Samsung is reportedly working on firmware for the Galaxy F (which is rumored to be their foldable smartphone, model number SM-F900U) for all of the US carriers. That includes AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon, US Cellular and Spectrum Mobile. A bit surprising to see Spectrum Mobile listed – that is Charter’s own MVNO service that runs on Verizon’s network – with the rest of the postpaid carriers here. Samsung is working on firmware here, which means that Samsung has either gotten approval from these carriers that they will sell the device, or they are preparing to market these devices to their carrier partners so that they can sell them down the road.
The Galaxy F is rumored to be the company’s foldable phone, however, there are still many unanswered questions about this phone. As it should be, for a phone that is not yet available or been announced. But this foldable phone is expected to be something similar to what Samsung showed off at its Developers Conference last week in San Francisco, which had the Infinity Flex display. That’s a foldable phone with a larger display inside, that turns it into a tablet. There are a few tidbits that we can see from the firmware that Samsung is working on for the SM-F900U though, and that includes the fact that the device will have 512GB of storage inside, and it will also have Samsung’s new One UI that it debuted at SDC last week as well.
Background: The Galaxy F has been rumored for quite a few years already, virtually since Samsung debuted its foldable display back at CES nearly six years ago. But now that Samsung has shown off a working smartphone with this foldable display, it appears to be coming pretty soon. Samsung has also stated that it believes it can start mass producing this foldable display by the first quarter of next year. It is rumored to be a pretty pricey smartphone from Samsung, around $1800 USD or possibly more. And considering this has a lot of new technology, and foldable displays have a pretty low yield, it is going to cost quite a bit more to make this phone, compared to the Galaxy Note 9. So the higher price tag, is not a huge surprise here.
Impact: A foldable smartphone launching on all of the US carriers is a pretty bold thing for Samsung. Typically, Samsung will keep new technology like a foldable phone in one market – usually its home of South Korea. But if it is looking to sell this device on all of the major carriers, and even a couple of the smaller carriers in the US, it means that it truly wants to be the first to offer a foldable smartphone globally. Of course, it goes without saying that this smartphone is going to be a very first-generation product. It’s going to be a cool one to check out, but it’s not going to be as polished as something like the Galaxy Note 9, which is on its seventh-generation now. Currently, there’s no word on when the Galaxy F will be announced, but we are expecting it sometime, early next year.