Samsung's Folding Phone May Come Early (This Year!)

It may not be long before we finally lay eyes on Samsung's long-rumored foldable smartphone. The company has indicated that it'll reveal the phone before we close the book on 2018, which is definitely an interesting revelation for a number of reasons. While that might not (and probably doesn't) mean a 2018 launch for such a device, it does mean that we'll finally get to hear about a phone that has been the topic of a lot of discussion over the couple of few years.

Speaking at IFA 2018, Samsung Mobile CEO DJ Koh told CNBC that his company plans to share details about its foldable smartphone later on this year. Koh, as you can imagine, didn't really delve into specifics, but there are some assumptions we can make based on the rumors we've heard thus far. For instance, one report from back in July claimed that the device will use one flexible screen instead of the clamshell design many of us would expect when we hear the phrase "foldable smartphone."

As for when the company will actually detail the device, it sounds like we can expect that to happen at 2018's Samsung Developer Conference in November. Obviously, that doesn't necessarily mean we'll see an actual launch at any point in the near future – though Samsung has suggested that the phone will be sold to consumers, it almost certainly won't be released until we're into at least 2019, possibly 2020 depending on things like production yields and release schedules for Samsung's flagship phones.

Then again, Samsung has said in the past that it wants to be the first company to bring a foldable smartphone to market, and some of the company's competitors are working on similar devices of their own. That desire to beat competitors to shelves could very well mean that Samsung is prioritizing a 2019 release, but obviously, that's just a bit of speculation on my part.

At this point, we'll just have to wait and see what happens. There are still a lot of questions surrounding this foldable smartphone, but hopefully most (if not all) of them will be answered by the time we usher in the new year. Stay tuned, because this is definitely a story to watch as we close in on the Samsung Developer Conference.