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It looks like Samsung's crazy folding smartphone is actually happening

The foldable smartphone that Samsung's been working on for the last few years could become a reality soon.

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According to Korean news site ETNews, Samsung will apparently start mass-producing the "smartlet" — as we call it — this year for a 2017 release.

What the heck is a smartlet? It's a smartphone with a folding screen that can turn into a tablet when you unfold it.

Samsung foldable
Samsung

In a call with investors in January, Lee Chang-hoon, director of Samsung's display division, said that "Development of Foldable OLED is taking place according to our plan ... We are planning on mass-production and release this product by discussing without partners."

Now, it looks like Chang-hoon is specifically referring to a foldable display here rather than a foldable smartphone, which doesn't confirm that Samsung is working on a foldable smartphone. Only that it's working on a foldable display.

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Yet ETNews claims to have spoken with a Samsung source familiar with the foldable device.

There's still no name for it yet, but ETNews believes that it'll have a 5-inch screen when it's in smartphone mode and a 7-inch tablet when you unfold the screen.

It's still unclear, but it seems like the device could work like a book, where the open book could be the 7-inch tablet, and its front cover is the 5-inch smartphone screen. You might need to reorient how you hold the smartlet when you fold it to use like a smartphone.

how samsung foldable phone might work
Antonio Villas-Boas/Tech Insider

The only screens capable of bending and functioning at the same time are OLED — organic light-emitting diode — screens. Samsung has been using OLED displays for it's curved HDTVs, as well as the Galaxy S6 Edge and S7 Edge displays, which curve on the side edges.

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Why a folding smartphone that can turn into a tablet? Well, why not? It could mean you need to only buy one gadget that adjusts its screen size depending on what you need.

Samsung Smartphones Innovation
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