Samsung may release a foldable smartphone-cum-tablet in 2017

Samsung, the innovator of curved edge display for smartphone, is reportedly working on a foldable smartphone. A report coming out of South Korea suggest that Samsung will launch a foldable smartphone in 2017.

The report says that the phone will have a size of 5-inch when folded, and when opened it transforms into a 7-inch tablet. This means the foldable smartphone could use OLED display, which can be easily bent. However, it is not known how the foladable technology will work.

The report adds that Samsung Display has finished the development stage a prototype of foldable display, and is hoping to mass-produce the device starting from second half of this year. The company has also invested into several technologies that are needed to build foldable smartphone. 

This is not the first time we rare hearing of Samsung's foldable smartphone. Last year, Samsung had first mentioned the possibility of foldable smartphones under Project Valley, followed by which there were a couple of patents and illustration on how the phone will work. The illustration showed that the phone open and close in different modes with the use of hings, somewhat similar to Laptop/Tablet hybrids.

Lastly, the report mentions that Samsung Electronics will still have few other major tasks to complete before the foldable display goes into mass-production.