Smartphones have been getting faster, sleeker, more powerful and much easier on the eyes over the last ten years since iPhone hit the market. But the form factor has essentially remained unchanged during that time.
There’s only so much you can do with the body, the screen resolution, the color options, the bezels and all the other elements that give a smartphone its esthetic appeal.
But there’s one emerging characteristic that may soon become a standard that revolutionizes the way we use our smartphones – and that’s the foldable smartphone OLED screen.
The tech itself is not new, and Samsung has had it for ages, which is what it essentially uses on the Edge line of Galaxy smartphones. But where we’re talking about here is not merely a curved OLED display; we’re talking about a screen that runs right across a foldable smartphone.
Exactly three months ago, on September 18, we reported that Samsung could be planning such a phone for 2017 under the working name of Galaxy X and codenamed Project Valley. The Valley Fold, incidentally, is a term taken from the art of paper-folding, or Origami, which indicates a V-shaped fold – much like their futuristic foldable smartphone would look when partially folded.
You can read more about that in the original article, linked below.
SEE: Samsung Galaxy S8 Could Come Early, Foldable Galaxy X in the Works?
In that article, we showed what Samsung’s design patent diagrams looked like, and some of the other features the phone might have. We recommend that you quickly review that article before proceeding.
So, we know that Samsung does have something in the works along those lines, but we have now learned that Apple, Microsoft and Google are all looking to be in the foldable phone race using technology from LG Display, which revealed its tech earlier this year.
LG Display has been tasked with creating foldable display panels that these tech majors could introduce in future smartphones, and LG’s own smartphone division is also a part of this initiative.
Meanwhile, Lenovo is reportedly working on a flexible model rather than a foldable one. The concept phone is shown below, reproduced from Android Authority, being worn on the wrist, like a watch.
Though the practical applications of such a phone being worn this way are questionable, it does hint at a greater degree of safety for the screen. At the very least, it’s likely to crack when it’s in your pocket along with your keys and loose change, or you happen to sit on it.
So now, there’s Samsung with the tech already in hand, a partnership between LG and at least three tech majors and its own smartphone line and a flexible option from Lenovo. There’s also a Nokia concept phone that may look something like this:
But just how many of these will actually make it to the market next year or even see the light of mass production day is a big question that nobody can answer yet, with the exception of executives at the highest levels at these companies.
But one thing is certain: we are rapidly approaching a time when foldable and flexible smartphones will become a consumer reality rather than remain a design concept. This is the next evolutionary step for smartphones and it will come, in one form or other.
The other major leap forward is focused on what’s under the hood – the Windows 10 Mobile OS running on ARM architecture being developed by Microsoft, which will allow millions of traditional desktop apps to be emulated on mobile devices.
READ NEXT: Windows 10 Mobile on ARM Will be Revealed at MWC 2017, but On a Surface Phone?
Thanks for reading our work! Please bookmark 1redDrop.com to keep tabs on the hottest, most happening tech and business news from around the world. On Apple News, please favorite the 1redDrop channel to get us in your news feed.
