Smartphones with foldable screens were the big new thing that was supposed to change everything. It’s clear that it’s still rare to see one, five years after Samsung’s first. In fact, two heavyweights have reportedly abandoned this segment.
The OnePlus Open // Source: Aroged – Chloé Pertuis
Smartphones with foldable screens were the big new thing that was supposed to change everything. Except that now we’re scratching our heads wondering what will happen to these smartphones.
For what ? First, because Apple hasn’t released its own yet, and that’s a sign. Then, they are still very expensive. And to top it all off, they seem more fragile than our good old classic smartphones. This is bad since the durability of smartphones is at the heart of the issues.
Serious questions about the future of these foldable devices
According to an article published in a South Korean media outlet, it seems that two market heavyweights, Oppo and Vivo, are asking serious questions about the future of these foldable devices. These two, who belong to the same Chinese group, would not be eager to launch new foldable models for the moment.
It even seems that they have put the development of these smartphones on hold. The reason ? Their market share in foldables plunged last year. Models like the Vivo X Fold and the Oppo Find N3 Fold or Flip did not sell as expected. We will be fixed this year, if no successor is revealed.
As for Huawei and Samsung, there is no question of giving up. Huawei is even working on a pretty crazy smartphone: a “tri-fold” foldable OLED screen. This would be a screen that you can Z-fold, ending up with a 10-inch screen when unfolded. Huawei is not the only one thinking about it, it already exists. Samsung, for its part, is exploring a lot of different concepts.