Yesterday Patently Apple posted a report titled "A Major Samsung foldable Device Patent Surfaced the day after Samsung provided a Peek at their Future Foldable Smartphone." I had noted in the report that "while Samsung's demo was criticized for illustrating a rather bulky prototype during their developer conference, I don't believe that it'll be as bulky once it hits the market in 2019. Why would Samsung show their competition what the final version would look like 12 months in advance? Today Samsung confirmed that position.

Samsung Electronics IT & Mobile Communications President & CEO Koh Dong-jin stressed in a press conference that the showcase was not aimed at unveiling the new phone's design, thus the prototype was covered with a case, and developers will be provided with the covered device so they can develop apps.

Koh further noted that the company hadn't set a fixed release date but confirmed that the goal is to release the new foldable smartphone in the first have of 2019. He also noted that "We typically release flagship models in nearly 120 countries around the world, but this time, the number of available markets and service providers will be limited." The company expects to sell 1 million of the new foldable phones in the second half of 2019.

"So far, Samsung has been very active in providing prototypes of new smartphones to developers," Koh said. "It will be the start of Samsung's effort to create an optimized user experience for a new form factor with developers."

Koh added that "When it comes to a foldable phone, display technology takes the most concern, followed by battery life, weight and ways to optimize user experience in folding and unfolding.  If we wanted to release a product that would be forgotten by consumers easily, there would be Samsung foldable phones in the market already."

Another report on the subject today surmises that Samsung will launch the foldable Galaxy F and another edition of the Galaxy S10 that runs on the 5G network in March.

The rumored price is said to be in the US$1500 to $1800 range which is a little more than the price of an iPhone XS Max today but with two displays – one at 4.6" and the second foldable displays at 7.4" unfolded.

Google now supports foldable smartphone form factors as noted below.

We just announced support for foldables at #AndroidDevSummit, a new form factor coming next year from Android partners.

Android apps run seamlessly as the device folds, achieving this form factor's chief feature: screen continuity. pic.twitter.com/NAfOmCOY26

— Android Developers (@AndroidDev) November 7, 2018