Foldable devices are here. Samsung have officially announced the Galaxy Fold during their unpacked event overnight.
The Fold is a comes with a 4.6″ display when folded, but unfold each side and the device grows to a 7.3″ display.
The obvious advantage with a foldable device like this is extra screen real estate. Having more space allows you to see more in a browser, in your email, more on Maps and experience a different kind of mobile gaming.
Of course the biggest sell for that extra screen real estate is multitasking. The idea is to get us to more of a tablet or even desktop experience. While you can split screen on phones, most people don’t do it given the area for each app is so small. With the fold, Samsung is changing that.
The downside of offering a device with essentially multiple displays, is the cost a mega US$1980. A straight translation of US to AUD today means that’s a crazy $2,764.75. Add 10% GST to that and we’re really talking about the first mainstream production phone to crack the $3K mark at A$3,041.22.
With a screen that big, the other challenge is powering it. To answer that question, Samsung has packed a 4,380mAh battery inside. While that sounds big, the Huawei Mate20Pro has a 4,200mAh battery for a single display.
Samsung also introduced the Samsung Galaxy S10 and S10+ with no notch, instead using a cutout in the glass for the cameras and sensors.
Update
We now have Australian pricing details for the S10. On-sale from March 8th the new S10 range will cost:
- Galaxy S10e (128GB), available in Prism Green, Prism Black, Prism White: RRP $1199
- Galaxy S10 (128GB), available in Prism Green, Prism Black, Prism White: RRP $1349
- Galaxy S10 (512GB), available in Prism Green, Prism Black, Prism White: RRP $1699
- Galaxy S10+ (128GB), available in Prism Green, Prism Black, Prism White: RRP $1499
- Galaxy S10+ (512GB), available in Ceramic Black, Ceramic White: RRP $1849
If you missed the event, you can watch Samsung Unpacked 2019 here.
