Samsung is working on a new Android smartphone specifically designed for gaming, known mobile industry insider known only by their Twitter handle “MMDDJ_” said earlier today. The source with a positive track record regarding Samsung-related leaks who previously alleged to be close to some of the company’s suppliers from China did not elaborate on the matter, save for suggesting the device in question won’t be the foldable handset that the tech giant is currently developing with the intention of launching it in early 2019. A last week’s report from Bloomberg indicated the upcoming bendable device will be a niche offering targeting a small subset of consumers including gamers but didn’t provide many details on the matter.
Mainstream efforts aimed at commercializing gaming smartphones have been largely dormant in a period between early 2011 and the release of the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play and late 2017 when gaming equipment manufacturer Razer introduced the Razer phone. Since then, Xiaomi-backed Black Shark and Nubia both launched such offerings and more products in the same vein — including the Razer Phone 2 — are said to be following suit in the coming months. Samsung itself is no stranger to niche mobile devices but has so far largely kept such experiments exclusive to China, a market where local competitors undercut it to the point of marginalizing the entirety of its electronics portfolio, forcing the company to start taking more risks in an attempt to revitalize sales.
The South Korean technology giant is also understood to presently be looking at gaming through the prism of some other products, with its smartphone chief DJ Koh recently suggesting the S Pen of the upcoming Galaxy Note 9 will also offer a number of unique functionalities meant to be used in the context of mobile games. While details on the matter remain scarce, that shouldn’t be the case for much longer, with the Galaxy Note 9 being set to be announced on August 9.