Foldable Smartphones – are they the next big thing (which can fold into a small thing)?

Google “foldable smartphones” and the top headlines all belong to Samsung. They’ve been talking about folding a smartphone as far back as 2011 (or more). Here’s their questionable pitch:

Cut to: Samsung Developer Conference 2018

The low lighting was believed to be for hiding the crude prototype design. The fact that Samsung are willing to show off a smartphone at this stage of design perhaps indicates how keen they are to take a lead in this market. That’s because Samsung aren’t the only company developing this product.

Here’s a kind of “artist’s impression” of what the Huawei foldable smartphone might look like, based on leaked patent documents.

One problem for smartphone makers is they’ve run out of things to improve in regular smartphones. This means we the customer are getting less excited about upgrading to their new models. Well, if the new iPhone or Samsung doesn’t do anything much better than the one I have, I might as well just keep this one.

Which is not good for tech giant profits.

“An analysis last year from BCC Research indicates that the global market for flexible OLED displays more than doubled from 2016 to 2017, now topping two billion dollars. It expects the flexible display market, specifically, to quadruple over by 2022.” Brian Barrett.

But while Samsung announced the so-called flexible OLED displays seven years ago, the flexible OLED wasn’t really the challenge. It was what’s needed to make the screen work – extra, more expensive materials.

Is this a gimmick or is this an idea with real substance?

How can we imagine using this? Perhaps as a regular smartphone, WhatsApping our friends, Instagramming the world on the way to the station. Once on the train, we unfold so we can start writing some emails with a bigger keyboard or watch the latest episode of Stranger Things, Series 3 we’ve downloaded.

And for smartphone filmmaking? Presumably, this isn’t going to improve the camera function of the phone in any way (and hopefully doesn’t degrade it). What it perhaps offers is an even more “all round” device. You can unfold, write the screenplay, email the cast and crew, then fold it up, shoot the movie, unfold it again and start editing…

It’s all about moving seamlessly between open and folded screen.

“As you unfold, the app seamlessly transfers to the bigger screen without missing a beat,” Dave Burke, Google.

Awesome, right?

Hmm, well we will have to wait and see. You know when you keep bending something made of solid plastic and it eventually snaps. Apparently, there is no way to get around the physics that causes that.

Rather than glass, Samsung’s so-called Infinity Flex Display is made from a polymer. Samsung says this material can hold up to hundreds of thousands of openings and closings. But the suggestion is this material will be more vulnerable to scratches.

And this is one tech where Android users have the advantage, as app developers are already more versatile. Samsung and Android are geared to pushing this new idea with Samsung and Huawei. Meanwhile, Google is welcoming it with open arms.

Dave Burke, Google’s vice president of engineering for Android, revealed resizable flags will be added so that apps can respond to folding and unfolding. There will also be more foldable phone features in new Android releases, so it’ll probably be included in Android Q.

Price

So here’s a key question – how much will one of these things cost? Will it be affordable to the masses, which includes struggling smartphone filmmakers?

There have been no official prices announced as yet, but rumours are that the Samsung device will come in at under $2000. And this will probably not afford you 5G connectivity. We don’t know how much the Huawei device will cost, but more rumours say 5G connectivity will be included.

Read Next: Best Smartphone Filmmaking Kit 2019.

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