Samsung Unveils Foldable Phone— With Hefty Price Tag

Galaxy Fold will cost $1,980
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Feb 20, 2019 3:33 PM CST
Samsung Unveils Foldable Phone— With Hefty Price Tag
DJ Koh, Samsung President and CEO of IT and Mobile Communications, holds up the new Galaxy Fold smartphone during an event Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019, in San Francisco.   (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

Samsung unveiled a highly anticipated smartphone with a foldable screen in an attempt to break the innovation funk that has beset the smartphone market. But it's far from clear that consumers will embrace a device that retails for almost $2,000, or that it will provide the creative catalyst the smartphone market needs. The Galaxy Fold, announced Wednesday in San Francisco, will sell for $1,980 when it is released April 26, the AP reports. Consumers willing to pay that hefty price will get a device that can unfold like a wallet. It can work like a traditional smartphone with a 4.6 inch screen or morph into something more like a mini-tablet with a 7.3 inch screen.

When fully unfolded, the device will be able to simultaneously run three different apps on the screen. The Galaxy Fold will also boast six cameras: three in the back, two on the inside, and one on the front. After spending nearly five years developing the technology underlying its foldable-screen phone, Samsung is clearly hoping for a big payoff. The company trumpeted its 10th anniversary lineup, also debuting three Galaxy S10 models, ahead of a major mobile device conference in Barcelona next week. Huawei, which is threatening to overtake Apple as the world's second biggest seller of smartphones, has promised to use the Spain showcase to preview its own device with a foldable screen and the ability to connect to 5G networks as they become operational during the next few years. (A favorite flip phone is reportedly making a comeback.)

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