Thanks to so-called folding mobiles, we are witnessing the first major smartphone revolution in many years. This type of terminal is nothing like the ones we usually carry in our pocket, because its concept and fundamental pillar of usability are based on a flexible OLED panel. This has allowed us to see the first commercial ideas of the manufacturers, with phones that become tables in the Galaxy Z Fold2 style or those that can be compacted like the Motorola Razr. However, one more turn of the screw could make us see the first smartphones with an extendable screen on sale soon.
It is still too early to foresee the future in this regard. The folding smarthones are a reality, but they have not yet been entrusted to the public in a massive way (democratization of their price) so that we can predict with greater or lesser success, if they are something that has come to stay, or one more anecdote in the industry of something that could be and was not. In any case, the next step seems to be aimed at seeing mobile phones with an extendable screen on the market .
How do they work?
This is a product that can work with a flexible screen, but instead of opening a mobile to have a larger screen, it can be stretched like a rubber band to achieve it. That is, the phone can make a larger screen emerge, when the user pulls its corners, both on the sides, and on the upper or lower screen. This will also allow to quickly increase the size of the screen to watch a video and make it smaller to carry it in your pocket. These types of devices could offer clear advantages in the aspect of durability, they no longer suffer from the continuous folds that so many headaches have been giving manufacturers in folding terminals.
Who’s behind?
At the moment, the only clues we have come from the patent records of the different brands. However, we can go back to 2017, to remember that Samsung already talked about stretchable screens, at that time, without application examples in a real product. Even today, there has been speculation that a Samsung executive has been caught holding a prototype of a stretchable terminal. We have seen patents from firms such as LG and more than one model in this regard in OPPO, one of the most active companies when it comes to registering concepts, ideas and designs of possible folding or stretchable mobiles. TCL, one of the world’s leading display manufacturers, has also offered clues on several occasions about its interest in these types of terminals.
When will we see them?
There are no clues that make us believe that the manufacturers have a model ready to be presented in the short term. Resources seem focused on trying to make folding mobile phones gradually permeate users, as their costs are reduced. However, if the manufacturers have found the key with the extendable model, it could cause the folding mobiles to stop dry, since they could offer the same usability with half the headaches and possibly at a lower manufacturing cost.