Samsung hits back at Huawei, says 'innies' are better than Huawei's 'outies' (but is planning to make one anyway)

We saw Huawei CEO taking a dig at the design language of Samsung’s Galaxy Fold, he then called the Samsung’s foldable device ”not good.”

It is time for Samsung to hit back at Huawei’s Mate X. In an interview with The Australian Financial Review, Samsung executive-vice president in charge of R&D, Eui-suk Chung said, “If you go with an outfold, you can close the device fully, but then the display is on the outside, which means it’s susceptible to all kinds of user errors. You might touch it by mistake or call someone by mistake. And if you drop it, the display is more susceptible to damage.”

The vice president also said that Samsung had to overcome a tougher challenge which was to create a ”perfect close” for the foldable device. Though he also admitted that the ”perfect close” is yet to be achieved. He then talked about today’s technology not being capable enough to fold a screen like paper.

Then why did it head into that direction? According to the Vice President, it is the users that rejected the “outfold” design. Aside from that, the company was said to be involved in a lot of research work to figure out which one to go with. “We did a lot of research and thinking about the balance between the bigger screen and the battery life,” he said.

In a separate report from Bloomberg however, it appears Samsung is still planning to deliver a device with an “outfold” screen like the Mate X.

They report on an internal source who says Samsung is planning to release two new foldable devices either at the end of this year or early next year.

The first is a vertically foldable device much like the rumoured foldable Motorola Razr. That device, which is currently being tested with mockups, may include an external screen, though this may be removed depending on how customers respond to a similar display on the Galaxy Fold.

The Outfolding device was the first Samsung tested, and will be delivered after the vertically folding device.  It is thinner without an extra screen.

The devices may also include in-display fingerprint readers. Samsung is reportedly also working on increasing screen durability, addressing an issue of a crease appearing after 10,000 folds, with one suggestion being a free screen replacement if the issue occurs.

“No one knows what the ideal design is yet,” said Bryan Ma, vice president of devices research at IDC. “The time is ripe for experimentation. Many of these designs won’t be successful, but industry players will learn valuable lessons along the way.”

One thing which is sure is that Samsung is determined to push foldable designs into the mainstream.

“Once you start using it, and a sense of how it works, there is no way to go back to a normal phone. The experience is so much nicer,” Chung noted. “But we will keep improving it. Let’s see how far we can go.”