The Evolution of foldable smartphones
Traditional Smartphones PCB
Traditional electronics boards, like the PCB (printed circuit boards)in mobiles and tablets, are rigid. That does not reflect the human body side sign, which is full of bends and curves, especially when we are moving. So in order to build a Foldable Smart Phones, we have to make certain changes to the design.
Foldable Smart Phones Technology
The key to developing Foldable Smart Phones and other stretchable electronics lies in the progression of organic semiconductors. Organic semiconductors are specially arranged materials, often consisting of hydrogen or carbon, which are strong yet unbelievably flexible.
Advantages of Foldable Smart Phones
1.Flexibility
Using this technology the smartphone can be used as a tablet, but also when not required, it can be folded to be a smartphone.
2.Convenient
Imagine you’re traveling while carrying a laptop, phone as well as tablet. This is a lot more hard to carry all of these with you every day. Instead of using a foldable phone provides you with the convenience of switching between phone and tablet without requiring any additional space.
3.Multitasking
You can split the screen to different apps at the same time. In fact, you can also use both of the screens to form a single large display. Using this you can play games and watch videos simultaneously, multitasking.
4. Higher-resolution selfie camera
These new inbuilt cameras are built with more megapixels and autofocus required to enhance the image qualities as it can use the additional space that is used in the form of a tablet.
5.Enhanced performance
In order to have a higher performance to run heavier day to day tasks, it is provided with more powerful processors coupled with more ram for smoother multitasking. To run all this the battery provided is also of higher milliamperes. So even when folded its the size of a smartphone it has all the performance enhancements to make it work as a table whenever necessary.
Challenges of constructing a Foldable Smart Phones
1.Cover glass
Usually, the cover glass of a phone is made of corning gorilla glass. But for a foldable phone the glass, if used by corning gorilla glass, will have fractures or breakage while folding it. Instead of hard glass, they’ll have to go with polyimide films made of thin plastic films.
2.Touch screen technology
The two main ways smartphone screens detect the touch is by capacitive sensing and piezoelectric sensing. But, both these use electric signals. In both these, the strength of the electric signal is determined by how hard the screen is pressed or the pressure that is applied. When the screen folds the mechanical stress is going to change for the screen and hence it’s unable to detect how hard you press it.
3.Battery
For a foldable phone its not just the cover glass that is rigid but also the most important part of the phone that is the battery. So for a foldable phone the folding should happen in only a particular part of the phone so that the battery stays rigid in the rest of the body.
4.Expensive Technology
A foldable smartphone uses extremely careful engineering and design, so when it’s delivered to the market it’s expensive. To market it to the right audience is a challenge as the necessity of such a phone, as of now is debatable considering the pricing.
EVERY COMPANY DEVELOPING FOLDABLE SMARTPHONE
Samsung
Samsung officially revealed its foldable smartphone, called the Galaxy Fold, at its Unpacked event in February. The device acts as a smartphone when folded up, with a 4.6-inch screen that leaves huge swathes of space unused above and below the display. When unfolded, the phone acts more like a tablet with an expanded 7.3-inch display, and that extra screen real estate gives it the ability to show up to three apps at once. The phone also has a combined six cameras.
HUAWEI
Huawei, a Chinese tech company, unveiled its own foldable phone at Mobile World Congress 2019 in Barcelona, just four days after Samsung showed off the Galaxy Fold. Huawei’s device, called the Mate X, is a smartphone-tablet fusion like Samsung’s Galaxy Fold. However, the Mate X bends outwards to reveal a larger screen, instead of the Fold’s book-like opening. The Mate X has a bigger display than that on the Galaxy Fold — it comes in at 6.6 inches when folded, and 8 inches when unfolded. It’ll also come equipped with the ability to connect to super-fast 5G networks.
ROYOLE
Royole, a little-known Chinese tech firm, actually beat Samsung and Huawei to launch a foldable phone when it debuted the developer edition of its FlexPai phone back in November. The 7.8-inch screen isn’t encased in glass-like nearly all smartphones, and the company says it’s scratch-resistant and shatter-proof. The FlexPai can function as both a smartphone and a tablet, but it can also be used when it’s bent halfway (in an “A” shape) for split-screen capabilities. However, reviewers who have tested out the FlexPai say it’s still a “first-generation” product. The hinge that allows the FlexPai to bend prevents the device from laying flat when folded and apparently makes a “crunching sound” when folding.
The future of Foldable Smart Phones technology
Wearable technologies
The rise of wearable technology from fitness trackers to Apple watches and from Google glass to Microsoft’s Holo lense, the rise of technology is fuelled towards the faster and easier accessibility of products in our daily life.
Personal digital assistant
A personal assistant will be able to talk to us in such a way as to mimic a normal complex communication. It will be able to make appointments, provide us with guidelines and suggestions, analyze our day to day tasks and understand our needs and requirements, and also provide us with more efficient 24/7 work.
Virtual assistant
It will be embedded in our contact lenses and will provide directions, analysis of people, climatic predictions, will be able to record whatever we’re able to see in a day to day scenario.
We will be able to operate everything using voice commands, which includes, everything we have in our house, from turning lights ON to completing tasks in computers even when we’re asleep.
Foldable Smart Phones- Conclusion
Technology has come a long way since. Today’s smartphones support higher resolution cameras, AMOLED displays, high-performance chips, and very good battery life. Now, that’s where the new designs like all-screen displays and foldable displays come into place. So it has become a challenge for smartphone manufacturers to make changes that will make them stand out from the crowd. Now the smartphones have transformed from a necessity to a product to show off.
ABOUT AUTHOR
Jestine Raju is an Electronics and communication engineer who is very passionate about technology and artificial intelligence. A writer by day and a reader by night. His passion for helping people in all aspects of online marketing reflects the expert knowledge he shares through his blogs.
