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.
SEE ALSO:Faster 5G phones are coming even though nobody has a 5G phone yetSamsung 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.
Holy shiiit, that's a lot of money.Credit: raymond wong/mashableIt'll be available in four different colors and Samsung says customers will even be able to customize the hinge color.
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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:
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"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.
The phone folded up.Credit: samsungSamsung 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 justfor Samsung. But we'll see what happens!
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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.
Multitasking is about to get real.Credit: samsungIn another demo, Samsung showed how you could see more of Google Maps when unfolding the screen:
Here we've got Google Maps stretched across the 7.3-inch unfolded screen.Credit: samsungThe 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.
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