Samsung ‘unfolds’ Galaxy smartphone hype ahead of grand unveiling

Samsung Electronics is building up to the launch of its latest Galaxy smartphone in February with billboards teasing its big unveiling event.

The Korean tech giant has plastered a series of adverts around Paris’s Place de la Concorde in the run-up to the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event on 20 February.

The event is expected to headline with Samsung Galaxy S10 smartphones, as the Galaxy series enters its 10th year.

Advertising around the area features huge letters in Hangeul, the Korean alphabet, which translate as “the future unfolds” and “February 20th”.

The mention of “unfold” has led to some speculation that the company could be hinting at a foldable phone. In November, Samsung revealed a first glimpse of its foldable Infinity Flex Display technology, which it said would enter production within months.

Samsung will be hoping to attract more smartphone buyers in an increasingly competitive market, as global smartphone shipments fall and Chinese rivals such as Huawei and Xaomi continue to gain traction.

One of the company’s biggest competitors, Apple, recently announced a slump in iPhone sales amid a fall in quarterly revenue from October to December, much of it linked to a sales slowdown in China.

At last week’s CES technology conference in Las Vegas, start-up Royole revealed its own foldable smartphone, called the FlexPai, which uses a flexible screen allowing users to hold the device as a smartphone when folded or open it out to be used like a tablet.