Once known as ‘Project Valley’ internally within Samsung, the company’s experiments with foldable smartphones has been an open secret for years now. Late last year, the CEO of Samsung’s mobile division, DJ Koh, put all speculation to rest by officially confirming that the company is, indeed, working on such a device, although, he refused to give a time-frame for its launch.
Now, in an interview to CNBC on the sidelines of the IFA 2018 in Berlin last week, Koh has confirmed that the development process for the much-awaited device has ‘nearly concluded’, and company is targeting the upcoming Samsung Developer Conference in San Francisco this November for the official unveil. He, however, refused to give out any details about when it might go on sale commercially.
Koh had earlier said that Samsung would like to be the first company to launch such a device for the mass market after reports suggested that Chinese manufacturers could beat it to the buzzer when it comes to a foldable phone. However, this is the first time he or any Samsung executive has announced an official time-frame for the launch of the device that has been doing the rounds of the rumor mill for ages.
According to Koh, Samsung decided to go ahead and launch foldable smartphones only after surveys conducted by the company reportedly indicated that there’s a definite market for such a device. While he didn’t give out an exact launch date just yet, the device might give Samsung a massive advantage as it looks to stoke growth and regain market-share at the premium-end from Apple and Huawei.
