Samsung Electronics Co is working on a pair of foldable smartphones to follow its Galaxy Fold, seeking to seize an early lead in the new market segment.
The South Korean manufacturer is said to be developing a clamshell-like device, and another that folds away from the user similar to Huawei Technologies Co’s (華為) Mate X, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified as they were discussing internal plans.
The US$1,980 Galaxy Fold that Samsung plans to release next month folds inward like a notebook.
While it is still too early to gauge how much demand there will be for smartphones with flexible screens, Samsung and other rivals are eager to gain an edge over Apple Inc in the US$495 billion industry, especially amid cooling sales.
Xiaomi Corp (小米) is working on a dual-folding phone, according to a video released in January.
The iPhone maker has not announced any plans for a similar gadget.
“No one knows what the ideal design is yet,” said Bryan Ma (馬伯遠), vice president of devices research at International Data Corp. “The time is ripe for experimentation. Many of these designs won’t be successful, but industry players will learn valuable lessons along the way.”
A spokeswoman for Samsung declined to comment on plans for new foldable phones.
Samsung plans to unveil a vertically folding phone late this year or early next year, and is using mock-ups to fine-tune the design, the people said.
The gadget is designed with an extra screen on the outside, but the manufacturer might remove it depending on how customers respond to a similar display on the Galaxy Fold, they said.
An outfolding device, which already exists as a prototype after being considered as Samsung’s first foldable gadget, would be rolled out afterward, the people said.
It would be thinner because it has no extra screen, they said.
Samsung might also incorporate an in-display fingerprint sensor for its foldable lineup, as it did for the Galaxy S10 model announced last month, they said.
While Samsung works on new models, it is also trying to improve the durability of the Galaxy Fold’s display.
It is trying to eliminate a crease that appears on the panel after it has been folded about 10,000 times, and Samsung is considering offering free screen replacements after releasing the product, one of the people said.
The Galaxy Fold’s screen imperfection develops on a protective film covering the touch sensor bonded with the display underneath, the person said.
That is one reason why Samsung kept the phone inside a glass case at MWC in Barcelona last month, the person said.
Samsung’s spokeswoman said the Galaxy Fold was displayed that way because it wanted more attention on the soon-to-be-launched Galaxy S10, not because there was a problem with the device’s quality.
Samsung forecast production of at least 1 million foldable phones this year.
The launch of the device comes as the world’s biggest phone maker tries to lure back consumers who have become used to incremental upgrades and are being wooed by Chinese manufacturers’ lower-priced smartphones.
Samsung, which also produces memory chips and televisions, makes the foldable displays itself and supplies technology to rivals such as Apple.
The South Korean company shipped 291.3 million phones last year, while Huawei sold 205.8 million, market consultancy firm Strategy Analytics said.
Samsung would probably sell more than 40 million units of its flagship Galaxy S10 in the first year of release, research firm Counterpoint said.
Samsung spent eight years developing the Galaxy Fold and has worked with Google to adapt the Android operating system for a foldable screen.
The company also envisions smartphones with rollable and stretchable displays, Samsung executive vice president Chung Eui-suk said on the corporate Web site last month.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
RSS