In the last few years we have seen an insurgence of foldable smartphones that allow you to capitalize on screen space in a smaller package. Different manufacturers have had different approaches to the problems that foldable screens face and so we’re going to cover some of the most popular ways in which phone manufacturers have been wrestling with this problem in recent times. Along the way we will also discuss the future of foldable smartphones, since many people wonder if they are ever going to be viable, even with all the advancements in technology.
#1 The mini tablet fold
The most popular, and actually the first foldable design that came out had to do with screens doubling their real estate with the fold. Samsung Galaxy Fold and Huawei Mate X are a perfect example of this type of foldable smartphone and they are basically all doing the same thing even though they’re approaching it from a different angle. Namely, the Mate X folds outward, exposing its fragile screen, but giving a more enticing and more futuristic design, while the Galaxy Fold folds inwards, revealing another, smaller screen on the front of the folded device. This might be more practical and secure, but it definitely isn’t as flashy as the Mate X. With either one of the designs we can definitely see the benefit. Imagine playing your favorite free games on a bigger screen instead of your current smartphone.
#2 The flip phone fold
This is one of the more attractive approaches seen with the foldable screens. It doesn’t really offer anything in a practical sense as it just folds out to the same screen size as a normal smartphone. However, it does give you that nostalgic feeling of opening and closing a flip phone like you used to back in the day. The phones that have come out with this design are the Motorola RAZR (and the recently announced RAZR 2) as well as the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip. Samsung obviously likes to experiment with their designs, but the main difference between their rendition of the flip phone smartphone fold and the one coming from Motorola is that Samsung is also packing in all the latest specs as well.
#3 The tablet trifold
While this last approach isn’t on the market right now, manufacturers are looking for ways to incorporate it in their foldable smartphone design. The idea is that instead of folding your screen once and getting a smaller flip phone or a bigger mini tablet, you could actually fold the screen twice instead. This would allow your regular smartphone screen to develop into a full size tablet. Imagine what that would bring in terms of screen sizes. You could watch movies in 4K or even play your favorite HD best online games as well. There are no limits to what you could do with that kind of screen size that could potentially fit in your pocket like a regular old smartphone today!