Samsung shows off foldable phone design that turns into a square – CNET

A year ago at Samsung’s annual developers conference the Galaxy Fold stole the show. It was the first time the foldable phone was shown. A year later at the 2019 Samsung Developers Conference in San Jose, there was nary a word about the Galaxy Fold, until the keynote turned to One UI 2 which is a software overlay for the company’s phones, tablets and smartwatches. When showing off One UI 2, Samsung showed a mockup of a phone that folded in half horizontally kind of like a flip phone.

This wasn’t a formal announcement of a new Galaxy Fold 2 or a Galaxy Fold Square. But it does validate a story by Bloomberg ran in September claiming that Samsung’s next foldable phone would fold inward to become a compact square. The graphic on the screen showed what for all intents and purposes is a 2019 take on what a flip phone would look like.

Curiously enough this follows on recent news by Motorola that it would be launching a foldable version of its iconic Moto Razr by the end of the year. But aside from two slides, one showing the mockup and another showing how the screen folded, there weren’t any solid details about the square folding phone.

If the graphic showing the different ways Samsung’s Infinity Flex displays can fold is any indication that phone could be tall, about the same height as the current Galaxy Fold but would fold down to be more pocketable. 

This is a developing story.