
Samsung isn't sitting still while competitors such as Apple and Huawei look to take the smartphone in new directions.
During the Samsung Developer Conference 2018 on Wednesday, executives offered a glimpse into where Samsung is focused for the future of the smartphone—and how the company is looking to engage developers in its efforts.
[Related: 9 Things To Know About Samsung's Galaxy Note9]
Samsung executives offered a peek at the company's potentially groundbreaking foldable display technology, while also announcing a new user interface for Galaxy phones and opening up the company's Bixby intelligent assistant to the developer community. At Samsung, "we are breaking barriers and re-defining mobile technology," said DJ Koh, president and CEO of Samsung's IT and mobile communications division, during the event.
What follows are details on the key announcements from the Samsung Developer Conference 2018 keynote Wednesday.
Foldable Display
Samsung offered a first look at its long-rumored foldable display, dubbed the "Infinity Flex Display." The company didn't announce a device that will feature the display, but did specify that a device with the display would offer 7.3 inches worth of screen space when it's unfolded—giving tablet-like functionality.
"When open it's a tablet, offering a big screen experience," said Justin Denison, senior vice president for mobile product marketing at Samsung. "When closed it's a phone that fits neatly inside your pocket."
The Infinity Flex Display depends on a number of display advancements, including the development of a new foldable adhesive, thinner display and, overall, the creation of a display that can be folded and unfolded repeatedly without degradation.
Along with a larger amount of screen space, benefits of the Infinity Flex Display will include the ability to use three apps at once, Denison said.
While specifics weren't given on when the display might first be available, Samsung expects to be "ready to start mass production in the coming months" for the Infinity Flex Display, Denison said.
Meanwhile, Google announced that Android will be officially supporting the foldable form factor and will be working to support new capabilities for foldable displays.
One UI
Samsung also announced a new smartphone user interface—One UI—that's intended as a more minimal, cleaner offering compared with the current UI on Galaxy phones.
Along with changes meant to enhance visual clarity, such as tuning the color of the UI design, One UI will simplify apps such as Settings to contain fewer choices and will make one-handed use easier—for instance, by automatically placing text messages on the upper part of the screen and putting touch interaction on the lower part.
One UI is entering open beta now, and will be available for the Galaxy S9, S9+ and Note9 in January 2019.
Bixby Developer Studio
While Samsung's Bixby intelligent assistant has lagged behind others such as the Google Assistant, the company is hoping to turn things around by opening up Bixby to developers. Samsung is launching the Bixby Developer Studio, a set of tools for developing Bixby services (dubbed "Bixby Capsules") that can be made available to users in the Bixby Marketplace, the company announced.
Notably, the Bixby Developer Studio aims to simplify the development process by bringing artificial intelligence into the mix. The Bixby Developer Studio is offered as a downloadable integrated development environment where human developers can work together "collaboratively" with AI. Samsung executives said that human developers will need only to describe the "what" that needs to be coded, and the AI will determine "how" best to accomplish it — saving developers time in the process.
Bixby “is morphing from a product feature to a platform,” said Patrick Moorhead, president and principal analyst for Moor Insights and Strategy, in an email statement. “While Bixby isn't considered the leading intelligent agent right now, I am enthused with Samsung's first big developer push as the company learned a lot from companies before it, and looks like it is making it easier for developers.”related stories
Video
trending stories
sponsored resources

Cysurance
Cyber Insurance 360

Tenable
Cyber Risk 360

Dell Technologies
Dell Technologies Cloud Learning Center

EPOS
EPOS

Fujifilm
Fujifilm

Application Integration 360

Mimecast
Mimecast

Hitachi Vantara
Hitachi Vantara

Dell Technologies
Dell Technologies Storage Learning Center

Carbonite
Cloud Storage 360

Webroot
Webroot Learning Center

BlackBerry
BlackBerry Learning Center

NPD
Industry Trends 360

Symantec
Symantec Business Security Learning Center

Channel Chief Showcase

Acer
Remote Workforce 360

Sherweb
Sherweb

APC by Schneider Electric
Digital Services for Edge Learning Center

StorageCraft
Disaster Recovery Learning Center

Vertiv
Edge Computing Learning Center

Wasabi
Wasabi

Dell Technologies
Dell Technologies Hybrid Cloud Learning Center

Cradlepoint
5g for Business 360

Comm100
Collaboration & Communications 360

Veeam
Veeam

Smart 3rd Party
3rd Party Maintenance 360

Sophos
Sophos Cybersecurity Learning Center

Trend Micro
Trend Micro Learning Center

VMware

HubStor
Cloud Backup 360

eSentire
Managed Detection and Response 360

Comcast Business
Comcast Business Learning Center
