Last March, Samsung had officially announced that they have a plant to leverage their bendable display technology to manufacture handsets that are capable of bending at will. Think a smartphone that folds in half like a flip phone, albeit one with a continuous display. Reports have begun surfacing that the South Korean tech giant has plans to release functional foldable devices next year and the first foldable smartphone, dubbed as 'Project Valley,' would see light on January next year.

A tipster in China who claims to have internal knowledge of the project says that the foldable smartphone is now being tested in China. There are reportedly two configurations of the phone: one with a Snapdragon 620 chipset and another variant with a Snapdragon 820. However, it still isn't clear if Samsung is planning to release different configurations, or they're still testing out which would be the most suitable chipset for Project Valley.

The project's battery would be non-removable, custom-built to suit the form-factor and foldability of the phone. The display panel would be of the OLED variant, as no LCD panels are bendable. There are also speculations that the handset will feature a microSD card slot for storage expansion.

Project Valley is expected to be seen in the annual Consumer Electronics Show held in Las Vegas, Navada or on a later date at the Mobile World Congress that usually hits by the end of February.

There have been several attempts at hybrids that are capable of transforming from a handset to a tablet. Sony's Tablet P back in 2012 used dual TFT displays, Samsung's 5.68" foldable prototype featured in last year's CES, Microsoft's Courier Tablet and the PaperTab. These are only examples of the approach, and clear signs that there is a market for a product of this type.