Once a dream is now finally becoming a reality. As most companies are trying to achieve the notchless display, a select few are trying to make 2019 the year of the foldable phone. Once upon a time, phones had no screen at all and now we have phones that are all screen. At mobile world congress (MWC) companies like Samsung and Huawei have announced their smartphones with foldable screens that are fully functional and ready for the market.
Samsung Galaxy Fold
The Samsung Galaxy Fold is a dual screen phone tablet hybrid that looks gorgeous when opened/unfolded but questionable when folded. The Galaxy Fold is definitely not perfect by any means but it does offer a fresh design. The Galaxy Fold does look sleek and packs impressive specs. The Samsung Galaxy Fold sports 4.6 inch front AMOLED screen with 1960 x 840 px resolution and a 7.3 inch screen infinite flex AMOLED screen with 2152 x 1536 px resolution when unfolded. The Galaxy Fold will also have a 7 nm 64 bit octacore processor, 12 gig of RAM and 512 gig of storage. There is also 4,380 mAh battery that is split across both sides of the phone for weight distribution. The Galaxy Fold will offer wireless charging as well as wireless power share to charge other devices as well. The device will have triple camera design on the rear with Wide, Ultrawide, and Telephoto lenses. In the tablet mode, the dual camera design also offers wide and RGB depth camera for selfie mode. The Galaxy Fold seems to offer solid specs but it remains to be seen how it will all function together. The most glaring issue so far seems to be the price, which comes at $1980 USD and a questionable design with tiny front screen (large top and bottom black bezels) and gap around the hinge when the screen is folded. The Samsung Galaxy Fold will be available starting 26 April 2019.
Huawei Mate X
The Huawei Mate X is a dual display smartphone that unfolds to reveal a tablet like screen. The Mate X offers three different use cases including tablet mode, smartphone mode, and selfie camera mode. There are three different screen sizes depending which mode is being used. The smartphone mode is a 6.6 inch display with 19.5:9 aspect ration and 2480 x 1148 px resolution. The back side or selfie mode has a screen size of 6.38 inch with 25:9 aspect ratio and 2480 x 892 px resolution. When unfolded, the tablet mode has 8 inch screen size with 5.4 mm of thickness, which is slimmer than the iPad Pro with 5.9 mm of thickness. The tablet mode has a complete square screen unlike the Samsung Galaxy Fold, which has a camera cutout. When in tablet mode, the Mate X has a handle like curvature to allow a firm grip, which houses the quad lens camera. The design of the Mate X camera module has very practical uses as it enables high resolution selfie mode. In addition, you can also display a preview of your camera frame when someone else is taking the shot. The Mate X will be available in only one color, interstellar blue. The color of the smartphone is irrelevant as most of the device is mainly display, so there is not much real estate left except the frame of the device. The Mate X will have 5G connectivity, powered by Kirin 980 processor and 4500 mAh battery. The Mate X will come with supercharge technology with 55 watt charger, which will allow you to go from 0 to 85% in 30 minutes. The Huawei Mate X will be available in June 2019 and it is expected to cost around $2600 USD (€2299) for 8 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage.
Samsung Galaxy Fold vs Huawei Mate X: Specs Comparison
| Samsung Galaxy Fold | Huawei Mate X | |
|---|---|---|
| Size | Unfolded: TBD Folded: 17 mm thick | Unfolded: 161.3 × 146.2 × 5.4 mm, Folded: 161.3 × 78.3 × 11 mm |
| Weight | TBD | 295 grams (10.41 ounces) |
| Screen size | 7.3-inch AMOLED and 4.6-inch AMOLED | 8-inch AMOLED folds down to 6.6 and 6.3 inches |
| Screen resolution | 2,152 x 1,536 pixels and 1,960 x 840 pixels | 2,480 x 2,200 pixels and 2,480 x 1,148 pixels, 2,480 x 892 pixels |
| Operating system | Android 9.0 Pie | Android 9.0 Pie |
| Storage space | 512GB | 512GB |
| MicroSD card slot | No | Yes |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 | Kirin 980 |
| RAM | 12GB | 8GB |
| Camera | Rear: Triple-lens, 16 MP (ultra wide), 12MP (OIS), 12 MP (telephoto) Front: 10MP (folded), 10MP and 8MP (unfolded) | Rear: Quad-lens, 16 MP (ultra wide), 40MP (OIS), 8MP (telephoto), and TOF camera |
| Video | 2160p at 60 frames per second, 1080p at 240 fps, 720p at 960 fps | 2160p at 30 frames per second, 1080p at 30 fps |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth 5.0 | Bluetooth 5.0 |
| Ports | USB-C | USB-C |
| Fingerprint sensor | Yes (side) | Yes (side) |
| Water resistance | TBD | TBD |
| Battery | 4,380mAh Quick Charge 2.0 (18W) Qi wireless charging | 4,500mAh Huawei SuperCharge (55W) |
| Colors | Cosmos Black, Space Silver, Martian Green, or Astro Blue | Interstellar Blue |
| Price | 1980 | 2,299 euros (around $2,600) |
The foldable smartphones are in a new territory, so the manufacturers have to define the requirements and expectations. The design, price, and screen functionality is still up for debate. In terms of the foldable screens, the main debate seems to be around whether the screen should fold inward or outward. The Samsung Galaxy Fold has a questionable future as the design and bulkiness of the phone is not very user friendly. With the Galaxy Fold, you get a two smartphones worth of thickness and there is a gap when it is folded given the large radius around the hinge, which is a classic problem when the display folds on the inside of the device. On the other hand, when you put the screen on the outside like the one on Huawei Mate X, the radius around hinge is taken up by the device to fold flat without any gaps. The Huawei Mate X has the potential to be a really great smartphone as it gets all design elements right.
I am officially a tech addict and enjoy providing my views on matters related to this industry. I am always interested in trying out new tech gadgets and I have owned multiple smartphones including the legendary HTC One, SGS2, Nexus 4, iPhone 4, 5S, 6S, XR, Note 9. You can ask me any tech related questions in the comment section or on twitter @hookedNav