Apr 03, 2017 09:11 AM EDT By Jordan Pine, UniversityHerald Reporter

The heavily speculated Samsung Galaxy X may debut sooner than expected leaving the likes of LG, Oppo, Vivo, Lenovo on the race to be the first to release a foldable phone into the market. Samsung's Project Valley is well on its way to releasing the first prototypes in the third quarter for a thorough performance and safety testing ahead of the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 set for a fourth quarter launch.

Samsung has been working on a foldable phone that turns into a tablet for years, but it was only in May 2016 that the Samsung Galaxy then codenamed "Project Valley" was reported to be joining the flagship phones for 2017. The Samsung Galaxy S8 has been unveiled with an April 22 release while the Note 7's successor has also been confirmed by the South Koreans to be arriving this year.

However, the fate of Samsung's flagship foldable phone has not been set until a recent leak via twitter reveal some interesting new launch schedule. Leaker mmddj_china revealed that the Samsung Galaxy X will be released in the third quarter and the Note 8 follows in the fourth quarter with 1 to 3 months gap between the two flagship devices, Trusted Reviews reported.

Though unconfirmed, the Chinese leak supports what previous reports say about the new device. The said phone will feature the diamond Pen-Tile subpixel arrangement that comes in a 5-in. display that can turn into either a 7 or 8-in. tablet. It will be powered by the same S8 chips, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 with a dual camera setup at the rear and a microSD card slot.

The Samsung Galaxy X will come in two variants, the X1 and X1+, which may be unveiled at the IFA event in Berlin, the supposed venue for the Note 8's launch until Samsung decided to release the foldable phone first.

The Samsung Galaxy X may be the first foldable phone released in the market with rivals like LG set to release its own device this year. Samsung is joined in the foldable phone race by Oppo, Vivo, and Lenovo. Moreover, Samsung is seriously applying what it has learned from the Note 7 fiasco by following a steady release schedule starting with the first prototypes of the Samsung Galaxy X to be thoroughly tested by major partners including wireless carriers.

Once the prototypes have no performance issues, the foldable phone may be released in limited supply in South Korea, U.K., Germany, France, Poland, Ireland, Italy and the Nordic countries, Value Walk reported.

A Samsung Galaxy X worldwide launch may commence by the second half of 2018 if reception is good and demand is high. Meanwhile, the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 will be released by the fourth quarter but observers say the wait is well worth it with expected specs set to impress starting with the 6.4-inch Super AMOLED dual-edge display.

The phablet will also have the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, same dual-camera treatment and Samsung's own AI assistant, Bixby. It is also expected to have a 6GB of RAM, S Pen Stylus, USB Type-C ports and the 3.5mm headphone jack.

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