Folding screens and 5G, main attractions of the world's largest mobile phone trade show

Criticized by the lack of innovation in recent years, smartphone manufacturers counterattack with their first devices with folding screens, but badysts warn that this technology remains rudimentary and expensive for the general public.

Samsung, the global leader in "smartphones," launched a deployed phone Wednesday to reach the size of a tablet at an event in San Francisco, becoming the first major manufacturer to offer this expected technology.

The Chinese giant Huawei, the second-biggest selling device, did not stay behind and unveiled on Sunday its own flip-up phone, the Mate X, at an event in Barcelona, ​​where on Monday opened the World Mobile Congress (MWC).

The Mate X will go on sale from 2,299 euros (2,600 dollars) in the middle of the year, while the Samsung Galaxy Fold can be bought at 1,980 dollars (1,745 euros). In both cases, sighs were heard when the prices were announced.

Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi and South Korean LG, among others, say they work on their own smartphones with flexible displays.

These devices represent the most radical change in the shape of smartphones since Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone in 2007: a black rectangle with a single touch screen. Manufacturers hope this innovation will boost smartphone sales, which fell by 4.1% to 1,400 million units in 2018, as people are slow to replace their devices for the few innovations, according to the firm. IDC badysis.

Ben Wood, an badyst at technology consulting firm CCS Insight, is slashing expectations, saying that for the moment, the appetite for folding phones will be limited to fanatics of the latest models.

"For now, this seems like a solution to a non-existent problem, and most consumers will think it's very expensive – it's a product that's still in its infancy," he said. Wood said. "I think we are at the stone age of the flexible device."

CCS Insight predicts that foldable phones will remain a niche product until 2022.

In addition to their high price, these devices have other problems to solve, such as reduced visibility in good weather or a bulky structure, necessary for the protection of the flexible screen. Many badysts also question the strength of phones, since folding areas usually cause problems with electronic devices over time.

"Until now, the trend has been to ensure a design that avoids the mechanical elements of a" smartphone ", to make them more durable," says Ian Fogg, Senior Analyst at OpenSignal, a company that collects and badysis of information from mobile networks.

Samsung and Huawei both claim that their "smartphones" can withstand folding wear more than 100,000 times.

Another question is whether they will work as well folded as deployed.

IDC's Ryan Reith is "skeptical" of the fact that they work perfectly, because applications will need to be modified to function the same way on a smaller screen when the device is folded.

"You have to make sure that there is a smooth transition from one screen to the other, there is a lot of work to be done," says Reith.

Analyst Strategy Analystics expects worldwide sales of just 1.2 million folding phones this year, which could reach 64.9 million devices by 2023, a figure that would still be only 3, 5% of the total sales of "smartphones" that year.