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Galaxy Fold, one of the most exciting devices we've seen, arrives in two weeks

Samsung's thrilling, dizzying debut of the Galaxy Fold made one thing clear: Phones will never be the same again.

Jessica Dolcourt Senior Director, Commerce & Content Operations
Jessica Dolcourt is a passionate content strategist and veteran leader of CNET coverage. As Senior Director of Commerce & Content Operations, she leads a number of teams, including Commerce, How-To and Performance Optimization. Her CNET career began in 2006, testing desktop and mobile software for Download.com and CNET, including the first iPhone and Android apps and operating systems. She continued to review, report on and write a wide range of commentary and analysis on all things phones, with an emphasis on iPhone and Samsung. Jessica was one of the first people in the world to test, review and report on foldable phones and 5G wireless speeds. Jessica began leading CNET's How-To section for tips and FAQs in 2019, guiding coverage of topics ranging from personal finance to phones and home. She holds an MA with Distinction from the University of Warwick (UK).
Expertise Content strategy, team leadership, audience engagement, iPhone, Samsung, Android, iOS, tips and FAQs.
Jessica Dolcourt
6 min read
James Martin/CNET

Update, Sept. 18: We now have a retail model of the Galaxy Fold and have begun to review it.


The Galaxy Fold, Samsung's first foldable phone, blew the top off the mobile industry when we first heard of it in February. Since then, this foldable device, which we've never seen in person (this YouTube video might be it), has been beset by competitors hungry for the limelight, too. Huawei let us go hands-on with its foldable Mate X, which made the foldable phone concept so much more real. The rumored foldable Motorola Razr is gathering buzz. But for me, the Galaxy Fold is still the one that started it all, and the one that has me so intrigued. 

The Galaxy Fold will go on sale in the US on April 26, with preorders starting April 15, and reservations beginning on April 12. Confusing, we know, but Samsung's device is in limited supply, and the company is clearly taking a stab at making the process orderly. 

Since I haven't seen or held the Galaxy Fold the way I have the Mate X, I can only base my impressions on Samsung's stage demo, video footage and what I know of the Fold's specs (cruise to the end for all of those). 

Mate X foldable phone: Here's what it's really like to use

See all photos

Still, the Galaxy Fold made quite the splash, and that's because compared to the rectangular phone in your pocket -- even one as good as the Galaxy S10 Plus or S10E -- the concept of a foldable phone turned reality feels like a moonshot, and that's Samsung's masterstroke here. We were given just enough information to be intrigued, but not enough to ruin the mystique. Even if the Galaxy Fold falls short of the hype, Samsung -- the world's largest phone-maker -- has successfully grabbed everyone's attention. 

The Fold may not be a device everyone owns, but along with the $2,600 Mate X, it's a fully envisioned example of a brand-new type of phone.

Read moreGalaxy Fold vs. Huawei Mate X: Battle of the foldable phones

The Galaxy Fold in action.

Samsung

At $1,980, the Fold costs twice the starting price of the Galaxy Note 9 or iPhone XS . When Samsung Mobile SVO Justin Denison announced the Galaxy Fold's price, the presentation hall rippled with audible gasps and groans (but really, I'm not surprised). 

Denison didn't sugarcoat it, but he did prime the pump by calling it a "luxury device." UK and Australian prices were not announced, but the US price converts to about £1,500 or AU$2,800. (To register in Australia, click "pre-register now" on this page. The UK site does not yet have a Fold page.)

And that price is for the 4G version. Expect the 5G version, which could come to Samsung's native Korea as soon as May, to cost more.

In the US, the Galaxy Fold will sell with AT&T and T-Mobile starting April 26. Colors, all available around the world, are Martian Green, Astro Blue, Cosmos Black and Space Silver.  

Galaxy Fold design: Two screens and a magic hinge

The Galaxy Fold is made up of two screens: a 4.6-incher on the outside of the device as it's closed like a book, and the other, a 7.3-inch display that stretches across the "inside" when you open it up to become a tablet.

We're still not sure if that smaller screen is made of glass or plastic, but we do know that the screen inside is the first example of the Infinity Flex Display, an ultrathin polymer (plastic) that uses a new adhesive that Samsung developed to laminate the phone's many display layers so they can flex and fold hundreds of thousands of times.

Samsung also needed to make the Infinity Flex Display thinner than any other mobile display. It cut the thickness of the polarizer layer, which helps make the screen legible, by 45 percent.

I'm interested in trying this out since glass is typically more premium material than plastic -- will it feel just as responsive and smooth? CNET was the first to report that the company behind Gorilla Glass, Corning , has been working on creating superthin glass that can bend, but that's still in development.

Now we need to talk about the fold itself. Samsung said it made a hinge with interlocking gears, which is hidden away in the casing. "Samsung" is etched on the hinge. It's hard to tell exactly how flat the Fold folds, but from what we can see, there's at least a small gap at the hinge end -- stay tuned.

