While every year smartphones have only become incrementally better, the advent of foldable phones is slated to make things exciting once again!
Forget 5G, the biggest smartphone trend this year is poised to be phones that can be flexed and folded. While 5G will initially be limited to a few countries, foldable phones can be used just about anywhere, and the new form factor is expected to make using smartphones much more intuitive and more importantly, offer more real estate without increasing the overall footprint of the device. However, more than anything, foldable phones are going to be a refreshing entry into an otherwise bland and saturated market. While every year smartphones have only become incrementally better, the advent of foldable phones i sslated to make things exciting once again! The future is flexible and here are all the foldable phones under development —
1. Samsung Galaxy F
Samsung’s foldable phone is the current flagbearer of the genre. Samsung has been teasing the phone for years and based on endless number of leaks and rumours and even official videos, we have an idea of how it might look. The Samsung foldable phone will have a 73-inch flexible display, and a pair of 3,100mAh batteries alongside 12GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage.
The flexible display has been named Infinity Flex and opens like a clamshell. You can flatten it out for a tablet-like experience. Samsung stated it required new materials and new designs to get the phone working right. Samsung even unveiled a UI designed for the foldable phone called OneUI.
The phone is slated to launch on February 20th at the Galaxy Unpacked event in San Francisco on February 20 alongside the Galaxy S10 lineup. What’s unclear at this moment is the official name of the device. While many think it’s the Galaxy X, there are others who believe the phone might be called Samsung Galaxy F.
However, it certainly won’t be cheap. Leaked information revealed Samsung’s foldable phone might retail between 1500 euros to 2000 euros, which roughly converts to Rs 1,20,000 to Rs 1,60,000.
2. Huawei’s Foldable Phone
Apart from Samsung, another smartphone giant that will be announcing a foldable phone this year is Huawei. The Chinese smartphone maker has teased the launch of the device on February 24 in Barcelona, a day before MWC kicks off. The media invites Huawei sent out has a device shaped like a V, much like how a folable phone might look. Furthermore, it’s likely the phone will support 5G. Apart from that, there’s very little that we know of the device. Huawei is expected to use the HiSilicon Kirin 980 SoC along with the Balong 5000 5G modem.
3. Xiaomi
The fact that Xiaomi is working on a foldable phone was revealed by none other than the company’s co-founder Lin Bin, in an incredible video showing how the phone will work. It’s a double folding foldable phone which instead of having a central folding action, folds along two hinges. When unfolded, it becomes a giant tablet. It’s quite different from other foldable phones we got a chance to see including the newly announced Royole Flexpai.
It’s not clear when Xiaomi plans to launch the phone, or the hardware inside or even what it will be called.
4. Nubia
ZTE subsidiary Nubia is also reportedly working on a flexible device. Not wanting to be left out, the Chinese brand sent out invites to an event at MWC which has the caption, “flex your life”. While it doesn’t necessarily indicate a foldable phone, it could be something similar.
5. Sony
Evidence of Sony’s flexible phone comes from a patent application filed by the company. The patent reveals Sony is planning to come out with both a flexible phone and a rollable smartphone. The latter would be certainly interesting to see. No other information is known about the device as of now.
6. Moto Razr V4
A couple of years back, when Motorola was planning to launch the modular Z series, rumours were strong about a potential comeback of the iconic Moto Razr. But that never really happened and what we got instead was a thin and razor-sharp Moto Z. Now, the rumours are back again and this time, the reimagined Moto Razr might just be a flexible, foldable device. Moto has filed for a patent for the design which is essentially a modern take on the Moto Razr clamshell design where instead of a hinge, there’s a flexible screen.
The phone actually have a rumoured launch date, which might indicate it’s more real than we believe it is. The foldable Moto phone is slated to launch sometime in February, and an announcement during MWC 2019 is very much likely. More importantly, however, the phone will be quite expensive with a rumoured price tag of $1500, roughly Rs 1,06,000.
7. LG
LG too has a patent for a foldable phone, and for good reason. The company showed off rollable TVs at CES 2019, so the question is not ‘if’, but ‘when’. Smartphones, however, aren’t much of a priority for the company anymore as LG’s smartphone division registered poor financials in 2018 once again. Whether LG does manage to pull off a foldable phone is something we will have to wait and see in 2019.
8. Oppo
Oppo too have announced big plans of launching a foldable phone at MWC 2019. But apart from the fact that it’s coming, nothing about it known so far. That might give rise to speculation whether it’s actually coming or not, considering there are usually a series of leaks before a major phone’s launch (the Galaxy S10 being the prime example). We will have to wait out and see what happens.
9. Royole Flexpai
Finally, let’s talk about a foldable phone that actually exists. An unknown startup called Royole launched a foldable phone out of nowhere in December. Called the FlexPai, it’s actually not a good application of the phone. The phone unfolds along the center to become a tablet, but that’s just about it. It’s certainly not cheap and currently only available in China. During our time with the phone at the showfloor at CES 2019, we found it quite slow with a poor camera. So you might want to hold off on buying it, but it certainly gives a glimpse into what the future has in store for us.
You can also check out the list of upcoming 5G phones in 2019 and phones with 48-MP cameras on the back.
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