7 problems of folding phones that have not been solved yet
In 2019, Samsung widely launched folding phones on the market, and the popularity of these types of phones is increasing day by day. Although folding phones have made significant progress, some of their key problems and weaknesses have not been resolved, and we will discuss 7 of these problems below.
Screen creases>
Screen creases are one of the problems that foldable phones have yet to completely solve. This weakness is especially felt for Samsung's foldable phones because it has a weaker performance than its competitors.
Companies such as Oppo, Honor and Huawei have implemented different approaches to solve this problem and to some extent They have succeeded. For example, Huawei Mate X2's screen crease is very small, and Oppo Find N has managed to limit this problem to two thin lines on the screen instead of a big crease. However, due to the use of this approach, these companies have not been able to provide water resistance for the phones in question.
Therefore, folding phones are improving day by day in this field, but it is not yet clear whether In the near future, we will see folding phones without any creases or not.
Low resistance to dust penetration
Samsung has managed to provide IPX8 certification for its folding phones. This means that the phones in question are completely waterproof. Currently, apart from Samsung's foldable phones, none of the competitors have been able to make such a feature possible. But the X in IPX8 means that these phones are not particularly resistant to dust.
Considering that there are many moving parts in folding phones, it will certainly not be easy to implement this request and the challenges It brings a lot of technology to companies.
Low quality folding displays
The quality of foldable displays has improved a lot in the past few years, and these days, thanks to the use of ultra-thin protective glass (UTG), their resistance has also increased significantly. In fact, the resistance of these screens has reached such an extent that Samsung offers the ability to support the S Pen for the Z Fold series. However, it cannot be denied that many folding screens are still not very high quality.
One of the important problems that can be seen even in the Galaxy Z Fold 4 is the high light reflection that reduces the readability of the screen. Of course, in the meantime, we can point to models like Vivo X Fold Plus, which uses an anti-reflective coating for its display and has reduced the severity of this problem to some extent. But the bigger problem is that folding displays convey a plastic feeling, which of course is due to the use of plastic construction. Even Samsung has warned users not to press the screen with their fingernails for their foldable phones, which users of normal phones do not need to worry about this problem. So we have to see if companies can make the feeling of using folding screens more attractive or not.
Application support
Software provides an important part of the smartphone user experience, and with the development of Android 12L, Google has been able to increase the appeal of foldable phones. But these phones still have many weaknesses in the field of supporting various applications.
Even though it has been several years since the release of this type of phone, in the meantime, famous applications such as Instagram cannot use all the space of the Galaxy Z Fold series. . At the same time, Instagram uses thousands of engineers and designers, so it can improve support for foldable phones without any problems. But for whatever reason, the administrators of these applications are not interested in doing this. In any case, we hope that Android 12L and its subsequent versions can significantly improve application support.
Abbreviation for hardware specifications
Although foldable phones are very expensive, sometimes companies have to compromise on hardware specifications due to body limitations. For example, like the previous generation, the Galaxy Z Fold 4 uses a 4400 mAh battery, and there is no news of a 108-megapixel camera and a periscope camera with 10x zoom. On the other hand, Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 does not have wireless charging capability and its body is not waterproof. Although the Galaxy Z Flip 4 has a bigger battery than the previous generation, we still see the use of two 12-megapixel cameras.
As we said, the use of weaker hardware. It's quite normal for these phones than expected because due to internal space limitations, companies have to prioritize for these parts. Therefore, this problem is not going to be solved overnight, but we hope that in the future, folding phones will be presented with the best hardware available in the market.
Limited supply
Among other problems of folding phones, we should mention the limitation in their supply. Currently, Samsung, Motorola and Huawei are the only major companies that have released their foldable phones to the global market. But if you are looking to buy foldable phones made by Xiaomi, Honor, Oppo and Vivo, you can only buy them in the Chinese market. However, some of these phones have a lot to say.
An important part of this is due to supply chain constraints. Therefore, if the supply chain situation of companies improves in 2023, it is likely that these Chinese companies will release their foldable phones to more markets.
Price
Foldable phones are still very expensive. For example, the base model of the Galaxy Z Fold 4 is sold at a price of $1,800, while a very powerful flagship like the Galaxy S22 Ultra has gone to the market at a price of $1,200. To buy Huawei Mate XS2, you have to pay a huge amount of 2000 dollars, which considering the limitations of this company's phones, surely less users will pay such an amount to buy this phone. Buy Flip 4 by paying $1,000, which is almost the same price as many flagship phones. However, the big question is, will we soon see cheaper foldable phones? Naturally, such phones are not going to benefit from the best hardware and in this regard, they will be similar to mid-range phones.
Currently, Samsung is the leader in the foldable display market, but the Chinese company BOE has made significant progress in this field. For example, in addition to Huawei phones, Honor has also used BOE panels for the Magic V phone. So BOE may be able to produce cheaper folding panels.
- Why is Apple in no rush to make a folding phone?
Source: Android Authority