Samsung says its trifold phone should launch ‘this year’

Yesterday’s Galaxy Unpacked event came and went without a single onstage tease of the rumored Samsung trifold phone, but the head of the company’s phone business says that it’s on the way, and due “this year.”

“We are now focusing on perfecting the product and its usability, but we have not decided its name,” Roh said. “As the product nears completion, we are planning to make a final decision soon.”

Roh wasn’t the only Samsung representative willing to discuss the trifold. Android Authority quotes an unnamed executive who claimed the company has designed hardware and could “put it into production,” but that first it has to identify a “purpose” for the new form factor.

“We’ve had a trifold for some time, designed and everything,” the executive said. “So it’s not a new concept to us. What we’re debating is the viability. When I say the viability, is there really a demand for this form factor?”