As the title says, there are several new phones expected to come out in the coming months from Huawei, Motorola and Samsung. The one thing these three phones have in common is the ability to fold in half. It is interesting to see how the trends in design for mobile phones has evolved over the last few decades. First, they were front facing brick shaped objects, a design everyone remembers as the indestructible Nokia. Next, flip phones became the “it” thing to have – all the companies made phones that either flipped or slid open. The Motorola Razr being the fashionable “flagship” mobile phone for that era. After the flip era, the iPhone was invented. Apple’s notorious minimalistic design philosophy brought a whole new meaning to mobile phone design. Mobile phones have evolved into giant, rectangular, ultra-thin metal and glass sheets with as few buttons as possible. Despite the insane functionality these modern smart-phones possess, they have simply gotten huge – too big for most pockets, well mine at least. Now, we need something that can deliver the benefits of a large touch screen while still being able to fit comfortable in a single hand or your pocket. This is where Motorola, Huawei and Samsung have stepped in with the design of their foldable mobile phones. I believe we could be entering a new era of mobile phone design with these three prototypes. Only time will tell.
Source: https://www.cnet.com/news/motorola-will-sell-its-first-foldable-phone-likely-the-razr-this-summer/
In my opinion, the flip phone is one of the most under utilized pieces of technology out there. In today’s day of technology I feel like kids are getting a grasp of the internet at a very young age which is a good and bad thing. In my opinion it is mostly and bad thing due to how much vulgar and inappropriate comments there can be on websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. With the flip phone it is easy to use for calling and texting and that’s about it which is what kids in middle school should be allowed to use. My parents started me off with a regular flip phone until I went to sophomore year of high school when they upgraded me to an IPhone, which I was 100% ok with. Today because the IPhone is so popular kids have an urgency to get their hands on the latest technology. Bringing back the flip phone is a good start and a good thing for the younger generation in my eyes.
https://nypost.com/2018/12/05/generation-z-is-scrapping-smartphones-for-flip-phones/
I think that this new surge in flip phones could be taking a step back in technology. I think that it would be very difficult to create an effective flip phone without making it less efficient. It would also be very difficult to use a phone that has a break or fold in the middle of the screen. Also, it would be interesting to see how durable the phone itself and the screen would be. From the different design models and blueprints that I have seen, it seems that the phone would be ridiculously thick when folded in your pocket. Another concern is the price. The ability to fold the phone means that there needs to be extremely flexible, yet robust glass and metal being used. These materials are not cheap either. Finally, there could possibly be issues with the folding mechanism failing. As phones have evolved and increased in power so has our use of them. Opening the phones many times a day would put large strains on the folding mechanics. Overall, I believe that folding smartphones would be far more unpractical than the normal rectangle like smartphones of today.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/19/a-big-comeback-for-the-extinct-flip-phone-is-about-to-unfold.html
When I read your post I was very surprised to read that the trend of flip phones was coming back into play in 2019. I was having trouble imagining what this type of innovation would look like because the touch screens that I am accustomed to are Apple screens that most definitely do not bend. I looked into these products and saw the Android version of this product. It is a smartphone that, when opened, is the size of a tablet. I am wondering how the product will catch on considering the size as well as the fact that it is not an Apple product and therefore does not carry the allegiance of Apple product consumers. Another hinge with this product is the price. Currently priced around $2,000, this product may not be the best choice for Android.
https://www.androidauthority.com/samsung-foldable-phone-863883/