Surprises and highlights from Samsung's Unpacked launch event

Samsung held its Unpacked launch event in San Francisco this morning, which was live streamed globally.

Details about its new range of mobile range of mobile phones have been kept tightly under wraps and for good reason.

The announcement featured several new innovations to the form factor of the smartphone, something that's become few and far in-between in the smartphone industry.

Time will tell if the ideas Samsung brought to life today will raise the bar for the smartphone industry, or fade away as a one-off experiment that resisted mass adoption. 

Here are FutureFive's quick-fire impressions from the Unpacked event:

• A folding screen! The phone opens up to a double screen that's 7.3" Infinity Flex Display - virtually making it a tablet in your pocket 

• App Continuity - seamless transition from front screen to opened double screen

• Processing power and screen real estate that makes three-way app multitasking viable

Samsung Electronics IT and mobile communications division CEO and president DJ Koh says the fold is Samsung's challenge to skeptics who say that the smartphone is a mature technology and saturated market, that everything that can be done has already been done.

• Ultrasonic fingerprint sensor - featuring ultrasonic instead of optical technology to have a fingerprint sensor under the screen.

• The S10 Plus carries 1TB of storage and 12 GB of RAM, which can be further extended with a memory card - "laptop level storage without the laptop" 

• More intelligent camera - built in AI can analyse composition to tell you where you'll get the best shot from 

• PowerShare - turns the phone into a wireless charging pad for devices that support wireless charging

• A 5G-enabled Galaxy

• Biggest screen (6.7") and battery (4.5k mAH) ever on a Galaxy S device, plus an extra-fast 25-watt charger out of the box

• 3D camera capabilities with 4 cameras on the back

• Partnerships with telco carrier partners who are launching new 5G network capabilities - eg Vodafone, Sprint, T-Mobile

• Sound by AKG

• 6 hours of battery life on the buds for music, 5 hours for calls on a single charge

• Comes in three different colours - white, black, yellow