Introducing the Samsung Galaxy Fold

By Stuart
February 25, 2019

Direct Mobiles is supported by its readers. When you purchase through links on our site we may receive a commission. Learn more here.

Samsung Announce Galaxy Fold as Mobile World Congress 2019 Opens

Not one but two foldable phones have been announced at the Mobile World Congress 2019 (MWC). MWC in Barcelona, is the biggest mobile phone trade show of the year and it is traditionally where all the major new handset launches are made and demonstrated to the trade. This year is no exception, with foldable phones being the hot topic of 2019.

Samsung Galaxy Fold

Although the Samsung Galaxy Fold was announced just before the MWC, it is still the talk of the town and is on display at the event. It was announced on the 20^th February, days before the MWC opened on Friday. So what is all the fuss about? As we all start to watch more and more media on our mobile phones, the screen size becomes important. We would all like to have the biggest screen available, but don’t always want to carry a big device.

This is where the Galaxy Fold comes in, here are some of the specs: there’s a smaller 4.58-inch 1960 x 820 Super AMOLED screen on the ‘front’ of the device and then it unfolds like you would unfold a book to open up a larger, 7.3-inch 2152 x 1536 Infinity Flex AMOLED screen inside, with the first display now on the rear.

If you compare this to a Galaxy Note 9 which has a 6.4″ screen, you gain an inch of screen size when opened, this is only marginally smaller than an iPad Mini which has a 7.9” screen. The Fold runs Android Pie and is powered by a Qualcomm 7nm 64 bit octa-core processor which should be powerful enough for nearly all users. The Fold has two batteries which combined gives 4380mAh of power to ensure that you have enough to make use of that huge screen.

Now I guess that you are all concerned about the actual Fold and how durable this is? Samsung has designed the screen and hinge to withstand around 100,000 open and closes. That doesn’t sound like a huge amount to us, but if you crunch the numbers it looks like this:

273 opens per day the phone will last about 1 year
137 opens per day the phone will last about 2 years
69 opens about 4
34 about 8

If an average user were to open and close the device about 10 times per day you could expect the device to last 27 years.

But make no bones about this, the Fold is a premium device and is being priced at around 2000 Euro. You could look at it as being a phone, a tablet and camera that fits in your pocket. If you think this is for you hang on til May when it will be available but if not, have a look at our best available deals here.

Samsung aren’t the only manufacturer venturing into the foldable phones category as Huawei have also announced the Mate X at MWC.

Foldable phones. New tech that is the future of mobiles, or gimmick that’ll be gone in a year? Let us know in the Comments below or on Twitter.

Subscribe for mobile news, tips and exclusive offers straight in your inbox

Head to directmobiles.co.uk for the best smartphone and SIM only deals

Visit our YouTube channel Direct Mobiles TV for the latest smartphone reviews

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/directmobilesuk
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DirectMobilesUK
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directmobiles/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/direct-mobiles-uk/
The DMob Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/7mTrNvRCXWWnkGilycRL7s
Amazon Alexa: Just say “Alexa, enable Direct Mobiles” or https://amzn.to/2HiksLD