WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT SAMSUNG'S FOLDABLE SMARTPHONE

Samsung has been working on bendable and foldable display technologies for years, and now the company is planning to launch a foldable smartphone later this year. 

It was reported by CNBC that Samsung CEO, DJ Koh, hinted that the foldable smartphone could be unveiled at Samsung’s developer conference in November – but it’s not clear if consumers will actually be able to purchase the foldable phone this year. Koh admitted that the mystery device had been "complicated" to develop, and rumours have suggested Samsung will launch a phone with a bendable display under the company’s Galaxy Note line.

Samsung has been experimenting with bendable OLED displays for years, and the company first unveiled a prototype back in 2012. Since then, Samsung has been reportedly testing dual-screen smartphones, with the aim of bringing some type of foldable smartphone to the market. Koh doesn’t drop many hints at what can be expected from Samsung's foldable smartphone, but he does admit the smartphone and its features need to make consumers react with "wow, this is the reason Samsung made it."

Samsung released a concept ad for a potential foldable phone back in 2014. The ad featured a foldable smartphone with a bendable display that folded from a more tablet-like size into a pocketable phone. Samsung's device may include a 7-inch single display, according to a report earlier this year from The Wall Street Journal. The screen will reportedly fold in half like a wallet, with the exterior of the device displaying a small bar of information.

Samsung isn’t the only company developing foldable smartphones. Lenovo is working on bendable phones and tablets, and Microsoft has been dreaming of a dual-screen Surface device for years. LG even revealed a foldable 65-inch OLED TV earlier this year.