26 August 2023 , 06:30
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Samsung remains the leading maker of folding phones. But how about a folding tablet? Although we've not yet seen any bendy big-screen devices coming out of the Korean firm's HQ that could all be about to change.
Samsung’s President and Head of Mobile, Dr T M Roh, revealed to Mirror Online that something much bigger is on the way, that would be a world first.
Speaking after the company released the Samsung Galaxy Fold5 and Flip5 late last month, Roh confirmed for the first time that a Galaxy tablet that folds in half is in development, saying, “Foldables will expand to other categories like the tablet and PC and continue to develop after.” This is big news – no other major manufacturer has released a folding tablet.
Roh explained what it means and why Samsung thinks it's a good idea. “The tablet is a very good product category, one where we can apply the foldable format," he said.
"Why are Samsung Mobile and I so convinced about the foldable? The reason is very simple. Because it has been part of human history and human nature for so long to read books, or use notebooks. People open up a book to read and open up a notebook to write something. When they’re not being used, or when on the move and they can be folded shut, which makes them more compact and portable, as well as protecting important information inside. It's just a natural part of human behaviour.”
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It's a clever idea. After all, folding phones are designed to offer maximum screen with minimum gadget size, so why not think bigger and create a full-size tablet that folds down to something much more portable, that you can sling in a case or bag?
Of course, there’s still the issue that dogs all foldables – the visible crease between the two halves. To be fair to Samsung, the latest crop has made this less dramatic than ever, thanks to a “teardrop” design which means both halves of the phone fold flat against each other with zero gap. One day, that crease will vanish, surely.
Which leaves just one other problem, and it’s something a foldable tablet would also likely have to address: a gob-smackingly high price! For example, the new Fold5 costs an eye-watering £1,749 which probably means a bendable tablet would push through the £2,000 barrier.
A folding tablet isn’t even the end of Samsung’s game-changing ambitions. How would you feel about a folding laptop, designed to take up much less space in your bag? Roh explained, “What has been applied to the smartphone will then spread to the tablet and laptops as well. To that end we at Samsung are investing a lot of resources. And once that foundational technology is developed and we believe that the product is ready to provide meaningful innovation to consumers, then, of course, we want to introduce them.”
There’s no date for when we could expect these startlingly different products but they hint at an intriguing future, at the very least.