The $2\,000 Bendable Phone: Hold \'Em or Fold \'Em?

The $2,000 Bendable Phone: Hold ’Em or Fold ’Em?

Samsung, Huawei bet on folding screens—the first complete design overhaul of smartphone since its birth—to heat up cooling market

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BARCELONA—At the mobile-phone industry’s premier trade show, two of the world’s three biggest makers lavishly displayed what they hope will be the smartphone of the future. The question is, will anyone buy it?

Samsung Electronics Co. and Huawei Technologies Co. showcased their first folding-screen phones—unveiled within days of each other last month—in their sprawling pavilions at last week’s MWC Barcelona. But they maintained the mystique. Unlike the rest of their lineups, which the 100,000-plus attendees were welcome to...