Huawei Could Release A "Foldable" Phone Next Year

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rgMekanic

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Several companies have talked about releasing a foldable smartphone over the last couple of years, and now Huawei is joining the party. CEO of Huawei's consumer business group told CNET that "We already have a working sample," off a foldable smartphone, and added "We have two screens," Yu said. "But we still have a small gap [between the screens]. That's not good, and we should get rid of that gap."

Companies have been talking about a "foldable" smartphone for a while now. At first it was Samsung with phones I would describe more as "bendable," but this sounds more like what was found in a Microsoft patent in March. Two screens that flip out to put against each other like what ZTE released last week with the Axon M. Perhaps I'm getting old, but I fail to see the need for this, even from a productivity standpoint it seems like it would be cumbersome and have a near unusable aspect ratio for multi tasking.

He predicts his company will surpass both Apple and Samsung to become the biggest smartphone vendor on the planet. "We will overtake them definitely," Yu said. "That's our destiny. Maybe I'm not humble ... but nobody can stop us."
 
Huawei is making some really nice stuff. Started with the Nexus 6p. Currently using their Mate 9 and Matebook E, both of which outperform their competitors IMO.
 
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I'd probably say they'll be useful from a media standpoint - really bridge that gap between a phone and an outright tablet.
 
well if you could unfold it into 3 screens that click together and make a tablet with a minimal seam between screens... that might be pretty cool ;). Probably be too thick with poor battery life, but it could be cool.
I'd like to try a 2 screen foldout phone, maybe it would win me over. There's definitely times on the couch I could use the second screen, but I'm not sure how many apps would support it and the aspect ratio and all that. I suppose if chrome, pinterest, youtube (thinking video on one screen and all the other youtube crap on the other), and gmail support it then maybe it would be ok.
 
The irony is that their concerns revolve around the limitations of not using OLED technology.
 
Disco_Stu_04 said:
To me it's a nice tech demo but I don't care for a foldable phone. Just like I never asked for a phone with edges curved so bad the text is warped, loss of headphone jack, smaller batteries, ...etc.
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You're the only other person I've seen who doesn't like curved screens. Whenever I use someone else's Samsung the specular reflection stripes on the curved areas seem so annoying. Why is it a good thing to have a screen that curves away from the user?
 
I'm going to start carrying around a 3DS and pretend I'm having conversations on it. Then, when foldable phones come to market, I can claim I was down before the hype.
 
if it's foldable in such a way that it protects the screens with normal accidental drops... for some it would be rather nice. big screens are great but it doesn't matter what case you have for it if you drop it any way that eventually hits the screen (typically not easy or cheap to replace just the glass and/or the display when everything is glued together - meaning sending back for expensive repairs or saying 'screw it' and getting a new phone :p)
 
fuzzylogik said:
if it's foldable in such a way that it protects the screens with normal accidental drops... for some it would be rather nice.
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Yes, but on the other hand, if something small gets in between the screens when you close it, you're gonna have a bad time.

It also seems like an annoying waste of time to have to fiddle with opening/closing this phone every time I want to check the time/notifications/whatever. If I have to carefully wipe off two screens and close up the phone before putting it away every time, nope.
 
Ohhh.


A FOLDABLE Chinese spy.

Just what I need.


Seriously, who is moronic enough to buy a phone from a company wholly owned by the Chinese authoritarian government?
 
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