Samsung’s foldable phone is called the Galaxy Fold and it is ready for prime-time

At its Unpacked 2019 keynote event in San Francisco today, Samsung announced its all-new Galaxy S10 lineup. But that was business as usual. The real star of the show was in fact its foldable phone – the one which was first teased at the company’s annual developer conference in November last year. Back in the day, it was sealed in a case and it did not have a name. Everything changes today. Samsung is calling its foldable phone simply the Galaxy Fold and it is now seemingly ready for prime-time which is why it is ready to show it off in all its entirety. And it is ready to talk about the specs. 

The Galaxy Fold will give users access to two categories of devices - a 7.3-inch primary tablet kind and a smaller 4.6-inch phone form factor – all in one device. Like a book, the Galaxy Fold will have a spine or hinge in the middle, only there won’t be a partition on the inside since Samsung’s signature curved OLED or Infinity Flex will simply pass through – hence the name, Galaxy Fold. There will be a secondary cover display on the other (outer) side, that will allow users to continue using the device as a makeshift smartphone for when it is folded.     

Samsung has worked extensively on the software side so users will be able to seamlessly transition between smartphone and tablet mode on the Galaxy Fold – Samsung is particularly touting app continuity and the ability to run as many as three individual apps simultaneously. 

Key hardware specs of the Galaxy Fold include a 7nm-based processor (possibly the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855), 12GB RAM and 512GB internal storage, and a total of six cameras (triple rear cameras consisting of one 12MP wide (77-degree field of view) sensor with f/1.5 aperture and dual pixel OIS, a 16MP ultra-wide (123-degree field of view) sensor with f/2.2 aperture and fixed focus, and a 12MP telephoto sensor with OIS, dual front cameras consisting of one 10MP sensor with f/2.2 aperture and a secondary 8MP sensor with f/1.9 aperture, and another 10MP camera on the cover).

A key concern however seems to be the battery capacity. The Galaxy Fold packs two batteries which entail in a total battery capacity of 4,380mAh. This is significantly lower than the 6,200mAh number which was previously being reported. A device of the scale of the Galaxy Fold would require as much juice as possible, and 4,380mAh doesn’t exactly sound very impressive considering that Samsung has budget phones with 5,000mAh batteries these days. 

The Galaxy Fold will be available for buying with LTE at a price of $1,980 in select markets from April 26.

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