Last 10 years, the design of smartphones virtually did not change. Only certain details were changed: the diagonal of the display, the size of the frames and the number of camera modules. But it seems that in 2019 the era of identical smartphones ended and global manufacturers decided to surprise us with new, futuristic products. In this article we will talk about the new trend called flexible smartphones, we will know what they are, how they can be used in practice and how much they cost.

1. Why does the market need flexible smartphones?

People who are watching the development of technologies have clearly noticed that the news related to flexible smartphones has significantly increased in the mainstream media over the past couple of years. And this is quite a pragmatic explanation. The fact is that according to leading industry analysts, the smartphone market is oversaturated. In order to “cheer up” it somehow, the leading manufacturers (Samsung, LG, Huawei, etc.) want to create a separate niche. As you may have guessed, a new niche in this market is flexible or folding smartphones.

The first representatives of the new class of devices will go on sale in the current 2019th year. According to analysts, by the end of 2019, flexible smartphones will occupy almost 0.1% of the total market share, and in three years this figure will grow in 15 times.

The process of developing flexible smartphones has been going on for several years. Previously, several similar models were presented, but only a small part of them had commercial success. Previously, two displays were used for the production of folding phones, but now, with Samsung's flexible AMOLED

screens, everything has become much easier. Thanks to this technology, manufacturers can use one display and bring “clamshell models” to the market.

2. The first mass flexible smartphone Samsung Galaxy Fold

The upcoming crisis of oversupply in the smartphone market is more concerned with the South Korean giant. The fact is that competition in the industry has now reached unprecedented proportions, for this reason, Samsung is trying to get ahead of everyone and be

the first to start selling its flexible Galaxy Fold smartphone

.

Just the other day, namely on February 20, Samsung held its annual presentation of new flagships in San Francisco. But this year, everyone was in for a pleasant surprise: the company introduced a completely new, first-ever mass flexible Galaxy Fold smartphone on the market. Moreover, the company representatives decided to start the event with the introduction of this smartphone.

3. Main characteristics

When folded, the smartphone has a display diagonal of 4.6 inches (1960×840 pixels), but if you expand it, the display size increases significantly, to be more precise, it will be 7.3 inches (2152×840 pixels). The thickness of the smartphone is 6.9 mm in the unfolded and 17 mm in the folded state. In order to make this smartphone, Samsung engineers have developed a special system of hinges, which is hidden on the back of the device.

Of course, the Samsung Fold has the most advanced Snapdragon 855 processor, and the amount of RAM reaches an incredible 12GB. The smartphone supports networks of the 5th generation, which will be launched only in 2020. The phone has two batteries, the total capacity of which reaches 4380 mAh, which is quite an impressive figure. This smartphone is equipped with six cameras at once. It is possible to launch three applications simultaneously on the smartphone (in expanded form), but you cannot drag them from place to place. The gadget supports wireless charging technology in both directions, which means that the smartphone itself can be used as a wireless docking station.

If to talk about the price, then it is not the most pleasant for the consumer - 1980 dollars. Samsung Galaxy Fold will be available in USA stores from April 26, and in Europe from May 3.

Just a few days later, Huawei

introduced its own flexible Mate X smartphone. Its characteristics are not particularly different from the Galaxy Fond.

This gadget goes on sale in the summer at a price of 2,299 euros. Many other manufacturers will also try to catch this trend and produce their own products, which will not differ from each other.

4. Conclusion

Summarizing all the above, we can conclude that the year 2019 can be considered the starting point of a niche of flexible smartphones. If earlier they were only talked about, and manufacturers only showed prototypes, then starting this year, flexible phones will go into mass production. It is unlikely that there will be a huge queue behind them since the mass consumer still does not understand how to use them, why they are needed, and the price for them is still very high. But after all, the first mobile phones that appeared in the 80s of the last century were also rather cumbersome and expensive. But technological progress does not stand still, perhaps in a few years, flexible smartphones will completely displace out usual gadgets from the market.