In 2018, the world's first folding screen mobile phone came out, knocking on the door of the folding screen 1.0 era. In the following three years, various manufacturers have successively launched relevant models, and the folding screen has gradually become the ultimate display of mobile phone manufacturers' research and development capabilities, product capabilities and supply chain capabilities.
However, compared with ordinary smart phones, the expandability and portability of the folding screen, the requirements for technology are almost exponentially increased. To this day, there is still no unified technical specifications, just like the 2008 smart phone, folding screen mobile phone is brewing a revolution.
On April 11, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the X series, vivo released the first folding screen vivo X Fold. When it first arrived, vivo directly announced the opening of the folding screen 2.0 era.
What needs to be seen is that there are not a few manufacturers that have released folding screen mobile phones, and X Fold is only vivo's first folding screen mobile phone, why does vivo dare to say such a thing? Can the X Fold really lead a revolution?
Time, place, people
On all levels, the X Fold is not a "rookie", but a product that is on track.
First of all, after more than three years of market fermentation, the industry has initially confirmed the market demand for folding screen mobile phones and completed market cultivation. Starting from 2021, major mobile phone manufacturers have launched their own folding screen mobile phones, on the one hand, the feasibility and necessity of the layout of the folding screen mobile phone product line have been verified; on the other hand, in the first round of technical and market demand test water, the current technical problems have been fully exposed, and the corresponding market segments of different versions have gradually become clear. In this context, X Fold is destined to have a clearer positioning and more targeted product design.
Secondly, vivo is becoming more and more handy in the competition of the high-end mobile phone market. According to data from authoritative research companies such as IDC, in 2021, Vivo ranked first in the Chinese market with a market share of 21.5%, with annual shipments of more than 71 million units, an increase of 23.3% year-on-year. In the first half of 2021, Vivo launched vivo X60 Pro+, with high-end images to gain praise, the second half of the year will be the first self-developed professional image chip V1 installed in vivo X70 series, the image advantages are continuously enlarged, the same year launched iQOO 8 series also for the first time in the 4000 + market significant breakthrough.
These manifestations portend two facts. First, in the technological innovation of high-end mobile phones, Vivo has enough roots, and X Fold does not exist an insurmountable technological gap. Second, according to the release rhythm of the high-end product line, this year as the tenth anniversary of the vivo X series, the X Fold is destined not to be a "test water" mobile phone.
Previously, Huang Tao, vice president of vivo products, said on March 28 that vivo had begun to pre-develop folding screen products as early as four years ago, and had deliberated dozens of versions of the program before and after but they were self-denied, only to bring users a "perfect" folding screen flagship. This also confirms the above judgment from the side, that is, according to the rhythm of vivo's step-by-step on high-end mobile phones, the prominence of X Fold must be technically meeting its own strict requirements and meeting the current pace in rhythm.
Therefore, whether it is the market environment, or the technical foundation, or the vivo product rhythm step, vivo X Fold is in a key node of inheriting the past and the future.
However, does the X Fold have the strength to lead the 2.0 era? Does vivo have enough confidence?
a culmination
To make a mobile phone that leads the times, it is fundamentally necessary to speak with strength. To lead the way, vivo X Fold must first have the ability to surpass the current products of the same type.
In the 1.0 era, the most criticized problems of folding screen mobile phones appear in hinges, screens, endurance and other aspects. The vivo X Fold solves these fundamental problems, which is the key to its iterative experience.
The vivo X Fold is first and foremost a high-quality phone. In response to the problem of hinge damage, the vivo folding screen adopts a six-fold aerospace-class floating wing hinge, which has been greatly optimized and improved in strength and weight. After being tested by Rheinland, the crease is still extremely well controlled after 300,000 folds, and even if it is folded 80 times a day, it can be used for about 10 years, and the durability is extremely high.
For the folding screen mobile phone users have been plagued by the crease problem, X Fold has also been fully optimized. It destroys creases in three ways. The first is the floating middle board design, when the screen is turned on, the floating middle board will slowly rise to "lift" the middle screen, making the screen more flat; when closed, the floating middle board falls, providing sufficient space for the screen bending, protecting the screen, and the mobile phone is more durable. Secondly, in terms of materials, the X Fold inner screen adopts UTG glass, which increases the outward tension of the ordinary folding screen by 1.3 times, which can greatly improve the pressure resistance of the screen when folding under the premise of high light transmission performance, which can allow a smaller bending radius, ensure that the screen will not be easily damaged, and improve the durability. In addition, reducing the bending radius is also a key innovation of X Fold, which has the industry's smallest bending radius of 2.3mm (left and right folding), so that the screen is bent less area, the whole machine fits tightly when closed, tightly sewn, and the crease is narrower and shallower when unfolded, effectively improving the utilization of screen space.
Secondly, the vivo X Fold is not only of excellent quality, but also an excellent folding screen whose experience can be comparable to that of a tablet. On the basis of ensuring durability, vivo X Fold further optimizes the screen. Vivo X Fold outer screen is equipped with a 6.53-inch, 2520 * 1080 resolution micro-curved screen, the aspect ratio reached 21:9, the largest size in the industry, closer to the user's normal machine habits. What really makes the advantages of the folding screen reflected is its inner screen, vivo X Fold is equipped with 8 inches, 4:3.55 aspect ratio, resolution rate up to 2160 * 1916 of the large inner screen, the inner screen size has achieved one of the largest in the industry.
