Samsung Electronics is in a position to develop a portless smartphone, but is keeping tabs on the progress of necessary technology such as wireless charging before taking action, a senior executive has said.
Such a device would eliminate physical connectivity, making it dependent on wireless transfers and charging, meaning it needs to be prevalent and reliable for the new category to grow, Minseok Kang, vice president of product planning at the Suwon-based company, told The National.
“If we want to launch it, I think right now we can prepare the device, but we should consider the normal user situations for using the device,” he said at the Galaxy Unpacked in Brooklyn on Wednesday. “Definitely wireless charging should be essential for the device.”
Wireless charging is slower and less common compared to the use of wires, with USB-C ports the current standard.
The idea of portless smartphones is not new, with a patent for it filed by HZO Inc in the US in 2014, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office. It has since been abandoned.
Issues include the slow pace of wireless charging, and the reliability and incompatibility of Bluetooth transfers – Apple has its own Airdrop technology exclusive to its devices, for instance.
Apple is said to have considered a portless design for the unconfirmed and purportedly slimmer iPhone 17 Air, Bloomberg has reported.
Wireless charging stations – even though they are increasingly found in public spaces, most notably coffee shops – are still much less common than wired and power bank rentals.
It could leave users in need of a charger unable to find one, Mr Kang said.
Portless smartphones can be “good options” because of their unique design, he added. The move could also lead to slimmer devices, as USB-C ports are among the thickest components.
“This is one of the candidates for a future device, but engineering readiness can also be possible in short term,” he said. “We need to think about what users want and what are the real convenience for them.”
Meanwhile, Samsung hopes to launch its tri-fold smartphone – said to be called the Galaxy G Fold – by the end of the year, Mr Kang said, in what is the first official confirmation on the record.
The company is keeping its expectations for the launch date flexible as it continues to fine-tune the long-rumoured device, he added.
“Definitely the device is developing internally in Samsung … but when we launch a new device or new form factor, one important thing is its completeness [for] user satisfaction and readiness for mass production,” he said.
“We are checking the key points for the final decision to commercialise the device. I can say current target is by end of this year, so we will try to launch the device to the market [by then].”
