2021 – the year of foldable phones

Mobile technology is moving forward nonstop. Manufacturers of mobile equipment are constantly outdoing themselves in new solutions. Until now, the main battles were fought over the number of lenses in the phone, the amount of RAM in the smartphone or even smaller and smaller bezels around the display. However, what will currently matter is the technology of folding or retractable display in various forms.

History of smartphones with foldable display

2019 Breakthrough Year

In 2019, manufacturers have blazed a trail when it comes to their foldable smatphones. At that time, the technology was still in its infancy, not all solutions were perfectly refined, and the price indicated that these devices were available only to the few. A little change in this area brought the year 2020.

2020 – the year of development

It would seem that after a fairly intense first year of staying in the wider sale of folding smartphones 2020 will be a real boom for such technology. In my opinion, the matter was largely thwarted by coronavirus, which, however, limited our financial possibilities, and manufacturers did not want to release quite risky solutions in the form of expensive folding phones. In fact, only Samsung dared to launch two devices – the Samsung Galaxy Fold 2 and the Galaxy Z Flip. The first of these is simply a fresher version of the “compilation” from a year ago, but here the progression compared to its predecessor was really big. Smaller bezels around the display, a better opening mechanism, and larger screens all made for a much better phone experience than the first generation Galaxy Fold. The second model is a solution that Motorola presented in 2019. A more feminine phone, resembling a folding mirror. Samsung has also gone into better prices of its devices and the price of Galaxy Fold 2 has fallen to about 8000 zł. Whereas Galaxy Z Flip costs about 7500 PLN. Better, but still quite expensive. The next generation of its foldable phones was shown by Huawei, but it’s more of a refresh of a few elements than a new generation. There are not many changes, and by that, but also not very wide distribution made it much less talked about last year than the competition.

2021

And then came 2021 all in white. Of course, so far for the first two months we have not had too many premieres related to foldable phones, but leaked information suggests that this year will definitely be happening. First of all Samsung is not preparing only two premieres from this category, but three. Probably the first two will not be a surprise to anyone, because it will be Galaxy Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 2, while personally I am waiting most for the third model. According to rumors, this is to be a budget solution, the price of which should not exceed about 6000 PLN. We do not know anything more about this model, but coming down to such a price may make more manufacturers dare to enter this segment of smartphones. Another manufacturer that promises to enter this segment is Xiaomi. When the Chinese manufacturers start to enter here, the competition, which is currently much greater. And ultimately we will gain. First of all, we will have a greater range of choice of devices, and their prices should also fall significantly. So far we do not know much about the Xiaomi device, except that it is being developed and is closer than further to the premiere. Another interesting device, the prototype of which we have already seen is a model from Oppo. Admittedly, it will be a foldable phone, but it is still a very interesting technology and in this context in many aspects seems much more friendly and handy than its predecessors.

As you can see, the year 2021 seems to be very interesting for fans of foldable mobile phones. “Composites” should move out of the more inaccessible price range in favor of solutions that are noticeably cheaper and friendlier, while also being refined in many respects. How it will actually work will become clear in a few months, when the devices will finally hit the mobile technology market, but it seems that in this respect the year 2021 will be much more interesting than its predecessors.

The author of this entry is
Wojciech Łęczycki
Editor-in-Chief MobileWorld24.pl