Are Foldable Smartphones The Future?

I recently came across an article from TIME with an interesting title that suggested foldable smartphones are “about to be everywhere.”, And that got me thinking, is foldable display technology going to be the next leap forward. for the smartphone market? I guess that is one possibility, but I think there are other paths foldable devices might take that need to be considered. And that’s exactly what. we’ll explore in this video. This is Greg with Apple Explained and if you want to help decide which video topics I cover, make sure you’re subscribed and these voting polls will show up in your mobile activity feed. Now flexible displays have been a highly anticipated feature going back quite a while. Bill Gates even mentioned it in an All Things Digital conference twelve years ago. So the development of foldable displays has been, carefully monitored by tech companies and enthusiasts alike. Over the years, we’ve, actually seen the industry slowly adopt prerequisite technology by first implementing curved displays. like in the Samsung Galaxy and Huawei Mate 20 Pro. But it’s interesting to note that, not all manufactures have jumped on the curved display bandwagon, despite the technology being available for over five years. So this begs the question, do curved displays offer, an improved user experience? Because if they did, companies like Apple and Google would’ve surely included it in their devices. Similar to what happened with multi-touch technology,. fingerprint sensors, and OLED displays. All of which have been adopted by virtually every. major smartphone manufacturer at some point in time. The reason I’m putting such a big emphasis. on curved displays is because I want to make this point very clear. And that is, new technology, doesn’t necessarily make a product better. Curved displays offer no functional benefits. They don’t eliminate the left and right bezels, and if you’re trying to achieve, the thinnest bezel possible, you can do it without curved edges. In fact, one of the, first smartphones to feature a curved display was the Samsung Galaxy Note Edge in 2014 and. they actually utilized the curved section of the display to feature app shortcuts and notifications, but this capability was removed in later Galaxy devices, despite their displays. still having curved edges. This officially made its curved display pointless, except maybe for differentiating the device from others on the market. So here’s the big question: Will foldable, display technology go the same way as curved displays? Or will it become the new must-have feature of every flagship smartphone? Well, let’s take a closer look at what we know. about it so far. Both Samsung and Huawei have announced foldable smartphones to be released, this year, and each manufacturer has implemented the technology in slightly different ways.. Samsung’s Galaxy Fold features two separate displays. One on the front to be used when the device is closed, and a second, larger display that’s used when the device is opened. It’s definitely an interesting setup, being able to watch videos or browse the internet, on the go on a large 7.3” display that fits in your pocket is a very appealing concept. But there’s a catch. For some reason, Samsung decided to make the front display just 4.7, inches. Leaving an uncomfortable amount of bezel at the top and bottom, which makes the. display one of the smallest on the market. Now I’m not sure why Samsung didn’t fill. the front of the Galaxy Fold with a more proportional display, but it’s one of the biggest issues, with this device. I mean, who wants to use a 4.7” display on one of the heaviest, thickest, bulkiest smartphones on the market? The industry has just spent a decade trying to remove bezels, from smartphones and now they are back and more invasive than ever with this $2,000 Galaxy. Fold. And if you’re thinking, well just unfold it and use the larger display instead,. I don’t think that’s the answer. If I’m sending a text, checking a notification, or. making a call, I don’t want to have to unfold it and essentially use a tablet for those. tasks. So for me, the Galaxy Fold would make for a great portable tablet, but a very clumsy smartphone. Now there’s one last concern I have with

