The foldable smartphones with screens that curve like a sheet of paper are here and look amazing. Their design provides a glance at the technology that could define the next frontier in the highly competitive smartphone market.
During the Annual Developer Conference held in San Francisco in October 2018, Samsung showed the next generation phone with a folding screen that unfolds to reveal a second bigger screen. A Wall Street Journal report suggested that the company might also have plans to unveil its foldable phone during its Samsung Galaxy S10 unpacked event in San Francisco and London. Royale has gone ahead and released its FlexPai prototype as others such as Huawei and LG reveal plans to make folding phones.
While the foldable phone design looks impressive, its future is uncertain. Experts in smartphone technology appear in agreement that the economics of producing the folding phone could knock it off the market. Here is a demonstration of why the foldable smartphone is likely to face imminent death very fast.
A Closer Look at Foldable Phones
Though the concept of foldable phones has recently become very popular, it’s not new. It presents the confluence of older ideas that stalled years ago and innovation aimed at beating the cut-throat competition in the market.
Foldable phones are created with screens that bend to convert the phone into a tablet. The design adopted in most cases such as the Samsung flip phone, LG foldable phone, and Oppo foldable smartphone curves the screen at the middle. The user has the options of using the expanded tablet display or standard smartphone size.
Many companies releasing or planning to release their flagship folding phones have been testing the idea for a long time. However, the pioneers of the folding phones failed either at the incubation period or after releasing the first pieces.
- Kyocera’s Echo phone: The Echo phone was designed to operate as a dual-screen with a slider-hinge at the center to open the phone into a larger tablet. The company discontinued the phone production and experts referred to it as a total failure.
- The EOS concept of a foldable phone: This idea was conceived even before Kyocera’s Echo phone release. However, Apple has opted to progressively improve its iPhones. The latest Apple smartphone is iPhone X.
- NEC’s Medias W foldable phone: Like the Echo phone, NEC’s foldable model did not get far. However, the flawless design is believed to have impressed the new Foldable Smartphone designs by companies such as Huawei and Royale.
- Royale FlaxPai: Royale released its flip phone early November 2018. The smartphone folds on the outside and opens to form a 7.8-inch tablet. The company indicated that the folding phone is a prototype and clients were allowed to place early orders.
Though Royale, Samsung, and other smartphone giants are putting brave faces about the foldable models, the ideas appear doomed. In his view, Chris Harrison, a tech expert and assistant professor at Carnegie University, posits that the companies are fast running out of ideas and are now resorting to screen size.
Why the Foldable Phone?
The decision by Samsung and Huawei to make the foldable smartphones has not been a simple one. Though the process is complex and expensive, why are the companies pursuing it? There are three reasons for this commitment:
- The desire to remain competitive: The smartphone market is interesting in that customers view brands releasing new phones to be more advanced and innovative. Therefore, they do not want to be left behind in releasing new phones. In this case, the foldable smartphone design is considered trendy.
- Growing demand for newer smartphones: Many people looking to buy smartphones opt to jump to the latest models. The expectation is that newer phones are better than the older ones. Therefore, releasing a foldable phone is likely to draw more customers as they seek new experiences.
- Foldable phones look trendier: One thing that manufacturers give a lot of focus when creating new phones is aesthetic. The foldable phone design such as FlexPai has an impressive outlook that no one wants to miss. Whether you want a workplace phone or a causal model, the foldable designs do not disappoint.
Issues That Could Easily Kill the Foldable Phones
As more companies jump into the market with a commitment to creating foldable phones, a myriad of underlying issues could affect the ideas and halt them sooner rather than later.
- The thickness problem
Taking a closer look at the FlexPai and Infinity Flex foldable smartphones reveals that the user will be carrying a tablet and standard smartphone merged together. It is a thicker and heavier smartphone.
Many people have shifted to the slim models and it might be difficult to suddenly change them back to the thicker designs. For example, a person who likes slim designs is likely to pick Galaxy S8 as opposed to the bulky Infinity Flex.
- Need for a larger battery
To light and run the expanded screen, the tablet will require more power. This will translate to a bigger battery and contribute to the phone’s bulkiness. Bigger batteries also require an adequate charging solution, Fast charging technology needs to be improved to charge the phone in less time.
- It requires a lot of material to manufacture
The materials required to manufacture a foldable smartphone is what makes it less viable. Take the case of Samsung new smartphone, Infinity Flex. The main issue that held Samsung from realizing the goal of making a foldable phone for seven years was materials science for an OLED display.
OLED displays require films of organic materials to be positioned between electrodes that help to power them. The material preferred for OLED is indium tin oxide (ITO). However, ITO’s crystalline nature makes it difficult to bend. Therefore, when subjected to regular bending, its performance declines. Alternatives such as Graphene Oxide appear less viable because of the high cost.
In the case of Samsung, the management has kept the details of the materials being used as a top secret.
- The risk of fast depreciation
When you fold an item along the same point regularly, it develops weakness. It is the reality of matter that is likely to come into play with the foldable phones. The impact is that the phones’ performance and aesthetics are likely to ebb out fast. Therefore, clients may opt to avoid the phone because it means the high cost for repairs and replacement.
- Software problems
Though the operating systems that run in the latest smartphones have advanced so much, the early software for the foldable phones has proved ineffective. For example, the software used to run FlexPai easily got confused when one shifts from the tablet to standard phone mode. However, they have said that the release was a prototype and would be addressed.
Although companies like Google is officially announcing support for a category of Android devices it’s decided to call “Foldables.” its far from reality, and even if they manage to implement correctly, App developers have to include that in a productive way to make use of the fold.
Now the phone is getting slimmer and taller with aspect ration clocking 18:9 and 19:9 and new content is been created that way, it’ll be a difficult job to manage 2:2 ratio of the foldable device for content consumption.
As more companies indicate their desire to create foldable phones, the emerging questions on viability indicate that they might not last long. The challenges associated with foldable phones such as aspect ratio problem, the high cost of materials, and expected high price could signal their end.
- Pricing
When the idea of Samsung’s Infinity flex was released, the emphasis was put on its folding capability. Justin Denison emphasized that it is time for something bigger. However, this will come at a higher cost because of the large quantities of materials required to make it.
If you take a closer look at FlexPai, the starting price was $1,300. This is way too high for many people. The newer models are likely to be even more expensive. This implies that folding phones could end up being for the elite in society.
Despite the folding phones niche being risky, it is also important to appreciate that smartphone technology is highly resilient. Therefore, even as the flip phone production remains uncertain, it cannot be fully written off. Well, it might be simply a stepping stone to the next big thing in the smartphone market.