Close up with the Galaxy Fold's original screen, notch and hinge

See all photos

Google software is key, and we don't meant Android Pie

The Galaxy Fold runs on Android Pie with Samsung's new One UI interface on top. But what you really need to care about is Google's specific support foldable Android devices, which it announced in November 2018.

It would be disastrous to close or open the Galaxy Fold and see your apps lag or judder when you picked them up again on the other screen. Google's task is to make sure there's a smooth handoff between the two, so that apps move instantaneously between the expanded view you see on the 7.3-inch display and the 4.6-inch screen.

To make the most of a larger screen, you can open up to three separate apps at once, so an article, a video and your text messenger app. We were also told last November that any app could also give you up to three active windows when you're full screen. We've seen demoes for Flipboard, but the feature will only catch hold if Samsung can successfully lure the developers of today's top killer apps.

Google

Six cameras in all

Samsung has placed six cameras around the Galaxy Fold: three in the back, two on the inside and one on the cover. These are the same sensors we see on the Galaxy S10 phones (the Galaxy S10 5G has six as well, in a slightly different configuration). But it's clear which are for selfies and which for taking portraits, landscapes, food shots and everything else.

I'm curious what the photo flow will be like on the Galaxy Fold, because the camera arrangement on the ZTE Axon M phone of 2017 had you flipping and repositioning that two-screen device to take pictures. It was a hassle, and one that Samsung has hopefully figured out.

Galaxy Fold's six cameras

Cover camera 10-megapixel (F2.2)
Rear cameras 12-megapixel dual aperture wide-angle with OIS (F1.5/F2.4)

12-megapixel telephoto with OIS, 2x optical zoom (2.4)

16-megapixel ultra wide-angle lens (F2.2)
Front-facing cameras 10-megapixel (F2.2)

8-megapixel RGB depth camera (F1.9)

Galaxy Fold's battery doesn't fold

The thing about batteries is that they don't bend so well. But if you don't balance out the load, you wind up with a side-heavy phone like the ZTE Axon M. Samsung said it's solved the problem by putting a typically rigid lithium-ion battery on each side. The two lobes work together, like your brain, to give the Galaxy Fold 4,380 mAh of power.

samsung-galaxy-fold-back

Is a folding phone a recipe for camera confusion? We'll find out.

Samsung

Who's the $2,000 Galaxy Fold really for? 

I'm still not over a $1,000 phone, and my guess is that you aren't either. Samsung knows that most people aren't going to run out and buy one. But some will. The Galaxy Fold will appeal to wealthy early adopters who want to be on the bleeding edge of technology.

A phone that can open into a book is the ultimate status symbol because it's immediately recognizable, especially if you buy it in Martian Green.

Samsung

There's another population that the Fold would also interest, and those are the app developers that want to test their programs on a folding device. Say you're making a camera app that takes advantage of all six of the phone's lenses. You'd need to perfect that on a foldable phone with all the icing and sprinkles.

Foldable phones are the next wave

Samsung may have been the first major brand to announce a foldable phone, but the Galaxy Fold isn't in a field all its own. Unlike the Note family with its large screen and stylus, competing foldable phones are about to flood in.

Xiaomi and Huawei are working on one, and Alcatel and Motorola are said to be as well. Apple, too, has filed patent applications for a foldable iPhone design.

Even if the foldable phone trend doesn't join the mainstream, they're poised to lay the groundwork for more to come. Samsung already told us last November about the next challenge it set for itself: rollable and stretchable displays. 

Most industry analysts agree that foldable phones will become an inevitable part of the smartphone landscape in 2019 and beyond.

"This will be the best way to deliver on that consumer demand but it is likely a multiyear process before pricing, software, apps and the product itself have the kinks worked out," said Stephen Baker, VP of industry analysis at NPD Group.

There's also a sense, however, that something else is yet to come. "It is essential that we move beyond devices with folding screens being a solution looking for a problem," said Ben Wood, chief researcher at CCS Insight.

Samsung's Galaxy Fold is the first solid step in that direction, and sink or swim, that's exciting stuff.

Galaxy Fold specs we know so far

Samsung Galaxy Fold specs

Display size, resolution 4.6-inch Super AMOLED; 7.3-inch QXGA+ Dynamic AMOLED
Mobile software Android 9.0 with Samsung One UI
Camera 16-megapixel (ultra wide-angle), 12-megapixel (wide-angle), 12-megapixel (telephoto)
Front-facing camera Two 10-megapixel, 8-megapixel 3D depth
Processor Octacore Qualcomm Snapdragon 855
Storage 512GB
RAM 12GB
Expandable storage None
Battery 4,380 mAh
Fingerprint sensor Right side of phone
Special features Foldable display, wireless charging, fast charging
Price off-contract (USD) $1,980 (£1,500 or AU$2,800 converted)

Originally published: Feb. 20, 2019 and updated frequently.