OPPO's Folding Phone Might Indicate OnePlus Future
This week in patents we're taking a peek at a new set of images from OPPO. This company is very closely related to OnePlus, and generally when one company makes a phone with a new feature, there's a pretty OK chance the other will follow suit. In this case, there's a bit more of a gap between one execution and the other – but it's worth a glance!
In the drawings released this week, we see an OPPO phone with a folding display. The fold doesn't seem to happen in the same form as we've seen with a few other previews of devices with similar displays. Instead of folding in on itself like a book, this device's display is wrapped around the outside. Having the device fold in this way removes the need for a second display on the "outside" when the device is folded to its smallest form.
The creators at OPPO have mastered the art of creating smartphones that look and feel like their much more expensive competitor's devices. They deliver these devices at significantly lower costs than their competition, thereby stealing away consumers. In this case, Samsung might want to watch out for the future in OPPO deliverables.
Samsung's been developing a foldable smartphone, likely called something like Samsung Galaxy X or Samsung Galaxy F. They've shown a prototype to the world at their most recent Samsung Developer Conference – with a cover over its non-display parts, but still. They've shown their device to roll with two displays. One on the inside that folds open like a book, and another slightly more traditional display on the "front" of the book.
If OnePlus picks up on the foldable display trend, it'll make their production year extra interesting. OnePlus came up on selling midrange smartphones with top-tier specs. They started selling one phone per year, then bumped that up to two. Now, since they've done nothing but grow in sales and unit shipments every year, it might be high time to ramp up their efforts once again.
Keep an eye out for more on this device and related devices coming from China. It's from Asia that the changes will come! From this week's post on Mobielkopen we see the drawings above, and from companies like OPPO that the folding display trend will be delivered at affordable prices.