Samsung Foldable Smartphone 'Highly Likely' to Launch in Q3 2017: Report

Samsung has teased its foldable displays for quite some time now but according to recent reports, the South Korean company might be launching its first foldable smartphone as early as Q3 this year. It seems like the company is looking to fire on all cylinders as it has been tipped to roll out more than 100,000 units of fold-out devices in the third quarter.

Despite the technical completion of the smartphone, the company has not made a final decision regarding the launch of the smartphone due to marketability and profitability issues, as per a report by Korea Herald. "The final decision will be made after the personnel reshuffle of the company's information technology and mobile communications unit is carried out," the report said citing sources in the know of the matter.

Samsung had already completed the development of fold-in phones, which tuck the screen inside on being folded, around August last year and therefore it was not a big "challenge" to shift into the fold-out phones category, the report said citing a source. The fold-out phones can reportedly be used as 7-inch tablets after their panels fold out.

"The final decision will be made after the personnel reshuffle of the company's information technology and mobile communications unit is carried out," the source was quoted as saying.

As per the report, Samsung Electronics is expected to take a decision about the launch of its foldable smartphone after its executive-level reshuffle that will be carried out in either February or March.

Interestingly, LG has also been tipped to produce more than 100,000 units of its own foldable devices in the fourth quarter this year, the report said, citing a person familiar with the matter. The company is said to have started development of its fold-out smartphone technology 2-3 years ago, and its tech is said to be even more advanced than Samsung's. LG is also said to be ready to offer its tech to other OEMs like Huawei and Apple.

In December, a report said that Samsung was working on two foldable smartphones with one expected to be released in 2017. As per the report, the company was said to be working on a 'dual-screen' smartphone with screens on both sides and another with a single flexible OLED display.