Samsung's new foldable Galaxy phone costs $1,980
Samsung's Galaxy Fold foldable phone is here and it looks absolutely insane.
At its big Unpacked event on Wednesday, Samsung finally showed the Galaxy Fold in full, unfolding its 4.6-inch display into a 7.3-inch tablet.
Samsung called the Galaxy Fold a "luxury" device and well ... at $1,980 when it comes out on April 26, it really isn't for the everyday person. If you balked at a $1,000 phone, you're gonna lose your mind at the Fold's pricing.
It'll be available in four different colors and Samsung says customers will even be able to customize the hinge color.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
About that hinge... it's the prettiest we've seen on any foldable phone (concept or not). It definitely didn't look "crunchy."
That said, you can still see a visible crease, as my colleague Karissa noted:
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
"It's a smartphone, tablet, and camera," Justin Denison, Samsung's senior vice president of mobile in the U.S., said during the Unpacked keynote.
Samsung demoed the Galaxy Fold in both phone and tablet mode. The demonstrations certainly looked seamless, but some people are still skeptical.
With an unconventional phone display aspect ratio (21:9 when folded and 4.2:3 when unfolded), developers will need to optimize their apps and, well, that could be a while. There's also little incentive for developers to customize their apps just for Samsung. But we'll see what happens!
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
When unfolded, the screen can be used to display three apps at once — a first for any smartphone. Samsung demoed two apps running simultaneously, and a third app by sliding over it just like on an iPad Pro.
In another demo, Samsung showed how you could see more of Google Maps when unfolding the screen:
The Galaxy Fold doesn't scrimp on specs, either.
4.6" HD+ Super AMOLED screen (21:9)
7.3" QXGA+ Dynamic AMOLED (4.2:3)
7-nanometer processor
12GB of RAM
Up to 512GB of storage with universal flash storage 3.0 read and write speeds
Android 9 Pie
Front cameras: Dual 10-megapixel (f/2.2) selfie cam + 8-megapixel (f/1.9) depth cam
Rear cameras: 16-megapixel (f/2.2) ultra wide angle cam, 12-megapixel wide angle lens with variable f/1.5-2.4 aperture, and 12-megapixel (f/2.4) telephoto lens
Two batteries totaling 4,380 mAh
Fast wired and wireless charging
Wireless PowerShare
Available in 4G LTE and 5G versions
Samsung won't be the only one with a foldable phone this year. Chinese phone makers such as Xiaomi, Oppo, and Huawei are all planning to show off foldable phones at Mobile World Congress in a few days.
But how many of them will be able to ship a device soon? Samsung has everyone beat so far.
Raymond Wong is Mashable's Senior Tech Correspondent. He reviews gadgets and tech toys and analyzes the tech industry. Raymond's also a bit of a camera geek, gamer, and fine chocolate lover. Before arriving at Mashable, he was the Deputy Editor of NBC Universal's tech publication DVICE. His writing has appeared on G4TV, BGR, Yahoo and Ubergizmo, to name a few. You can follow Raymond on Twitter @raywongy or Instagram @sourlemons.
