Samsung could unveil a foldable smartphone at the Mobile World Congress 2017 to be held in Barcelona in the coming weeks. The largest mobile technology fair, scheduled for later this month, is again in the spotlight of the world's largest manufacturers. This foldable smartphone could, in any case, only be shown privately to a limited circle of people (probably associates, managers and journalists selected by the company). According to information released by the Korean news website ETNews, citing an unidentified source, Samsung will show with certainty the first prototypes of this expected foldable smartphone at the next Mobile World Congress 2017.
For some time now there has been talk of the introduction of two foldable smartphones, one for your pocket and another one with larger foldable screen. At the moment there is no such product on the market, but 2017 could be the definitive year to see it. So far, no manufacturer has announced the launch of such devices, but everything could change in just one month. Unfortunately, the demonstration will not be a public affair: the intent of the Seoul-based company would be to organize private and confidential demonstrations and presentations to selected business partners, in order to assess the market's interest in this new type of smartphone. It is not a very common practice in the industry, although typical in a part of private companies that are attending fairs like the MWC without any public presence.
It is unclear whether prototypes will have all the functions or whether they will simply be demonstrative at a basic level. In any case, this is the first time we hear about a foldable smartphone with a real reference and not just through patents or forecasts about the future. But there is more: Samsung has already created two different types of foldable smartphone, one with an interior screen and a closure that mimics the books, and another version that instead has a foldable screen out. Also according to the latest news, which Samsung has neither confirmed nor denied, both prototypes are already in an advanced stage of development, considered ready for submission and perhaps also for public marketing, under the name of Samsung Galaxy X1 and X1 Plus.
Of the two different versions, it seems that the version with folded screen out is the most promising from a commercial point of view. But despite the advanced state of development, Samsung would decide only these days not to organize a public presentation in Barcelona later this month and instead will proceed with the presentations reserved to customers and partners, as it is a new technology and a new form factor, so the company prefers to first test the reaction, interest and response of the experts. It is not yet known when, exactly, this technology will be ready to be officially launched in the world, some voices say that by the end of 2018, but Samsung has confirmed that it has the ability to produce the necessary components for these phones now.