The folding screen is not enough to play, huawei photo in the scroll screen

Folding screen mobile phones have entered the consumer market from a concept product into reality, so is it expected that the scroll screen mobile phone, which is more sci-fi than the folding screen, is it expected? For example, in some science fiction movies, the protagonist pulls out a metal cylinder, easily pulls out a large screen with his hand and can be used as a smart device, and the screen size can be adjusted according to demand, such a cool scene may make many people impressed by this future device.

Although it is still a product that can only be seen in movies, recently some media have learned from relevant websites that Huawei has officially submitted a new type of patent and obtained authorization, and the patent is called "flexible screen support mechanism and curlable electronic devices". Seeing the patent name Xiao Lei's first reaction is the scroll screen mobile phone, does the birth of this patent mean that Huawei is going to start to overcome the mass production problem of the scroll screen mobile phone?

At the same time, Xiao Lei couldn't help but ask a question: Is the folding screen not yet on fire, and it is about to be replaced by the scroll screen?

Scroll screen phone is coming?

Huawei's new patent describes a new flexible screen support structure, including a support structure with support components and rotating components, from Huawei's patent diagram, complex components are interconnected and can be included in the bottom position through curling, while having a certain support strength after unfolding.

The following is a new abstract of Huawei's patent: the rotating connection between adjacent support components through the first rotation axis; the rotating assembly and the supporting assembly are connected by the second rotation axis; the adjacent rotating components are rotated by the third rotation axis; the rotating component can be flipped relative to the support component and converted between the first and second states; when the rotating component is in the first state, the axis of the first rotation axis and the axis of the third rotation axis are collinear, and the adjacent support structure can be rotated relative to the first or third rotation axis. When the rotating component is in the second state, the axis of the first rotating axis intersects with the axis of the third rotating shaft, and the adjacent support structure cannot be rotated relatively, and the flexible screen support mechanism cannot be curled. The flexible screen support mechanism and the curlable electronic device provided in this application have a simple structure, a small storage space and can be applied to portable devices.

The key to this is undoubtedly the last sentence: "The flexible screen support mechanism and the curlable electronic device provided in this application have a simple structure, a small storage space and can be applied to portable devices", which basically determines that the patent is prepared for small portable mobile devices such as mobile phones and tablet computers.

From the structural point of view, Huawei's patented structure of the scroll screen is somewhat similar to the traditional bamboo jane in the mainland, except that the rotating shaft is added at both ends to assist in rolling and supporting. Behind the screen structure is supported by small and tough metal fasteners, which should be able to provide a certain amount of support when fully unfolded, so that the user does not need to maintain the fixation of the other end with his hands all the time.

Of course, this is a metaphor, the actual finished product is certainly much more complicated than the curly structure such as bamboo Jane, and there must be a tiny self-locking mechanism behind the supporting theme frame to maintain the stability of the screen after unfolding. At least from the architectural point of view, compared with the previous scroll structure has been simplified to a certain extent, the possibility of entering the mass production stage is higher.

Does that mean that scroll screen phones are coming soon? In fact, the scroll screen mobile phone has already had a concept product before, as early as November 2020 OPPO future technology conference OPPO exhibited its first scroll screen concept mobile phone OPPO X 2021, which attracted the attention of many media and digital enthusiasts at that time.

Since there was a concept product as early as 2020, why is there no news at all two years later? First of all, the scroll structure of OPPO X 2021 is quite complex, through the motor and precision structure to maintain the expansion and storage of the screen, this set of scroll structure itself requires extremely high cost, and the yield rate, no failure time, etc. are difficult to meet the standards of mass production, naturally it can only be displayed as a concept machine.

Huawei's scroll screen patent is much simpler than the structure of OPPO from the description point of view, the space occupied by the structure is significantly less than the products that OPPO shows in 2020, and the volume reduction of the scroll structure will effectively improve the user's experience for mobile phones with little space inside, so that it can no longer be displayed as a concept product.

However, it is still too early to discuss when the scroll screen mobile phone will be launched, although it is feasible from a technical point of view, but the mobile phone as a mass-produced commercial product, must take into account the cost and reliability, if these two problems can not be solved, then the commercialization of the scroll screen mobile phone will not come.

Basically, it can be determined that in the next three years, the form of smart phones should stop at the folding stage, and only after the flexible screen, scroll structure and other problems have been solved, we will see the scroll screen appear in the consumer market.

What are the advantages of the scroll screen?

In addition to the scroll screen looking more "cool", what are the advantages over the folding screen? Do we really need scroll screen phones? Although Xiao Lei can't cross to the future to see the development and situation of the two-eyed scroll screen mobile phone, but starting from OPPO X 2021 and Huawei's new patents, we can still make some inferences.

The first is the advantage of the scroll screen, and the biggest disadvantage of today's flexible folding screen mobile phones is that the creases and volume and weight of the folding are larger than those of traditional mobile phones. Although the latest generation of folding screen mobile phones has solved the crease problem to a certain extent, but this problem caused by physical phenomena is impossible to eliminate 100%, and the crease is only a matter of time.

However, the crease problem will no longer exist on the scroll screen, and everyone can imagine the flexible screen as a white paper, and a white paper rolled into a cylinder will generally not have wrinkles and other marks on the surface after being smoothed. As long as the bending degree of the white paper folded in half is less than a certain angle, there will inevitably be folds after unfolding, and it is inevitable that the impact on the flexible screen will be affected for a long time.

In addition, starting from the characteristics of the flexible screen itself, the flexible screen screen of the scroll screen will also have higher reliability and life, because the curvature of the curl storage is significantly greater than that of the folding folding screen, so as to avoid long-term squeezing damage to the screen itself.

And the structure of the scroll screen allows users to adjust the screen size to become a possibility, and now the folding screen mobile phone also has a problem that the large screen is basically fixed to twice the external screen or small screen, and in the process of use, there will occasionally be a small screen mode that is too small, and the large screen mode is too large and difficult to hold with one hand, and the scroll screen will solve this problem, allowing users to adjust the screen to the right size.

Of course, the scroll screen is not all advantages, and the folding screen mobile phone, the scroll screen mobile phone also has to face the fragile flexible screen is difficult to be perfect protection problem, can only rely on the future development of a more resilient and restorative protective layer to solve this problem.

In addition, the reliability of the reel structure is a problem, even if Huawei's reel patent is simplified, the fineness of the entire reel structure is still very high, and the dustproof and waterproof problems after unfolding without sealing treatment will be very prominent. Moreover, the protection of the storage part of the reel will also give engineers a headache, at least from a structural point of view, the internal reliability of the reel screen may be lower than the folding screen.

As a product for ordinary people, a disadvantage of low light reliability may make the scroll screen mobile phone can never appear in the consumer goods market, I think no one can accept a mobile phone that needs to be used carefully.

However, from the perspective of Huawei's patents, we can at least see some of Huawei's ideas on high-end mobile phone products, folding, scrolls and other flexible screen technology based mobile phones will become the mainstream of high-end mobile phones in the future, and it can also be seen that Huawei is still the only one in China in terms of research and development level.

In fact, from the parameters of Mate Xs 2, it can be seen that Huawei has excellent skills in flexible screen structure and fuselage design, otherwise it is impossible to reduce the thickness and weight of a folding screen mobile phone to a degree close to that of ordinary mobile phones. Although there are many disadvantages of the fold-out design, the Mate Xs 2 may also be the best mobile phone to hold in the current small screen mode.

Can Huawei in the future bring us a truly practical scroll screen phone? Let's talk about your opinion.