There has been a lot of talk recently about Samsung's Galaxy Fold design choice compared to the Huawei Mate X. Samsung opted for an in-folding while Huawei went with an out-folding design. The Galaxy Fold opens up like a book and it also has an external cover display.
Executive VP and Head of Software and AI at Samsung Mobile Eui-suk Chung compared the folding mechanism of the device with a book in a recent interview. He said it works more naturally compared to a design with a foldable screen on the outside.
Samsung says the Galaxy Fold design feels more natural
That's the route Huawei has taken. Its Mate X foldable phone has just the one display. It folds back when users don't need a larger display. Huawei's mobile division boss Richard Yu recently said in an interview that the company had a prototype with an in-folding design as well. It opted against that because this foldable smartphone design is “not good,” in their view.
Chung maintains that the Galaxy Fold will feel more natural because of its in-folding design. That's something our boss Danny suggested as well when he differentiated between the hype and reality for these foldable smartphones.
He also mentions that this design offers improvements in battery life as well. That's because users won't be relying on the large screen all the time for even the simplest of tasks. They can do them with the cover display on the Galaxy Fold. “A screen on the outside is also susceptible to all sorts of user errors, you can accidentally touch something or accidentally call someone”, Chung added.
The Samsung executive did acknowledge that the Galaxy Fold design choice does have one drawback. It's not possible to fold the screen fully. “The technology to do that does not exist yet,” he said. The slight gap between the two halves should at least limit the possibility of the two sides causing scratches with daily use.
“Once you start using it, and a sense of how it works, there is no way to go back to a normal phone. The experience is so much nicer,” Chung said. That's a feeling a few of us here have as well. I, for one, can't wait to start using a foldable smartphone, preferably the Galaxy Fold. Samsung releases the Galaxy Fold on April 26 for $1,980.