this device, and that’s the battery life. Samsung’s Galaxy S10 Plus has a 6.4” display with a 4,100 milliamp hour battery, while the Galaxy Fold has two displays at 4.7” and 7.3”, but is only equip with a 4,380 milliamp hour battery. That’s a 7% increase. in capacity for a 33% increase in total pixels that need to be powered. Now Samsung hasn’t, released any details about battery life, but I would be very surprised if it had the same. twelve hour battery life of the S10 Plus. And I think all day battery is a very important, feature for smartphone users, especially if it means being discouraged from using the, Fold in tablet mode since it’ll likely consume more battery than using the front display. Now let’s take a closer look at Huawei’s, approach, which I think they should be commended for because the Mate X’s design is very. creative and streamlined. They decided to fold the display in the opposite direction as Samsung, eliminating the need for a second display on the front. Instead, they utilize. the OLED’s unique ability to turn off individual pixels and create what appears to be a true. black bezel that blends right in with the hardware. Also, you might notice that the. Mate X doesn’t fold right down the middle. Instead, it features an off-center crease. that allows room for various hardware components in a vertical sidebar when folded. And that. means there’s no notch or bezel cutting into the display while opened or closed. This double-sided display also eliminates the need for a front facing camera and allows for a beautiful 6.6” edge to edge folded cover display. A very competitive size compared. to standard flagship smartphones on the market. And because there’s a display area on the, back, the Mate X features some pretty neat software features. For example, when you’re, taking a photo of someone, they’ll actually see get to see a preview and make sure they, look okay for the shot. And if you want to flip the camera around for a selfie, just. turn the phone around. The device detects which side of the phone you’re looking at and switches displays automatically. One last feature of the Mate X I really appreciate, is its hardware design. Unlike the Samsung Fold, which is essentially two smartphones stacked on top of each other, Huawei did a great job making their hardware feel as seamless. as possible by rounding both sides of the device and folding the display up against. the vertical sidebar. Which makes it look less like two sandwiched smartphones and more, like one cohesive product. So it’s clear I prefer the approach Huawei took as opposed to Samsung, but there are still some serious compromises with both of, these devices that need to be addressed. First being battery life. Now neither company has. shared how many hours of use we can expect to get from their devices, we only know how, big their batteries are. With the Galaxy Fold coming in at 4,380 milliamp hours and the, Mate X at 4,500. And these capacities are more comparable to other smartphones on the market rather than tablets. Which leads me to believe battery life may be a compromise,. although I should add processor efficiency and power management also play a big role, in battery life. So we’ll have to wait and see if these devices can actually achieve. all day battery, which I think is a very important feature for smartphone users. The second compromise is size. The average. smartphone’s thickness is about 7-8 millimeters, and while we don’t know the Galaxy Fold’s, dimensions, we do have that information for the Mate X. It comes in at 11 millimeters. thick when closed, which is about a 50% increase over what many of us are used to today. We. haven’t seen a flagship smartphone with that level of thickness since the original. iPhone twelve years ago. But it isn’t just the thickness of these foldable devices, it’s also the weight and volume. The Mate X is 10.4 ounces, that’s 70% heavier than the. Galaxy S10 Plus. And volumetrically, the Mate X is over 50% larger than the S10 Plus, which, is already a pretty big phone. Now the reason why I’m comparing these dimensions to other, smartphones instead of tablets, is because those are the devices these new foldable phones. are supposed to replace. After all, they’re called foldable smartphones, not foldable.

tablets. Now the third compromise actually has to do, with the folding display itself. See, we’re used to interacting with solid glass displays. that don’t have any surface imperfections. But when you want a display to be foldable,. there are sacrifices that need to be made. And I think the most noticeable change for, longtime smartphones users will be the plastic display with a visible seam and lack of rigidity., And that may be part of the reason why Huawei isn’t adding pen support to the Mate X., Because by using it, you’d have an easier time feeling the imperfections of a plastic, surface rather than glass, which may result in a disappointing drawing or writing experience. And the last compromise I want to mention is the cost of these devices. At a time when smartphone prices are at their highest point, in history, these foldable smartphones are asking at least twice as much. Which I think puts them into a niche category and’ll prevent them from experiencing even modest sales success. So that means foldable smartphones aren’t a viable product and will never become widely. adopted, right? Well, I’m not so sure. Because there is one aspect of these phones that we, haven’t considered. And that is, this is first generation technology, and it’ll only, improve over time. The curved display scenario that I described earlier in the video doesn’t apply to folding display technology. Mainly because curving a display is simply an aesthetic decision that has virtually no impact on utility. But folding a display allows for some incredible. new features that were previously not possible. And just because the foldable technology we’re. seeing today is expensive and has room for improvement, doesn’t mean the concept has no future. In fact, I think this situation is more comparable. to what happened with smartwatches. The original Galaxy Gear released in 2013 had some interesting, features, but also an awkward implementation. Some of its components where in the band which. made it very rigid and uncomfortable, and it was generally received negatively among, tech critics. Samsung went on sell very few of the watches and Best Buy actually claimed. the Galaxy Gear had a 30% return rate from their customers who weren’t happy with the. product. Now Samsung went on to say the market simply wasn’t ready for smartwatch technology,. and that’s why they sold so poorly, but I disagree. I believe it was the technology that wasn’t ready for the market. And once it was further developed, smartwatches did become a big hit among consumers. And I think we’re seeing a similar situation, playing out with foldable smartphones. Sure, they’re large, heavy, expensive, and missing, some great qualities of traditional smartphones. But all of that can change with time. And consider what we’ll be getting in return: a device with a display that can be small, and compact, but also large and roomy on the fly. That way consumers can have the best, of both worlds with virtually zero sacrifices. That is, once the technology has fully matured. Now if you guys want to learn something new. on your commute, while traveling, or just without a constant stream of phone notifications? Brilliant’s new offline courses will allow you to do just that! Download any of their dozens of interactive courses through the mobile app, and you’ll be able to solve fascinating problems in math, science, and computer science no matter where you are,, or how spotty your internet connection. What’s awesome about these courses is that. they’re all totally interactive — you’ll experiment with pendulum clocks to master, the physics of motion, use rockets to model algebraic functions, and learn probability, by playing casino blackjack. Programming with Python is one of my favorites., So if you want to support Apple Explained and get unlimited access to all of Brilliant’s, in-depth math and science courses, you can head over to brilliant.org/AppleExplained to get 20% off their annual Premium subscription. Alright guys, thanks for watching and I’ll, see you next time..