We fold things to make them compact and carry them comfortably. So, Is this the only reason why people want foldable phones?
Mobile phones are already compact, so why would anyone want a foldable phone?
The idea of a foldable phone has been around since 2011. Even if you are not techy, you might have already seen 3D renditions of foldable mobiles. It was only in 2018 that foldable phones became a reality with the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Fold.
Samsung’s idea was clear – when a phone is opened, it’s a tablet; when it’s closed, it’s a compact smartphone.
Though the technology impressed initially, issues developed. Malfunctioning display and hinge breakage were some of the major ones, which made many lose trust in foldable smartphone technology.
However, brands like Samsung Motorola, Microsoft, ZTE and Huawei have now nearly perfected their foldable devices. These smartphones are now sturdier than before, and they offer way more flexibility than traditional phones. If getting a foldable smartphone was on your wish list, here are all the things you need to know before you get one.
How does a foldable phone work and what needs to be improved?
A foldable phone uses a very different mechanism. A larger display means, a larger capacity battery, a hinge that has holds the displays together and most importantly, a screen that can be bent and folded tightly.
Most smartphones use LCD displays today. These are built on a glass base, with an RGB colour panel on the top. The base of LCD screen sport LEDs, which generate light and that’s how we see images.
The biggest problem in folding an LCD display is obviously, its glass base. Glass doesn’t bend, it is thick and breaks easily.
A foldable screen needs an OLED display. The pixels on an OLED display are fused into the screen and they can generate their own light.
This eliminates the need for having a dedicated light source which makes OLED displays much thinner than LCDs.
A foldable screen is built on a plastic base, unlike on a glass base on an LCD display. The OLED display is then pasted on a thin plastic layer, technically known as Optically Clear Adhesive.
Think of it as a double-sided adhesive tape, which holds all the layers of display together. The early versions of Optically Clear Adhesive film developed issues and had a hard time keeping all the layers of the display together. However, a lot of engineering has been done since then which has made foldable screens nearly perfect today.
The Hinge
The major component on a foldable mobile phone is its hinge. This component might appear simple at first, as you might have seen it on older flip phones.
However, the technology isn’t as simple as it seems, as it holds two displays together. Samsung is using multiple interlocking gears, which makes the hinge durable and allows for a smooth symmetrical moment.
Brands such as Microsoft and Huawei are also using similar technologies which allow them to open and close foldable mobile phone like a book.
What makes foldable devices unique?
A foldable mobile is an innovation which opens a bunch of new possibilities. Most foldable mobiles run on an optimised version of Android OS, to offer a flexible multitasking experience.
You can play videos side-by-side, browse the internet while chatting on WhatsApp and do a lot more without the feeling of being restricted to a limited screen space.
When you unfold a foldable smartphone, it can get as large as a tablet. So, you get the portability of a smartphone and the convenience of a tablet in the same device.
You can watch movies on Netflix or read e-books on a bigger screen, and when you’re done, you can fold the smartphone to put it in your pocket like a regular device.
A foldable phone can also change the way we shoot photos. These phones come with optimised camera apps, which let you click and edit photos side-by-side. You can also have advanced camera settings such as Aperture, Shutter speed and more on either side of the display, to click images and videos with precision.
These mobile phones might also change the way we game on mobiles. With two displays, one can be dedicated to gaming while the second display can be used as the controller.
There is a good chance that games and apps will soon be designed for foldable mobile phones to provide additional functionality.
Foldable Phones- Will it make it big?
The journey to foldable mobiles has been slow, but now it's starting to pick up.
A lot of re-engineering has been done to bring foldable phones close to perfection.
This is working out as malfunction reports have drastically reduced. However, the one thing that still lingers is that foldable mobile phones are quite expensive. They are, after all, cutting-edge technology and several complex components make it a reality.
As the Foldables started to gain momentum, brands like oppo started feeling the fear-of-missing-out. It entered the race with its first foldable phone, the Oppo N Series.
Though it is not available in India yet, many are expecting it to be priced on a slightly more affordable side.
The Competition
Right now, you can buy from brands like Samsung and Motorola. The Galaxy Fold 3 is the most popular model, priced at Rs. 1,49,999*. Another interesting foldable mobile launched recently is the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3. Things are moving in the right direction as brands like Microsoft, Huawei and Motorola have entered the market.
TV manufacturing brand, TCL is also rumoured to launch a foldable phone. This means buyers will have more options to choose from, which should eventually bring down the prices.
You can see the growth of foldables clearly with the flurry of eager manufacturers coming into the marketplace. Chinese companies like Huawei, Oppo, Lenovo, and Xiaomi have already shipped folding devices and have more on the way. Rumors have been swirling that Google has been developing a folding version of its Pixel phone as well.
The Optimistic Plan
We cannot predict the future of foldable mobiles right now, but we believe the technology is steadily reaching perfection.
As some manufacturers have also reported working on graphene and carbon nanotube structure which can make foldable phones thinner. Glass manufacturing brand, Corning has also reported working on a flexible glass, to make foldable mobile phones more durable. All this could mean, we might not have to wait a lot longer for the perfect, yet affordable foldable device.
“We're starting to see, as you move into second- and third-generation foldables, that some of the early rough edges of those prototype devices are starting to be knocked off,” says Ben Wood, a mobile industry analyst at the market research firm CCS Insight.
The Pricing
Foldables are still very expensive compared to normal smartphones—you’ll pay around $900 for a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 and $1,400 for a Motorola Razr—so they are still largely the playthings of technophiles and early adopters.
Curiosity's Opinion
Traders can really benefit from them. Because they can't carry a tablet or laptop with them everywhere they go, they can easily carry a more compact, foldable phone.
The Problem with foldable phones
Some of the problems that plagued foldables in the early days—screens that peeled away from the body, frames that were too fragile for normal use, apps that crashed too often, creases that grew more pronounced over time—have not vanished, but they’ve ebbed.
Now, foldable phones present a more acceptable risk level for a growing number of buyers.
Still, foldables are very much a niche market. Of the 1.5 billion smartphones sold globally in 2021, around 5 million were foldables. That means that roughly one-third of 1 percent of the world’s smartphones have foldable screens. “That’s almost a rounding error,” says Wood.
Foldable may represent a small drop in a great big gadget ocean, but 5 million phones is still a lot of phones.
While they initially had niche appeal, foldies have become intriguing—and useful—enough to take them seriously.
“If it was a gimmick, we probably wouldn’t have gotten as far as we’ve gotten today,” Wood says. “You wouldn’t see all of these other manufacturers piling on in the way that they are.” Wood also says he’s been carrying around a Galaxy Z Flip for months and hasn’t encountered any issues.
A Galaxy of Possibilities
Samsung, the big guy on the foldables playground, has built a sizable fanbase for its flexible gadgets.
Craig Greene, a tech enthusiast in Nebraska, wanted to try a folding mobile phone because he says the concept felt futuristic. He also liked the idea of an all-in-one device, something that could handle everything from simple web browsing to gaming.
“Right now I’m enjoying it,” Greene says. “To keep me interested, to keep me wanting to buy them, they’ll have to do a couple things to the device.” His main complaints: The crease in the middle of the screen is annoying, and the battery life is lacking. (The Fold3 can get through the day without a charge, but the smaller Flip3 lasts only a few hours.) Fix those issues, figure out how to fit apps and content into all the weird shapes and sizes foldables come in, and a folding phone almost starts to seem like a reasonable investment for the regular user.
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