Samsung just introduced a wildly ambitious, $2,000 foldable phone - here's how it works
First things first: Yes, it folds. Here's what that looks like!
The idea is simple: The Galaxy Fold operates like a normal smartphone until you open it up, at which point it becomes a small tablet.
As seen here, the Galaxy Fold literally folds. Here's a look at the hinge when the device is closed, in smartphone mode:
And here's a look at the opposite side of the phone, where it opens into a tablet. Notice the volume buttons and a fingerprint reader on one side, and a SIM tray on the other.
Notably, the inner screen doesn't stay on all the time, nor does it turn on as you open the device (like this demonstration appears to show). This does, however, offer a good look at the screen mid-fold.
And here's a look at the device being used as a smartphone.
Of note: When it's being used as a smartphone, the Galaxy Fold has a shockingly small screen — just 4.6 inches. Make no mistake, those are extremely large bezels seen above and below the screen.
It's worth noting how large these bezels are — they're very large! In a world of flagship phones with increasingly slim (or altogether non-existent) bezels, it's hard to un-see the massive black bars above and beneath the main screen on the Galaxy Fold.
When the Galaxy Fold is in tablet mode, the bezels are far slimmer — it looks like a pretty standard tablet device.
Since the Fold aims to combine smartphone and tablet functionality, the tablet form of the Fold is a larger version of the smartphone side.
As you might've guessed, the tablet form of the Galaxy Fold is simply a larger way to interact with the same content you would on a smartphone.
As such, if you're watching a Netflix video or using Google Maps on the smartphone side of the Galaxy Fold and you open into tablet mode, whatever you were looking at will follow you into tablet mode.
There's some added functionality when the Fold is in tablet mode, like the ability to run three apps all at once:
As you can see above, the Galaxy Fold can run three apps simultaneously: a web browser (that's smartly suggesting a Business Insider article), a YouTube video, and a text message, all split into three separate frames.
Samsung says the Fold will go on sale starting on April 26, and it will cost $1,980. Here's a look at the nitty gritty specs if you're into that kinda thing.
No one outside of Samsung has used the Galaxy Fold just yet, but the company released two videos demonstrating it. Here's the first.
But you wanna see it actually being used, right? Good news: It was demonstrated on stage on Wednesday, and you can see that demo right here.
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