Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. hasn’t started shipping the Galaxy Fold yet, but it’s already said to be developing two more foldable handsets.

According to a Bloomberg report published in the early-morning hours, the company will introduce the devices one after one another beginning as soon as this year.

The first handset, which the publication’s sources expect to be unveiled in late 2019 or early 2020, is said to close vertically rather than horizontally like the Galaxy Fold. But it apparently isn’t a complete departure from the latter device.

The Galaxy Fold (pictured) features a 4.6-inch display on the outside that can run apps when users close the tablet. The vertically-folding device reportedly also packs an external screen, though it appears the design is far from set in stone. Samsung is said to be waiting to see the customer reception to the Galaxy Fold before it decides whether to stick with the double-screen setup or slim it down to just one.

The second upcoming device appears to be the more imaginatively designed of two. The tipsters said the handset will fold backwards like the Mate X that Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. debuted last month.

One advantage of this design is that it lets the Mate X sit upright on a desk in a sort of tent configuration, allowing consumers to use the handset like a miniature, two-sided laptop. Samsung may be aiming its rival backwards-folding model at business users that use their handsets for collaboration. An even more notable feature of the device is that it will be quite thin, since there reportedly won’t be a secondary screen like in the Galaxy Fold.

Today’s report didn’t specify when the handset may launch. But it likely won’t debut too far behind the other foldable model, given that the tipsters said both already exist as prototypes.

Samsung is pressing forward with the additional devices even though the size of the market for foldable handsets is not yet clear. Moreover, Samsung is far from the only handset maker investing in this category. Apple Inc. and Google LLC are rumored to be among the companies considering to join the fray, with a recent report claiming that they’ve ordered foldable screen samples from Samsung.  

Photo: Samsung