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In 2019, smartphones with a foldable screen will flood the market! If 2018 has so far been marked by the fashion of the notch, next year will be that of the advent of folding phones. Among the most successful projects, such as the Samsung Galaxy X, the promises of some manufacturers, like Huawei, and patents filed by many brands (LG, Apple and Oppo), one thing is certain: the next stars, it will be foldable smartphones!
In the last quarter of 2017, smartphone sales fell for the first time since their inception. "Users keep their smartphones longer and longer" explain Gartner badysts, who point to a "lengthening the replacement cycle" . Many consumers opt for a high-end smartphone so they can keep it longer. Instead of changing every phone year, users prefer to wait until the next real revolution.
Samsung, the current global smartphone leader, is the first to be hit by consumer demand for innovation and novelty. Its Galaxy S9, too similar to the S8, looks like a commercial failure. Worse: since the Galaxy S4 in 2013, Samsung sells less and less Galaxy S. "Samsung will have to show something different to reverse the trend" Park Jung-hoon badured, HDC Asset Management. Fortunately, the South Korean manufacturer has a master card that will allow it to return to growth: the Galaxy X.
ZTE Axon M, the disappointing precursor
You may not know it but the first smartphone foldable is already out! At the end of 2017, ZTE launched the Axon M, a smartphone with two screens. The mid-range phone ships two 5.2-inch LCD panels. Once unfolded, you can enjoy a huge screen of 10.4 inches … cut in two by a thick black hinge.
At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, we had the opportunity to take control of the ZTE Axon M. As expected a little, the smartphone is not up to its original concept. It sins in particular by an interface that lacks maturity, a technical sheet too modest and a rather fragile general construction.
Galaxy X, the first of a long line?
At the CES of January 2019, Samsung should by against lifting the veil on the first real foldable smartphone worthy of the name. After years of waiting and false hopes, the Galaxy X will finally come true. Unlike the ZTE Axon M, the Galaxy X promises to be a particularly premium device. Sold around $ 1500 the smartphone would first be offered in limited edition by Samsung.
Before entering the new market, the manufacturer wants to first take the temperature. The future of foldable smartphones depends largely on the success of the Galaxy X, real phone driver. If the flagship double or triple screen is successful, other manufacturers should follow suit with Samsung. In case of failure, the fashion of the collapsible smartphone will eventually be born born
To avoid this case, Samsung seems to have decided to refine his copy. Not content to have a foldable screen, the Galaxy X would be equipped with a flexible battery. " I need to be certain that we are delivering the best user experience when we launch a new category ," said Ko Koh, CEO of Samsung, on the sidelines of the MWC 2018. The latest news is that manufacturer's teams are struggling on the software interface of the Galaxy X. The Android OS must indeed undergo several changes to fit the double / triple foldable smartphone screen.
Huawei, the ideal outsider [19659006] Determined to walk on Samsung's flatbed, Huawei promised the release of its own foldable smartphone in 2019. Originally, Huawei wanted to release his collapsible smartphone end 2018, only to cut the grbad under Samsung's foot. For the time being, the Chinese should finally leave the field free for the Galaxy X.
As the Huawei P20 Pro and its triple photo sensor prove, the Chinese manufacturer has decided to innovate . "We will be more daring" warns Li Changzhu, the vice president of the mobile division at Huawei. Despite Samsung's lead in the field of collapsible smartphone, Huawei is far from picking it up.
By the end of 2017, CEO Richard Yu stated that a working prototype of a collapsible smartphone had already been designed . Similarly, the Chinese teamed up with screen maker BOE, which already boasts an impressive technology of AMOLED screens "that can be folded, unfolded, rolled" and " a fingerprint recognition system that works on any part of the screen. " The Galaxy X will not remain long unique on the market! "We will surpbad it (Editor's note: Samsung) . It's our destiny. Maybe I lack humility … but nobody can stop us " threatened Richard Yu last year
LG and Oppo: these builders who set the stage
In addition to the two projects well advanced Huawei and Samsung, many manufacturers are currently preparing the ground by filing patents and multiplying partnerships. According to ETNews, LG and Oppo have also moved closer to the firm BOE, which should design flexible OLED screens for Huawei's foldable smartphone project.
If the Korean manufacturer does not lack concepts in stock, it is not left from a point of view equipment. LG also benefits from a very advanced technology of flexible P-OLED screens. At CES 2018, LG unveiled an impressive OLED screen that wraps around a base. So far, this technology is reserved for TVs. In the future, could the brand use these innovations to make room for itself in the foldable smartphone market?
Same story for Oppo. After revolutionizing borderless smartphones with its Find X and sliding camera, the Chinese manufacturer is now interested in the idea of a foldable smartphone. The ambitions of the brand are not new. At the beginning of 2018, a rather patented patent already described a folding device in two separate screens.
More recently, a series of patents filed by Oppo has come to prove the interest of the brand for the subject. Oppo is even studying several options: a foldable smartphone in two parts, a device consisting of three screens, or a terminal with a single foldable structure. To conceive the smartphone described in this last diagram, Oppo could count on the expertise of BOE in the field of the flexible screens?
And if Apple also put itself there?
The rumor of a collapsible iPhone it's nothing new. In 2017, a rumor from Korea claimed that Apple is currently working with LG to design an iPhone with a foldable screen. Shortly thereafter, a patent filed by Apple came to confirm the information. The drawings of the patent describe a device with a double MicroLED screen and a flexible chbadis made of metal liquid (a very loose material but also very little used). To imagine this collapsible iPhone, Apple has also woven a partnership with … BOE, the same Chinese firm that already works with Oppo, Samsung, LG and Huawei.
According to rumors, this collapsible iPhone should not see the light of day before 2020. By then, the Android competition has already taken hold of the market. According to Bank of America badysts, it is more like a hybrid device between the iPhone and the iPad. For the moment, there is no indication that Apple is studying the issue more seriously.
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