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Samsung: Galaxy Fold has 'hundreds of apps', including these top Android choices

Many of the most popular Android apps have been optimized for Samsung's Galaxy Fold.
Written by Liam Tung, Contributing Writer

Ahead of Samsung's official launch of Galaxy Fold sales in Korea this Friday, the company has revealed that hundreds of apps have been updated to support the foldable tablet-handset. 

Samsung will sell the Galaxy Fold 5G in Korea for about $1,990 with 12GB of RAM and half a terabyte of storage. It will then roll out 4G and 5G variants to the US and other European markets in the coming weeks.

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But given the new form factor of the Galaxy Fold, app developers have needed to tweak products to ensure they support the two screens smoothly, especially during transitions from a closed to open state. 

Samsung today confirmed a few popular apps that will be available from the Google Play Store when the Galaxy Fold goes on sale. These include Microsoft's Office 365 suite, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon Prime Video, iHeartMedia, and Spotify, which will be preloaded on the Galaxy Fold. Also available will be VSCO and App in the Air. 

The company says there will be "hundreds" of apps in the Google Play Store and the Galaxy Store. And YouTube has also been optimized for the Galaxy Fold too, according to Samsung.

Samsung's first foldable phone features a 7.3-inch AMOLED screen when opened and a 4.6-inch cover display that activates when it is folded.   

The Galaxy Fold's initial April launch date was delayed after review units were found to have serious durability issues with the display and hinge. The company has since developed a new, thinner polymer cover for the Galaxy Fold's display.  

Samsung is also launching the Galaxy Fold Premium Service, which offers customers access to Samsung support 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

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Samsung highlights features like App Continuity and Multi-Active Window that arose out of its collaboration with Google. They respectively allow users to switch seamlessly from the cover display to the main display, as well as run multiple apps simultaneously. Those features have been included in the just-released Android 10. 

"When Android 10 rolls out and becomes the new standard for Android devices, it will lead more developers to keep foldable-phone users in mind when developing apps," said Sally Jeong, vice president of Framework R&D Group at Samsung's Mobile Division.

Samsung notes that for apps that haven't been optimized for the Galaxy Fold, there's the device's built-in "app-optimizing technology", which resizes an app's content and screen ratio to suit both the large display and folded-state display.

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Samsung's first foldable phone features a 7.3-inch AMOLED screen when opened and a 4.6-inch cover display that activates when it is folded. 

Image: Samsung
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