Samsung announced its latest foldable phones, the Galaxy Z Fold5 and Galaxy Z Flip5, at the Unpacked event in Seoul on July 26 (see review).
These devices are leading the foldable market, but TM Roh, head of Samsung’s Mobile eXperience business, confirmed they’re just the beginning. Galaxy tablets are on the way.
As Roh said in an interview, Samsung strives to create better customer experiences by looking beyond mere internal hardware and spec improvements. Positive user experiences mean optimization, better integration of software with hardware, and smart new form factors.
Speaking of form factors, the book-shaped Z Fold and clamshell Z Flip are the only ones Samsung is exploring. And TM Roh is convinced that there will be foldable tablets.
The tablet is a very good product category in which we can apply the folding format. Why are Samsung Mobile and I so into folding? The reason is quite simple. Because reading books or using laptops has long been part of human history and human nature.
Everyone is familiar with the concept of opening a book or notebook. And we all instinctively know that when we fold it, we keep the same contents, only now it’s in a smaller package that’s easier for us to store and transport. The Galaxy Z Fold5 follows this principle, albeit on a smaller scale than a tablet.
Tablets are great devices, but they’re not as portable as smartphones or even regular books unless they’re small enough to almost be mistaken for big-screen phones. Folding screen technology will solve this problem and allow Samsung customers to take their big-screen devices with them wherever they go.
People open a book to read and a notebook to write. When not in use (and closed when folded) they are more compact and portable (…). It’s a natural part of human behavior.
What was applied on the smartphone is also being extended to tablets and laptops. We at Samsung invest a lot of resources in this. And once that foundational technology is developed and we think the product is ready to bring meaningful innovation to consumers, then of course we want to introduce it.
Exactly when we’ll have a foldable Galaxy tablet is unknown, but Samsung is working hard to make it a reality.