At its Unpacked event in San Francisco today (Feb. 20), Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Fold, a new type of smartphone that unfolds into a tablet. It’s likely going to be the start of a new trend of foldable devices this year.
The Galaxy Fold has a 4.6-inch display on its outside, and a massive, flexible HD 7.3-inch display on the inside. Samsung has been working with Google’s Android to develop new software that allows apps pulled up on the smaller screen to expand automatically to the larger screen when the device is unfolded.
The phone-tablet features six cameras—one on the front, two on the inside, and three on the back, and will come in a range of colors, including yellow, blue, and black.
Samsung’s presenters referred to the Fold as a “luxury device,” which will be bundled in with a free pair of its new Galaxy Buds wireless headphones. And it’s easy to see why: the device will start at a whopping $1,980. That’s about as much as most high-end laptops, and far more than most tablets and smartphones.
With the Galaxy Fold, which will be available April 26, you’re paying for a first-of-its kind device that theoretically does everything that both a smartphone and a tablet do, in one device. Whether that’s a good-enough reason for early adopters to drop so much cash at once, is unclear, but there’s definitely reasons to see why a device like this could be useful for those who increasingly rely on their smartphones as their only computers.
The larger screen on the Galaxy Fold can display up to three apps at once, meaning you could be watching a video, searching on Google, and chatting on WhatsApp all at once, without having to switch between apps. You can also use that massive display to watch movies or play games on a mobile device with a screen that you can see easily.
Science fiction has been promising us foldable phones for a while now, and Samsung has taken its first, albeit very expensive, step into turning those dreams into a reality. As Samsung Electronics’ president DJ Koh put it: ”Buckle your seatbelt—the future is about to begin.”