We have been hearing and reading about Foldable smartphones with flexible display since long long time. Infact Samsung was the first to announced to bring foldable devices 8 years ago. Then we saw few leaked videos from Xiaomi where we got to saw foldable phone. Finally, it is the year 2019 where get to see these next generation of smartphones, Foldable Smartphones.
At the ongoing MWC 2019 event, few big brands like Samsung and Huawei has already showcased their next gen Foldable devices, while many are still in the lineup. We have tried to gather them all together in this list so that you can know about them all together and compare yourself.
1. Samsung Galaxy Fold:
Finally, Samsung has launched its foldable handsets after lots of rumors and wait. It is named as Galaxy Fold. Not going into a lot of background we’ll straight dive into what it has to offer.
Display: The screen is made from polymer that allows to turn the display up to 50% thinner than the usual phone displays and provides the flexibility with a sturdy screen. It’s a dual display setup with 7.3-inch QXGA+ Dynamic AMOLED Infinity Flex display and when folded makes a 4.6-inch HD+ Super AMOLED display.
Power: It comes with latest Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 7nm Mobile Platform along with Adreno 640 GPU and a 12GB LPDDR4x RAM which will enhance multi-tasking. The available storage is 512GB.
Camera(s): There are a total of 6 cameras. Three on the rear-side with 12-MP Dual Pixel with LED flash, variable aperture and OIS, a 12-MP Telephoto lens and a 16-MP Ultra-Wide sensor with up to 10X digital zoom. 2 Front cameras, a 10-MP Dual Pixel with 80o wide angle lens and 8-MP depth sensor with 90o field-of-view. The last one is 10-MP for front cover display when device is folded. Features of camera are like Galaxy S10+.
OS, UI and other features: Android 9.0 Pie. It comes with App Continuity which allows you to start off the apps where you turn off the screen. The Multi-Active window will let you run three apps simultaneously on main display. The finger-print scanner is on the side powered with 4,380 mAh battery which charges rapidly on wired and wireless chargers. The speakers are tuned by AKG, Dolby Atmos.
For now, Samsung Galaxy Fold will be available in US starting from $1,980 in four different colors: Space Silver, Cosmos Black, Martian Green & Astro Blue. Also Check: Did You Noticed This Bizarre Glaring Flaw in $2,000 Samsung Galaxy Fold
2. Huawei Mate X 5G:
Introduced in an event at Barcelona, the all new Huawei Mate X sports a 6.6-inch OLED screen on front and 6.38-nch screen at the back which expands ton 8-inch when unfolded. With a Falcon-Wing design and stretchable hinge, gives a smooth and flat finish on both sides of the device.
It is powered with 980 7nm SoC with Dual NPU and Balong 5000 5G modem running on Android Pie and a side-mounted fingerprint scanner embedded into power button. 3 rear Leica cameras that is 40MP main, 16MP ultra-wide angle and 8MP telephoto camera. An internal memory of 512GB with expandable up to 256GB; instead of a microSD card slot, the second SIM slot can be replaced with a Nano Memory (NM) card.
The charging technology is one of its kind with 55W (10V/4A) HUAWEI SuperCharge fast charging technology. It charges the 4500mAh battery from 0 to 85% in 30 minutes. Mate X is available in interstellar blue color and its price is $2,607, Rs. 1,85,220 approximately. It will be available in the market around mid-2019.
3. Royale Flexpai:
This was the first ever foldable smartphone released commercially before any others. The display of Royole Flexpai is based on company’s own AMOLED technology. The phone was displayed at the CES 2019. The display can be folded outward and becomes a 7.8-inch display, the size of a tablet. The display is being said to withstand bending up to 200,000 times.
FlexPai is powered up with Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 SoC processor with 2 variants. One with 6GB RAM and 128GB internal storage and other with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage. It runs on Android Pie version. It will soon be available in the markets probably by the end of March or April. The price would be around $1600 (approx. Rs.1,12,000)
These are the ones that are already launched in the market, now there are others which are soon going to follow the lead.
Upcoming Foldable Smartphones:
1. Xiaomi’s Foldable Smartphone with Triple fold:
A leaked video of Xiaomi’s foldable handset which showed that the phone can be folded from both the sides, it can also be triple folded and has a hinge near the center making it both a smartphone and a tablet. It’s a Chinese device with UI same as MIUI. The power buttons are placed at the center top edge.
Although there’s a controversy on whether the showcased model is Xiaomi or not, the status bar and lock screen do indicate that it is Xiaomi. The phone keeps in sync with the screen as the screen is folded which means there would be no hassle when you turn the device into tablet or phone mode. The items on the screen remain the same. There’s limited information about this device and what it has to offer which might be out soon as the competition between the companies will start increasing.
2. Motorola Moto Razr 2019:
The vice-president stated that they are working on their foldable series of handsets. What will make this stand out from the rest of the foldable devices, according to the company’s general manager is its affordability. The company plans on keeping the prices low and providing 5G connectivity which is trending in the latest tech devices. The company plans on releasing it in the Europe followed by US with Verizon later this year.
3. LG Bendi:
LG foldable handset has a display that folds back on itself meaning both sides of the phone will have a screen after it is folded. The pictures that have appeared show a display folding outward. As good as it seems it can be a problem since the screen will always remain exposed even if put into the pocket. To avoid damage, the screen must be unbreakable which we are not very sure of, but it does look good to have a phone that has a ‘borderless display’, you can say a bezel-fee screen. Anyway, LG is not expected to release the model before 2019 end.
4. Oppo’s Foldable Phone
The company has revealed pictures of its own foldable device, but it doesn’t plan on releasing it until the demand goes up. However, it seems more like Mate X by Huawei with OLED panel that folds on both the sides. A bar on the side with cameras and other components. Not much is clear about it again, so we wait until the company sheds light on its features.
5. TCL’s DragonHinge technology:
TCL communications has patented its DragonHinge technology for its foldable devices. The handsets use flexible AMOLED displays from its sister company, CSOT which allows bending and folding of devices enabling easy movement and other flexible device designs. The concept of DragonHinge technology is to be launched in the Mobile World Congress and the devices will be rolling out in 2024.
That’s a lot of competition out there. Looks like all the companies have to release the models as early as possible to attract huge crowds. Although challenging for the companies, it’s a perk for the customers as they have a large variety to choose from. The next generation of devices is here which brings in a whole lot of other technologies which will increase exponentially.
