Samsung opened its annual Unpacked event on Wednesday with a novel surprise: the Samsung Galaxy Fold, the company’s first foldable smartphone.
The Samsung Galaxy Fold opens and shuts like a book, and features two displays: a 4.6-inch display on the front cover of the Galaxy Fold you can use when it’s closed, and a much larger 7.3-inch “Infinity Flex” display you can use when you open the device. Inside is an octa-core processor, 12GB of memory, and 512GB of built-in storage. There’s a battery inside each half of the device, and support for wireless PowerShare for wirelessly charging Qi-compatible devices, including other smartphones.
That internal 1536×2152 Infinity Flex display is seamless, and will let you run up to three apps at a time. There are six cameras on the Samsung Galaxy Fold: one on the front, two on the inside, and three on its rear. An internal folding mechanism hidden in the Galaxy Fold’s spine ensures a smooth and consistent opening and closing for “hundreds of thousands” of folds, according to Samsung. On the Galaxy Fold’s side is a fingerprint sensor placed where you’d naturally rest your finger while holding the device.
Like its new S10 devices, the Galaxy Fold runs Android 9.0 Pie. Thanks to what Samsung is calling App Continuity, users can easily transition from the smaller display to the larger one while using compatible apps without losing their work or progress. According to Samsung, apps like WhatsApp, Google Maps, and Microsoft Office all support App Continuity, with more on the way.
With four different colors to choose from — black, silver, green, and blue — Samsung’s Galaxy Fold will be available on April 26, in both 4G LTE and 5G versions. Pricing starts at $1,980.
