Rumor has it that Samsung plans to launch a folding smartphone with a flexible OLED display next year. But the company has been working for years on a fodable device that would bridge the gap between a phone and a tablet.

Now a set of pictures posted to Twitter by @MMDDJ may provide a glimpse of an early concept that never made it to market.

The images are said to show a Samsung “Project Valley” prototype from 2015, and instead of a single flexible display that could phone in half, the device had two separate screens, allowing you to fold the device in half and use it like a normal phone or extend both displays and use it like a tablet… sort of.

In practice, the Project Valley prototype looks more like two phones glued together, thanks to the line running down the middle of the device where the two screens join together.

Samsung clearly decided not to release a product with this form factor. But rival ZTE took a nearly identical approach when it released the Axon M smartphone in 2017.

While that move did allow ZTE to beat Samsung, LG, Huawei and others to market with a folding phone, the gadget still looks more like two phones crammed together than a single seamless device.

On the bright side, it doesn’t cost $1800.

via MSPowerUser

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7 replies on “This is Samsung’s canceled dual screen smartphone (allegedly)”

  1. It looks like one is holding two phones. Perhaps when folding screens become more practical, there could be variation of this that makes more sense and looks nicer?

  2. Why does everybody forget Kyocera did this first? The Echo was my very first Android phone, and I loved it. Battery life was shit, but the phone was definitely unique and got lots of attention.

  3. I hope Samsung and other companies continue experimenting with various smartphone and PC form factors. Designs have been pretty stagnate for several years now. With these luxury devices, things can always be better and nothing’s ever good enough.

  4. Honestly, it looks like a joke/troll post. If not… Samsung made the right move not moving forward with this.

    This begs the question: what market segment are they shooting for with a foldable, bendable/large screen display? If it’s the crowd that loves their phones biggie-sized, I’d love to pick up a 7″ @ 16:10 or 3:2 in the interim (with security updates). Yet… no one is really producing these…

    I’m not certain that folks who prefer phones under 5″ would see much value in the various designs I’ve come across.

    1. In all likelihood, this was never meant for release anyway. Hardware companies the size of Samsung are always messing around with prototypes that aren’t intended to be products as is. For example, in this case, for the minimum outlay (i.e. essentially two phones joined together by a hinge), they got to experiment with the way the form factor feels in the hand, and how the user interface should behave across the full width. No doubt, that’s just two of many discussion points raised by cobbling together the prototype.

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