung Developer Conference in San Francisco. The Infinity Flex Display allows the smartphone to open and close like a book. The phone reportedly weighs 200-grams and sports an 7.3-inch ultra thin display. The display on the smartphone can be folded hundreds of thousands of times so durability shouldn't be an issue.

There are a total of 2 screens on the phone as there is an external screen for when the phone is closed. Samsung and Google have customized the "One UI" on the Android phone so that it can run 3 tasks simultaneously like a tablet. All open work will seamlessly transition to the single screen when the phone is closed. The Korea Times says that the phone has an estimated price of 2 million won or $1,800.

You won't be able to buy Samsung's foldable phone today, unfortunately -- or this year, for that matter. Mum's the word on availability, but some reports prior to this week's announcement pegged early 2019 as the likely ship window for a consumer version. It could cost as much as $1,850 at release, according to the Korea Times.

 

[KazeoHin]

I mean, it's cool, but unless they can make it practical, it's just a gimmick.

 

[clockdogg]

How much do they pay the 'audience' to attend these sort of smarmy events? Oh wait...Developer Conference for developers...they'll show up just for the 50 cent swag bags. Oh wait... San Fran...they're homeless developers looking for a free meal.

 

[AtomClock]

$1800 - $250 = $1550 TOO MUCH!!! Also, how many folds before there is a crease, a discoloration or the pixels just stop working?

 

[Burticus]

Getting closer to the Westworld tablets...

 

[Jim Kim]

$2000 dollar phones, can't wait to see what Apple prices them at.

 

[Twisted Kidney]

$2000 dollar phones, can't wait to see what Apple prices them at.

Apple won't invent these until everyone else has sorted out most of the major problems.

 

[harbingerofdoom]

Apple won't invent these until everyone else has sorted out most of the major problems.

your choice of words is making me laugh there...lol

 

[Nolan7689]

Apple won't invent these until everyone else has sorted out most of the major problems.

To be fair though, it’s hard to fault their MO. Good publicity without the growing pains of actually doing it first.

 

[nutzo]

$1,850 for a cell phone ??? Who do they think they are Apple?

 

[Hallucinator]

This is much better than Start-Up's foldable tablet which appeared on [H] only 3 days ago. It folds like a book as it should be, not as a newspaper like Start-Up's tablet.

But still....no physical material I know of can beat crease after being folded over a thousand times or million times.

 

[Elf_Boy]

We have tv/monitor that can be rolled up?

Kinda like to have the much bigger screen - post 40 eyesight - but the cost......

 

[chris7191]

That shit is as thick as a brick, and it's basically a square when unfolded. Does not seem terribly useful. Also, the outer screen material will have to be some kind of plastic. It's hard to see it not being an optical downgrade from glass.

 

[Vega]

This was inevitable. Tons of people want a tablet sized screen that can fit in your pocket. I'll definitely be getting one.

 

[sadsteve]

This was inevitable. Tons of people want a tablet sized screen that can fit in your pocket. I'll definitely be getting one.

$1800 for a phone???? That price needs to come way down before I'd even bother looking at it. I don't really like phones or tablets so I just buy the cheapest phone that'll meet my requirements. I ended up paying $59 for my phone a few years ago and the it's still works just fine. No need for me to upgrade.

 

[Advil]

it wasn't thick as a brick. He said they were concealing the device inside. It was a dummy case over their new phone prototype.

 

[KazeoHin]

it wasn't thick as a brick. He said they were concealing the device inside. It was a dummy case over their new phone prototype.

Didn't it have a screen on both sides? Kinda hard to cover that with a case...

 

[Nebell]

The only two problems I have with this is its screen ratio and that it seems very easy to fold back (he did it with just one hand). I'd like something much sturdier when open.

 

[Vega]

$1800 for a phone???? That price needs to come way down before I'd even bother looking at it. I don't really like phones or tablets so I just buy the cheapest phone that'll meet my requirements. I ended up paying $59 for my phone a few years ago and the it's still works just fine. No need for me to upgrade.

Ya I meant this is for a very high end buyer who has a particular requirement. These aren't going to sell in large volumes.

Didn't it have a screen on both sides? Kinda hard to cover that with a case...

Plenty of cases have windows...

 

[TheOne&OnlyZeke]

I hope these take off. Its the only way others will start making them and they will get better and thinner etc

 

[BSmith]

Meh.

 

[zrikz]

It's neat, not something I'm super interested in at the moment. However this will result in others / samsung reinvesting more R&D to make this better in the future.$1800 is pretty steep, however considering the technology and screen real estate, not horrible. I welcome some cool fold-able / roll-able high quality displays that I know samsung can do well... in the next like 5-10 years.

 

[gunbust3r]

Corning Inc. cant be happy about this. How do they expect to make any money if people are not constantly replacing shattered glass screens/phones.

 

[Stimpy88]

Corning Inc. cant be happy about this. How do they expect to make any money if people are not constantly replacing shattered glass screens/phones.

Just imagine the mess that plastic display is going to be in after a couple of months usage. Gorilla Glass is not much more scratch resistant than glass, but glass is much better than soft plastic in preventing fine scratching.

We will have to see just how practical a phone like this is going to be in the real world. I think it will end in an expensive paperweight after a year or use.

However there are plenty of fools out there to help pay for Samsung’s R&D costs.

 

[Crackinjahcs]

I wouldn't mind if the evolution of this technology is a borderless morphing display (wall mount or monitor) that can adjust its physical size to the aspect ratio of the content. No more stretching or black bars!

 

[dangerouseddy]

folding the phone and the screen failing after a while due to the stress on the fold seems inevitable. think i'll pass.

 

[PaulP]

There seems to be two major concerns, 1) the display will fail/degrade quickly where it folds, and 2) it's too expensive. For #1 I would point out that Samsung claims it can be folded and unfolded hundreds of thousands of times without failing. If that's true, then the display concerns are a non-issue. But if not, this thing will be a huge failure. I'm pretty sure Samsung understands that the success of this product hinges on reliability of the flexible display, so I don't expect them to release something that doesn't meet that "hundreds of thousands" metric. For #2, keep in mind that what they are really selling is a tablet that can be folded in half and used as a phone, so for some people this will replace two different devices. For that audience the price may be reasonable. The big question is, how large is that market?

 

[zkostik]

$1800 - $250 = $1550 TOO MUCH!!! Also, how many folds before there is a crease, a discoloration or the pixels just stop working?

Yeah, I had much the same thought. This not being a glass screen will probably help with them cracks. OTOH, if it's not glass, it will be too easy to scratch. Seems like a massive gimmick to me.

 

[clockdogg]

... I'm pretty sure Samsung understands that the success of this product hinges on reliability of the flexible display, so I don't expect them to release something that doesn't meet that "hundreds of thousands" metric.

We see what you bent there.