In recent days, some of the largest smartphone manufacturers in the world have presented their first mobile phones with folding screens, a technology on which they seem to be aiming to revive sales after a general slowdown in the sector. The idea is to offer smartphones that turn into small tablets, but reducing their size as much as possible, so as to remain pocketable. The first models will be on sale by the middle of the year, but at very high prices and around 2 thousand euros. Foldable screen smartphones look promising, but many are wondering if they can really be successful and if they are the future ahead.
Samsung Galaxy Fold
Samsung is the largest smartphone maker in the world and last week unveiled the Galaxy Fold, its first folding screen phone. It consists of two screens: a smaller 4.6-inch screen on the front and the actual folding 7.3-inch screen, which becomes visible when you open the phone, like a book.
The front screen is designed to see notifications, answer messages and calls, while the internal screen is designed to navigate, use apps for images and productivity, and of course for video games. If you are using a particular app on the smaller screen, it will be reflected on the larger one as soon as you open your smartphone.
When closed, the Galaxy Fold is quite thick, about 1.7 centimeters, and seen from a distance it gives the idea of having two smartphones stacked on top of each other in your hand. The mechanism for opening and closing it still seems solid and the screen itself inside folds easily, without giving the impression of being fragile. Samsung's new foldable smartphone will likely be the first to go on sale among this new wave of devices from large companies, and this could give the company some edge over the competition. The Galaxy Fold will be available from April at a starting price of € 2,000.
Huawei Mate X
On the occasion of the Mobile World Congress, the most important series of events related to mobile telephony recently started in Barcelona (Spain), the Chinese manufacturer Huawei showed off the new Mate X, its answer to Samsung's Galaxy Fold unveiled just a few days earlier. The first folding smartphone from Huawei does not have two screens like that of Samsung, but a single display that always remains on the outside of the mobile: when it is folded, half of it is used as with a normal smartphone, when it is opened its dimensions double and the device becomes a kind of tablet.
Thanks to some tricks, such as a side handle on which cameras and other sensors have been inserted, Huawei has managed to create a thinner smartphone than Samsung's: when closed it is 1.1 cm thick, against the 1.7 of its competitor. South Korean. When unfolded, the Mate X is just 0.54 centimeters thick. Staying on the outside, the screen has to bend less than it should if it were on the inside: this is why Samsung had to keep the hinge thicker, to avoid the risk of breakage.
Folded, the Mate X offers a 6.6-inch screen, which becomes 8.8-inch when unfolded. The opening and closing mechanism feels solid and so does the resistance of the screen when opened and closed.
Huawei's first folding smartphone will go on sale within the middle of the year at a higher price than the Galaxy Fold: it will start at € 2,299.
Oppo
Oppo, another major Chinese smartphone maker, showed its first foldable screen phone a few hours after Huawei's Mate X was unveiled. However, the model is still in the prototype stage and there is not much information on its features. Aesthetically it is very reminiscent of the MateX, with only one external folding screen. The bezel around the display appears to be thicker than the model shown by Huawei and the screen aspect ratio is a bit different. It is not yet clear when it will go on sale and at what price, although it will probably not go far from the 2 thousand euros requested by competitors for their products.
Xiaomi
Among the Chinese companies producing smartphones, Xiaomi is emerging very quickly also on the western market, thanks to its quality products and very advantageous prices compared to those of competition. At the end of January, the company showed a prototype of what should become its first smartphone with a folding screen.
Unlike the models seen so far, Xiaomi's was designed to fold into three parts, with the two sides of the screen folding in on themselves, reducing the size of the phone when not using it in tablet mode. It is certainly the most interesting and ambitious solution among those seen so far, but we still don't know if Xiaomi's finished product will keep this setting, how much it will cost, or when it will go on sale.
On the run
The data on smartphone sales in recent months have confirmed that the entire sector is slowing down, with lower sales volumes especially in the West where reached a certain saturation. The classic two-year cycle on average to change a smartphone has now skipped, with many people holding their devices longer before replacing them, extending their life by changing the battery if necessary, incurring much lower costs than the complete replacement of the device. phone. Sure, the newer smartphone models are more powerful and have better cameras, but overall they don't do things very differently from their predecessors, which affects their unwillingness to buy them.
The lower sales of smartphones explain the race towards folding screens that we have been witnessing in recent months. Manufacturers hope to interest users with devices that objectively do something different than their predecessors, hoping to push them to switch phones. The problem is that in order to arrive as soon as possible, and overcome the competition, manufacturers had to make some compromises, both in terms of technology and prices.
Beautiful, though…
All the folding smartphone models presented so far have the defect of being thick and rather bulky when closed. Aesthetically, some remember the Nokia Communicator, the mobile phone that closed like a booklet and which when opened had a small physical keyboard, which became very famous and appreciated in the second half of the nineties. A classic smartphone is around 7 millimeters thick, one centimeter less than the Galaxy Fold.
The thickness is affected by several factors: at the moment flexible screens cannot be bent that much, they are not a sheet of paper: beyond a certain radius they reach their breaking point. So the designers had to come up with hinges and other systems that make the displays fold just enough to fold in on themselves, avoiding nasty surprises. Larger screens than a normal smartphone also require larger batteries to be powered, and their bulk is always noticeable in terms of thickness.
To the technical limits are added some other doubts related to the resistance of these new devices. The closing mechanism was the critical and most delicate point of the old cell phones that closed in on themselves. It was inevitable: add a zipper and cables that pass through it to conduct electrical signals and sooner or later, after thousands of open-close, something will break due to wear or a slightly more violent opening than usual. The fear is that something similar could happen with the new folding screens, even if they use different systems and technologies. The point where they open and close could eventually wear out and break. In addition, models with the screen that fold out will not be able to have special protective cases, and the display will always be exposed to the risk of scratches and other damage.
Future
The Galaxy Fold, Mate X and others are however the demonstration of the great progress achieved in the production of flexible screens. Over the next few years they will be deployed in numerous devices, not just smartphones, and will become quite familiar. As for their use in mobile phones, a lot will depend on the interest and reaction of users. The models presented so far will not have much diffusion, considering that they cost ten times as much as a mid-range smartphone and twice an iPhone XS, but their successors could have some more chances, as long as they have a more practical format and a lower price. .
For now, manufacturers are betting on devices for which all this need was not felt, in a period in which for most of us an honest smartphone that does its duty is more than enough, compared to the more expensive and exclusive models. . Smartphones have become a product like any other, objects less and less defined by their brand, a bit like it happened decades ago in the television sector. And when a good becomes common it is very difficult to find something that can make it exceptional again in the eyes of buyers. TV manufacturers had tried with 3D and curved screens, without much being able to stir up sales, now those who produce smartphones want to try us with folding screens.
The comparison with televisions works to a certain extent, however: a curved screen to keep in the living room added nothing to the viewing experience (perhaps in some cases it made it worse), while a foldable screen in your pocket could actually meet the need for those who would like to have more pixels at their disposal, without finding a too bulky smartphone in their pocket.
