Smartphone makers won't give up on foldable screens. Do we really want them?
Samsung and other smartphone makers seem determined to progress with "foldable" screens, a long-discussed feature that could herald the next wave of phone innovation -- or another costly mistake.
The pursuit dates at least as far back as 2011, when Samsung revealed an early prototype of its flexible display technology. That Samsung has been working on a flexible phone ever since is by no means a state secret, though the South Korea-based mobile company's chief DJ Koh has kept any rollout plans close to the vest.
On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal, quoting unnamed sources, said Samsung plans to deliver a foldable screen phone early next year. This could mean at or around the time of the annual Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona in February, after Samsung’s next “Unpacked” press gathering on August 9, where the company is expected to focus on a new Galaxy Note 9.
The Note, and the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus, represent the two pillars in Samsung’s mobile family. Presumably, a foldable phone based on a flexible OLED screen could create a third flagship category for the smartphone giant.
Samsung told USA TODAY it doesn’t comment on rumors or speculation.
It’s not just Samsung that's got a case of the bends. China’s Huawei is racing ahead to produce its own foldable display phone. Huawei’s CEO of the consumer products group Richard Yu has confirmed that the company has a working prototype, and such a phone is also likely to be released in 2019. Lenovo-owned Motorola is reportedly developing a foldable phone as well.
Meantime, phones with other funky design twists are also coming out of Asia, from such Chinese brands as Oppo and Vivo that are unfamiliar to most American consumers.
Last year, yet another Chinese company, ZTE, started selling the Axon M with two screens. But it was a bulky design with non-flexible displays that were separated by a hinge, so it is very different from what Samsung and others are up to.
Whenever Samsung’s foldable phone is finally in the fold, we’re brought to the question—is this a device that consumers will ultimately want, much less need?
The answer depends on the design of the device itself and how well Samsung navigates the oft-fine line between something that’s cool but gimmicky and something that provides genuine utility. All of us would presumably love something that is light and compact enough to carry stash in a pocket or purse, but flexible enough to easily expand when we want to stare at a larger display.
Samsung’s phone, believed to be called the Galaxy X (though it reportedly goes by the internal code name “Winner"), is expected to have around a 7-inch tablet-sized screen. When folded like a wallet, the exterior of the phone will reveal some sort of display on one side and the cameras on the other, the Journal reports.
There’ll be the usual concerns about battery life and durability, of course.
And then there’s the price, which could swell up to $1,500, says the Journal. That would put off many mainstream buyers.
We do know the foldable phone will garner plenty of global attention -- with all the swirling rumors it already has.
Smartphone innovation has run smack into a wall the past few years. But now we’re beginning to see hopeful cracks. Apple’s $1000 iPhone X ditched the Home button in favor of Face ID and new navigational gestures, elevating facial recognition technology. Expect Apple to continue on this path.
We’re starting to see some intriguing if unproven smartphone designs out of China. The bezel-free Vivo Nex Android smartphone has a fingerprint sensor embedded in the screen, and a selfie-camera that pops out from the top of the device. It also removes the carved out “notch” or black bar that covers up the cameras and sensors on other phones with narrow bezels, such as the iPhone X.
The Find X from Oppo also removes the notch and bezels. Its particular circus act is revealed when you choose to shoot pictures: a concealed motorized tray slides up with the phone’s front and rear cameras.
In the U.S., a maker of high-end cameras for Hollywood RED has announced RED Hydrogen One smartphone that is billed as the world's first "holographic media machine that fits in your pocket." Images are meant to pop out of a camera — like watching a big-screen 3D movie — but with no glasses. The phone, which will be carried by AT&T and Verizon, is due out in August.
Meantime, you’ll soon be hearing a lot more about handsets capable of exploiting the souped-up 5G speeds coming when the next generation wireless networks are deployed in a few places later this year, with more markets in 2019 and beyond. What that suggests is that even if the handset itself doesn’t carry a fresh or unusual design, a turbocharged performance may change how you use your phone.
Of course, not every attempt at innovation pans out. Google shelved its Project Ara modular phone. LG's own attempts with a modular phone approach met a similar fate.
A telling sign that the Essential Phone developed by Android founder Andy Rubin appears to be barely making a go of it was its $250 price on Amazon Prime Day, half off its regular price. And it used to cost around $700. It promised a series of modular accessories, but the first of those, a 360-degree camera, is now down to $19. It once was at $199.
Even at that, Motorola is still plugging along with the various snap-on Moto Mods accessories that can transform its Moto Z series smartphones into a projector, boombox or give it a battery boost.
Bringing out new technologies and features is always a tricky business, and I’m hoping Samsung, Apple, and their rivals continue their pursuit while being mindful of taking things too far.
I was critical of some past Samsung devices for piling on so many features that they felt like parlor tricks—like on 2013’s Galaxy S4 which, among other features, let you wave your hand over pictures in the photo gallery to advance from one shot to the next. It made for a cool demo but I never used the feature in practice.
I praised Samsung when it subsequently toned down the act on future Galaxy devices.
So the onus is on Samsung -- and the other companies chasing the future-- to strike that difficult balance. If they can pull it off, we might be able to look forward to a fresh period of phones to get excited about.
Email: ebaig@usatoday.com; Follow USA TODAY Personal Tech Columnist @edbaig on Twitter
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