In an interview with The Verge following the launch of the Galaxy Fold last month, Samsung UK director of product, services, and commercial strategy, Kate Beaumont, said that the company opted against using an outward folding screen like one used on Huawei Mate X mainly for usability and durability reasons.
However, fresh reports by Bloomberg suggest that Samsung might have retracted and is now working on another foldable smartphone whose screen folds away from the user, much like the Mate X.
“We considered a lot of options. There’s things like if you want to put a case on it, usability, durability, and we feel that having the screen on the inside is the best way to protect that screen.”
It’s not a surprise that such a foldable phone could be in the works, after all, the company already had working prototypes of outward folding phones so it’s just a matter of fine-tuning them.
In addition to the outward-folding design, Samsung is also said to be working on another vertically-oriented clamshell phone that could potentially resemble what we’ve heard about Motorola’s foldable phone. This phone will reportedly have an external screen akin to the current Galaxy Fold.
Apparently, these two foldable phones are currently in the works, with mockups already being used to fine-tune the design. It has also been claimed that Samsung has plans to turn to in-display fingerprint scanning for its foldable line of phones as well as offer free screen replacements.
Samsung is expected to launch the two foldable phones in late 2019 or early 2020.
Related: Foldable Android Phones: How popular OEMs stand at the moment
