With the current problems of Huawei and Samsung, is the trend of folding phones accursed?

In recent weeks, it seems that the trend of folding phones is in great trouble – for reasons that we could not have predicted when these two devices were first revealed. After information on Galaxy Fold's display failures from a few media was released on the Internet in late April, as well as bumps appearing on the screen, Samsung quickly delayed the planned launch of the phone on the 26th. April. Until now, the company has not yet revealed a new release date for the Galaxy Fold.

Huawei's people had to be happy when Samsung announced the delay. This seemed to pave the way for Mate X to beat the Galaxy Fold on the market. What Huawei did not expect is the US government's blacklist last week, which means that US companies can not provide hardware or software to Huawei devices.

On Sunday, Google announced that it would comply with the order of the US government. Until August 19, although the US Department of Commerce has authorized Google and other companies to offer software updates for current Huawei products, this exception does not currently cover future devices, which would include actually the Mate X.

While Huawei would be working on its own mobile operating system, it might not be ready for new devices for some time this fall. There is also no knowledge of whether this OS will work with foldable phones. It's something that Google has already added to Android. Huawei may not be able to provide this type of additional functionality in the Mate X for its next operating system.

Is the trend of folding phones accursed?

These developments are only the latest in the rather troubled history of attempts to bring collapsible phones. Samsung and other companies have been introducing prototypes of these devices for literally years, but it seems that creating this type of devices with a large-scale collapsible display has been difficult until recently.

Even now, some people worry that the foldable plastic screens of the Galaxy Fold and Mate X do not last very long. To be fair, Samsung and Huawei say that the results of their test labs show that the flexible screens of the Galaxy Fold and Mate X should last several years. However, as most people may be aware, the conditions in a laboratory are very different from those in the real world. People can still create situations that can not be tested or even predicted in the lab, as we have seen with display failures in some Galaxy Fold review units.

We have been working on creating collapsible glass screens, but we do not know when they will be available. Corning, maker of the robust Gorilla Glass displays found on so many smartphones, says its labs have prototypes of flexible glass screens, but we may need to wait a bit before they integrate in future smartphones.

Of course, as we have already mentioned, no one could have predicted that the fate of Mate X would be compromised by a ban imposed by the US government on Huawei. This is the kind of development left on the ground that, unfortunately, is now part of the trend of folding phones.

What about the Motorola RAZR foldable phone?

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The Galaxy Fold and Mate X are currently in limbo, the only other foldable phone likely to come out soon is the Motorola RAZR. Even this phone has met its own deadlines. The phone, which is supposed to have a shell-shaped design, much like the classic RAZR mobile phone, was first reported in January by The wall Street Journal, who added that it could go on sale as early as the month of February.

This calendar came and went without such an announcement. At the MWC 2019, Motorola's Global Product Vice President, Dan Dery, said the company had "no plans to show up later than everyone else in the market" regarding the trend foldable phones. Motorola no longer seems in a hurry to launch a competing device. In May, Motorola's parent company, Lenovo, aired a video rendering of the RAZR foldable phone to some members of the media. In reality, this video was made mainly by a fan, who has not been contacted before by the company to use its creation.

We are at the end of May and we do not know when Motorola will announce, let alone the foldable smartphone RAZR. It is possible that he decided to test the phone a little longer in order not to have the same problems that Samsung has encountered with the Galaxy Fold.

Has LG always had the right idea?

Perhaps we should have listened more carefully to another company's catch. LG has been working on its own folding screens for some time and was supposed to show its own folding phone prototype in early 2019 at CES. However, in February, the company issued a statement in which it stated that it had not found a favorable market for "an expensive, first-generation, collapsible smartphone".

From what we now know, LG could have encountered problems with screen durability by testing its own foldable phone prototype and decided that the timing was not conducive to launching such a phone. apparatus. Indeed, recently, Lenovo has announced its intention to launch a Windows-based laptop with a flexible and foldable screen, with this screen manufactured by LG. However, this product will not be released until 2020.

In the end, it is not necessary to rush

In a previous comment, we had noticed that Samsung did not need to rush to beat Huawei in the foldable phone race. Now that Huawei has its own deadline for the Mate X, and that Motorola will not launch its RAZR phone, it is more important than ever that Samsung take its time and ensure that the Galaxy Fold is no problem. In fact, Samsung should just wait and wait for Android Q to be installed on its first foldable phone.

Regarding the situation of Huawei, it is possible that the current trade war between China and the United States will subside, and Huawei will have access to Android in its future phones. However, we do not bet that it will happen any time soon. It seems that Huawei's foldable phone plans for Mate X are changing, much like all of his smartphone activity.