The concept of a smartphone or tablet that would have a
foldable display is something that seemingly has been “just around the corner”
for years now. Now it appears that kind of phone design could really be a
reality in the very near future. Last
week, rumors hit the Internet that ZTE plans to launch the Axon Multy, via
AT&T, in October. That device will reportedly have two individual 1,920 x
1,080 resolution displays that can come together to form a 6.8-inch, 1,920 x
2,160 resolution display. The design use a horizontal clamshell that would fold
together with a vertical axis.
But what about a true foldable display, one that would
really fold together but stay as one unit, instead of a design made up of two
separate screens? After years of patent filings, along with rumors that didn’t actually
pan out, and even reports that the company showed off foldable screen
prototypes behind closed doors at MWC 2014,
Samsung might finally be getting ready to show it’s long awaited
foldable display in an actual smartphone. Koh Dong-jin, the head of Samsung’s
mobile division, was quoted this week at a media conference as saying, “Samsung
has the foldable smartphone in its roadmap for the Note series and is currently
working to solve a series of hurdles before unveiling it next year.”
That’s huge news. Previously, Samsung execs have only hinted
at the promise of a foldable smartphone, but this is the first time that the
company has actually put some kind of timeframe for when we can expect such a
device to be released as a real product, and not as a demo or a prototype,
Dong-jin added, “Samsung will not roll out the foldable smartphone as a
stop-gap product, but as a well-made flagship that can appeal to consumers.”
Samsung has received a ton of criticism lately regarding the
fact that it didn’t do enough to make this year’s Note 8 stand out from the
older Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus. So, the prospect of a new Galaxy Note getting a
foldable display will certainly make that device stand out. But what would the
Note actually look like with a flexible screen? There are a few design ideas
that Samsung could take for this phone.
The double screen
Note
One simple way to create a foldable design for the new
device is to do what the ZTE Axon Multy is supposed to do. The device might not
have a foldable display at all. Instead, Samsung may choose to create a double
screen, with two separate displays inside individual shells. The phone would
expand via a hinge in its chassis, and the two screens would then be visible,
and perhaps linked up via software. The phone itself would still keep the screens
separate physical.
One smartphone maker, Kyocera, tried to do just that several
years ago when it released the Echo in 2011. It had two 3.5-inch screens that
could come together for one “big” 4.7-inch screen. The problem was that that
hinge made the “merged” screen hard to use, and few apps were available to take
advantage of this feature. It didn’t help that the phone was also pretty thick
and bulky. Indeed, the Kyocera Echo got picked by use as one of the worst
Android phones of all time.
To be honest, we would be shocked if Samsung took this route
with the phone. The company has been filing patents for true foldable displays
for years, which means they have been spending a long time working on this
issue. We seriously doubt that the Note would go down this old fashioned route.
The wallet-style Note
The Galaxy Note 8 has the biggest display of any Samsung
smartphone. Its 6.3-inch Super AMOLED screen has already been named as the best
display made for a smartphone by the research firm DisplayMate. For the
foldable Note, Samsung could design the phone so that the display itself stays
about the same size as the current Note 8, but that it and the phone folds in
the middle, similar to a wallet. Samsung has even filed a patent for a
“tri-fold” smartphone that has a similar wallet design, with two ends folding
in the middle.
This kind of design has a couple of benefits. One is that
people who are happy with the size of the Note 8’s display won’t make any size
sacrifices with the foldable device. Obviously, yo’ll also be able to fold it
up when it’s not in use. There are some reviews of the Note 8 that have
complained that it is too tall, so a design that allows the device to be more
compact might be desirable. Samsung could also put a secondary display on the
back of the phone for notifications, video chats and other functions that don’t
require the full display to be used.
However, there might be issues with this kind of design as
well. One of the obvious ones is that in wallet mode, the phone might suffer
from being too bulky. There’s also the issue of the S Pen, which has been the
main distinguishing feature for the entire Note series. There might not be a
way to accommodate such an embedded accessory in a wallet design.
The phone/tablet
hybrid
It’s also possible Samsung could go the phone/tablet hybrid
route with the new Note. The simplest way to do this would to launch a device
with a bendable display in the middle that would fold out to form the larger
tablet, such as the mockup shown at the top of this article. Another idea would
be a “rollable” display, where the screen would unroll from a smaller form factor
into a larger one.
A rollable display might sound cool on the surface, but we
would imagine lots of issues using one in the wild. We think the best route for
a phone/tablet hybrid is to go with the foldable display down the middle. It’s
simple to understand and use, and you could even keep the embedded S Pen in one
of its sides. There might still be issues with bulk, but for people who want to
be able to use a larger display without taking a second standalone tablet, this
design might be the way to go.
The competition
Samsung is not alone in developing concepts for foldable
mobile devices. Lenovo showed off physical concepts of two such products over a
year ago at their TechWorld event. One was a tablet with a bendable middle that
could expand the display. The other wilder concept turned an ordinary
smartphone into one that you could wear on your wrist, as its chassis and
display wrapped around it. So far there’s no indication from Lenovo that these
concepts have moved beyond the press demo stage.
In addition, LG Display, one of Samsung Display’s biggest
competitors, has been rumored to be working on foldable screens, with mass
production reportedly slated to begin in 2018. LG also showed off an 18-inch
rollable newspaper-style display prototype at CES 2016. As with Lenovo, there’s
no real word from LG on when its products will actually reach the hands of
consumers.
Conclusion
There’s still a ton we don’t know about Samsung’s plans for
the rumored device, and it’s more than possible that the company could run into
speed bumps before it’s released to the public. Indeed, there were a few rumors
that Samsung might show off working foldable phones a few weeks ago at IFA 2017
in Berlin. However, The Investor claims that Samsung cancelled those demo plans
at the last minute due to concerns that unnamed issues with those displays have
yet to be corrected.
