Samsung Folding Smartphone and Tablet, Arriving in 2016?

In January 2012, Korean electronics giant Samsung acquired LiquaVista, a company that specializes in manufacturing flexible displays, and disclosed its plans to begin mass production of such screens by Q2 2012.

Samsung Folding Smartphone

To supplement that announcement, Samsung Mobile presented two prototype mobile devices - called Youm - that incorporate flexible AMOLED display technology at CES 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada USA.

Samsung Folding Smartphone
There's the Youm Smartphone (concept) that folds in the middle like a wallet.

Samsung Folding Smartphone
And there's the Youm Tablet (concept) that rolls into a tube like a scroll.

Fast forward to 2015, those two devices (or anything that closely resembles them, for that matter) remain absent in Samsung's product line-up. Maybe it's because of a change in strategy or maybe the company simply needs more time to work on the project. Nonetheless, consumers did get two handsets featuring a curved display that could very well have been a product of the LiquaVista acquisition.

Samsung Galaxy Note Edge
The Samsung Galaxy Note from Q4 2014.

Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge
And the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge that will become available in the Philippines starting on April 18, 2015.

Both smartphones look downright gorgeous and interesting (heck, I fancy them) but they're clearly nowhere near as unique or 'revolutionary' as the Youm concept presented by Samsung three years ago. I'll probably get the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge this year but I will continue to look forward to the day when the Korean Giant would finally come up with folding devices that are as cool as the ones in the GIFs. I want those... badly!

Anyway, if we were to believe what 'a Samsung Display official' told Business Korea last week, then I guess it's only a matter of months before we see folding gadgets from Samsung in the market. He said, "The industry believes that the commercialization of foldable smartphones will be possible in 2016." Here's to hoping it's for real this time.