Samsung Foldable Smartphones to Be Showcased at MWC, Launched in Q4 2017: Reports

Highlights

• Samsung said to introduce foldable displays later this month
• Foldable displays and phones to be showcased to select audience
• A commercial product likely to make its way to the market by Q4

Samsung has been rumoured to be working on foldable display devices for long, and if a new report is to be believed then it may launch a commercial product by Q4 2017. The company is said to be finally prepared to reveal the foldable smartphones in a closed door event at the side-lines of MWC 2017 in Barcelona later this month.
A report from South Korea claims that Samsung Electronics and Samsung Display are gearing to introduce foldable displays and smartphones to a select audience at the upcoming MWC 2017 trade show. According to ET News, Samsung will showcase the foldable display and smartphone in a private room with the aim to get feedback from the attendees.
The report adds that the select audience preview will be used by Samsung as a way to predict demand from market for the foldable displays and smartphones. It stresses that Samsung has chosen not to showcase the new technology to the general public as of now.
ET News adds that Samsung Electronics and Samsung Display are preparing to showcase both in-foldable products, which can be bend inwardly like books, and out-foldable products, which bend panels outwardly. Both companies have reportedly finished making "videos of new prototypes and others."
One of the possible reasons why Samsung is showcasing the foldable displays and smartphones to other companies as it could plan to sell displays and technology to other handset vendors for commercial use.
Additionally, Samsung is also rumoured to work on a clam-type smartphone. Unlike regular clam smartphones, the company is said to start small production of its first foldable model sporting a flexible AMOLED display in the fourth quarter of 2017. Digitimes cites sources from Taiwan's handset supply chain and adds that the company has already applied patents related to foldable smartphones to the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in late 2016.
The report however adds that Samsung isn't the only one which has applied for patents for such smartphones as Apple, LG, and Microsoft have also filed similar patents.
Last year, a report suggested that Samsung will debut a 'dual-screen' smartphone that has flat screens on both side as well as a phone with single flexible OLED display this year. The alleged patent could be for the same product.