In terms of performance assurance, vivo X Fold takes into account both smoothness and long battery life. Vivo X Fold is equipped with a new generation of Snapdragon 8 Gen1 SPU custom flagship chip, using advanced 4nmMEP process technology. The overclocking version of UFS3.1, the enhanced version of LPDDR5 and memory fusion 2.0 further increase the smoothness of the product. At the same time, vivo X Fold is also equipped with a self-developed triple full-time domain performance engine, which significantly improves the fluency, stability and energy saving of the phone. In terms of battery life, the vivo X Fold is equipped with a 4600mAh yuanhang large battery and a 66W dual battery flash charge, which is the industry's first folding mobile phone equipped with 50W wireless flash charge, and supports 10W wireless reverse charging.
In terms of image capabilities, vivo X Fold also makes no compromises. While continuing to cooperate with ZEISS to obtain excellent optical performance, because of the unique mobile phone form of the folding screen, the external screen help shooting, waist flat framing, rear selfie, hover shooting and other new shooting methods, the mobile phone image has more creative space.
In addition, based on the improvement in hardware such as hinge, screen, performance, and lens, vivo X Fold's innovation in the business experience level has built a product paradigm for folding screens. Vivo X Fold has been fully upgraded in terms of security and privacy, mobile office and so on. In terms of privacy protection, vivo X Fold is the first in-depth mining and adaptation of snapdragon 8's SPU on the chip software side to achieve full-featured design. Combined with the excellent hardware-level protection capabilities of SPU, a thousand mirror security architecture is built on the bottom layer of the software to comprehensively improve the security and privacy protection capabilities. At the same time, 9 major privacy products such as physical mute keys, atomic privacy systems, and Thousand Mirrors Trusted Engine have joined to create an all-round privacy protection at the application level.
For the specific scenarios of business offices, vivo X Fold has set up functions such as "multi-angle hovering", "multi-task processing", "stock trading artifact" and "one-stop office solution". Among them, it supports about 60-120 degree hover, which can realize hover video, hover reading/input, etc., and greatly improve the use experience in video conferences and other scenarios. Multitasking enables collaboration between applications and further improves office productivity. By combining the three-party financial stock software commonly used by many users, vivo X Fold can also help users obtain, communicate, operate and other behaviors in the financial stock trading scenario.
Vivo X Fold can be called a "set of technology" and an "iterator" of experience. Through four years of precipitation, while ensuring durability, screen experience, battery life, etc., it provides the highest level of configuration and targeted experience optimization. Compared with the previous folding screen mobile phone experience problems, vivo X Fold has indeed surpassed the 1.0 era.
So, will the vivo X Fold be the beginning of the folding screen 2.0 era?
2.0 era "wall breaker"
From the product point of view, the vivo X Fold experience is iterative, and the further question is, can it really lead the industry change?
To answer this question, it is first necessary to clarify whether there is an absolute market demand for folding screen mobile phones, and this answer is yes. For a long time, the characteristics of folding screen mobile phones in multi-task operation and file management systems closer to PCs have given them advantages that other types of mobile phones do not have. At the same time, folding screen mobile phones for the brand value of the highlight, the display of technical "wrist", are important exports. Therefore, folding screen mobile phones will still be the focus of competition among manufacturers. According to data released by JW Insights, 8 million folding screen smartphones will be shipped worldwide in 2021, and the shipment of foldable OLED screen mobile phones in 2022 is likely to double to more than 18 million units. Compared with the decline of the global smartphone market, folding screen mobile phones are in a rapid transition cycle.
Under the real market demand, let's see what problems the vivo X Fold solves. First of all, folding screen mobile phones are generally more expensive, so durability has always been a pain point hindering the growth of the market. The floating plate design of vivo X Fold and the smaller bend radius provide a new idea and experience to solve this pain point, which is still a good performance of 300,000 folds.
On the screen, creases, switching between large and small screens, smooth operation and other issues are also key technical difficulties. Vivo X Fold not only realizes the consistency of the internal and external screen experience, but also ensures the consistency of the experience under different screen sizes. When the screen is unfolded, it truly achieves a viewing and operation experience comparable to that of a tablet, and after putting away the screen, the operation is also consistent with that of ordinary smartphones. The unity and adaptation of multiple screens is another iterative experience brought by vivo X Fold. It can be said that starting from the vivo X Fold, screen switching has truly become the highlight of the folding screen.
For the innovation of business functions, vivo X Fold also provides new ideas for product layout, that is, to accurately understand the main target users of folding screen mobile phones and provide targeted product innovation. This is further than the simple concept of folding screen, which objectively means that starting from vivo X Fold, folding screens have also begun to focus on the needs of specific users.
In fact, looking back on the past, almost every mobile phone of Vivo will lead a trend. In 2011, the vivo brand officially entered the field of smart phones, released the first smartphone vivo V1, supporting SRS sound effects, and the concept of music mobile phones was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Its success stemmed from the insight of users at that time about the needs of high-quality music. In the past ten years, on the four long tracks of design, imaging, system and performance, vivo technology research and development of the iron triangle has steadily promoted, with the first self-developed chip V1, under-screen fingerprint, lifting camera, micro-gimbal and many other innovative technologies leading the industry trend.
The pioneering nature of the product itself, as well as the excellent technical foundation of the long-term precipitation of the enterprise, drives the development of the industrial chain with independent innovation, which may be the basis for vivo to say that X Fold opens the folding screen 2.0 era.
Vivo X Fold may not be the first folding screen mobile phone, but from the perspective of product experience, this is indeed a mobile phone that subverts the folding screen experience. After four years of repeated polishing, Vivo is fully prepared and strides forward. In the face of the folding screen mobile phone continuously jumping market, the market performance of vivo X Fold is worth looking forward to.