Everything that could be known about the new Samsung Galaxy S10 range, launched on Wednesday in San Francisco, seems to have been known before the event.
Most predictions were spot-on, including those in Gadget (see our preview here), thanks to a series of leaks so large, they competed with the hole an iceberg made in the Titanic.
The big surprise was that there was a big surprise. While it was widely expected that Samsung would announce a foldable phone, few predicted what would emerge from that announcement. About the only thing that was guessed right was the name: Galaxy Fold.
The real surprise was the versatility of the foldable phone, and the fact that units were available at the launch. During the Johannesburg event, at which the San Francisco launch was streamed live, small groups of media took turns to enter a private Fold viewing area where photos were banned, personal phones had to be handed in, and the Fold could be tried out under close supervision.
The first impression is of a compact smartphone with a relatively small screen on the front – it measures 4.6-inches – and a second layer of phone at the back. With a click of a button, the phone folds out to reveal a 7.3-inch inside screen – the equivalent of a mini tablet.
The fold itself is based on a sophisticated hinge design that probably took more engineering than the foldable display. The result is a large screen with no visible seam.
The device introduces the concept of “app continuity”, which means an app can be opened on the front and, in mid-use, if the handset is folded open, continue on the inside from where the user left off on the front. The difference is that the app will the have far more space for viewing or other activity.
Click here to read about the app experience on the inside of the Fold.
For example, open Google Maps on the front page and it will show your location in a relatively small map area. Fold open, and the same location is displayed with far more of its surroundings in a far bigger map area. Or, see the same location in far greater detail. Open Netflix on the front, start a movie, and then unfold the handset to carry on watching the movie in a somewhat larger format.
The inside screen can be split into three separate app areas, with one large and two small app spaces. This means one can watch a video or play a game in the larger space, chat with a friend via instant messenger in one of the smaller spaces, and write a document in the third space.
This opens the way for the Fold to join the Galaxy Note as both smartphone and productivity tool, and ultimately a replacement for laptop computers.
That is the real promise of the fold: a digital working surface that is also an entertainment and communications device, and that can be slipped into a pocket.
As with app continuity, the three segments “speak” to each other, in that a browser or app in one window can be dragged to another if one wants to see it in larger or smaller format.
Click here to read about the specs and strategy of the Fold.
The specs of the device were also a pleasant surprise: 12GB of RAM, which Samsung says makes it one of the most powerful smartphones on the market. It has a massive 512GB of storage space on board, and support for universal flash storage, meaning content can be accessed significantly faster than with regular handsets.
The foldable display and hinge are not the only engineering marvels on the device. It contains two batteries, one in each half of the unit, and combines the energy from both batteries into one power source.
The camera system comprises an absurd six lenses – the most so far on a regular smartphone is five – with three on the back and one on the front. The other two? On the inside, of course. The primary camera is an ultrawide 16MP lens, and the array includes wide angle and telephoto with 2X optical zoom. The cover camera is a 10MP baby, while the inside lenses offer 8MP and 10MP.
The main display is a Dynamic AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, measuring 536 x 2152 pixels, with a healthy 414 pixels per inch density. The cover display is a Super AMOLED screen.
The handset runs on the latest Qualcomm processor, the Snapdragon 855, and the batteries add up to a massive 4380 mAh.
Click here for the price of the Fold, and to read about the strategy behind it.
The device will be available at retail from 26 April, at an eye-watering $1980, which would probably translate in South Africa into somewhere above R40 000. This tells us that the phone is not expected to sell in large volumes. Indeed, it was described at the launch as a “luxury phone”, which prepared the audience for a hefty price tag.
Rather, it is Samsung’s statement of technology leadership.
It should be seen in the same light as expensive, cutting-edge TV sets launched at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas each year. These devices, usually from LG and Samsung, signify efforts at technology thought leadership rather than market share, but the prices fall rapidly over the following three to five years.
In the same way, Samsung is now positioning itself as a technology leader in foldable handsets. We will see several more claimants emerge from Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next week, but all will be seen to be following in Samsung’s footsteps.
In the same way Samsung led the way to large screen phones with the Note range, they will also be able to claim this leadership in foldable phones. The difference is that large screen phones required a courageous leap into a new format. Foldable phones, on the other hand, represent the research and development capacity to be the first to market with a new technology that may be expected from every manufacturer.
- Arthur Goldstuck is founder of World Wide Worx and editor-in-chief of Gadget.co.za. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram on @art2gee