Huawei will push a three-fold screen mobile phone? Samsung, BOE and many other manufacturers have entered the game
"Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily" on February 5 (Reporter Tang Zhixiao) A few days ago, there was news that Huawei is developing a "three-fold screen mobile phone", which will be launched in the second quarter of this year at the earliest.
According to public information, Huawei has previously released a total of three types of folding screen phones: small folding screen phones that fold up and down, the latest product is Pocket S, released on November 02, 2022, left and right outer folding phones, the latest is Mate Xs2, released on April 28, 2022, and left and right inner folding screen phones, the latest Mate X5, released on September 8, 2023.
The reporter asked Huawei for confirmation of this news, and the other party did not respond to whether there will be a release plan for a tri-fold screen mobile phone in the near future.
Subsequently, after searching Huawei-related patents from the official website of the State Intellectual Property Office, the reporter found that Huawei did register two patents related to tri-fold screens in March and July 2022. The patent description clearly mentions that the electronic device has three housings and two connectors.
According to the reporter's collation of public data, most of the current domestic folding machine screen supply is completed by BOE A, TCL Huaxing, Visionox and Shenzhen Tianma A under TCL Technology; as for the hinge part, it is supplied by Jingyan Technology and Dongmu Co., Ltd.; as for the UTG cover part, it is provided by Changxin Technology and Kaisheng Technology.
Changxin Technology recently said on the investor interactive platform that the company exclusively supplies OPPO Find N3 Flip foldable UTG products for BOE; Kaisheng Technology also recently said that the company's UTG has established good cooperation with a number of terminal manufacturers, panel companies and other customers.
According to IDC data, from the first quarter to the third quarter of 2023, China's folding screen mobile phone shipments will be 1.02 million units, 1.26 million units, and 1.96 million units, with year-on-year growth rates of 52.8%, 173%, and 90.4% respectively. In the first three quarters, Huawei ranked first in the market share, reaching 31.7%, and the remaining top five were OPPO, Samsung, Honor and vivo.
Among them, Samsung has previously shown a three-fold mobile phone concept machine.
Samsung FlexG & Flex S
At the 2021 International Information Display Society, Samsung Display showed the industry the prototype of the "three-fold solution", the prototype adopts an "S" fold structure, and when fully unfolded, this model has a 7.4-inch display area.
During MWC 2023, Samsung showcased two more high-completion tri-fold phones, including the Flex S and Flex G. Both the Flex S and Flex G are designed with a double-chain hinged fold. The former is completely folded and resembles the letter S, while the latter resembles the letter G, hence the name.
Among the domestic manufacturers, Huaxing Optoelectronics, Visionox and BOE have all displayed their tri-fold concept terminals.
CSOT trifold screen
At the beginning of March 2020, CSOT presented a concept machine with a tri-fold screen design, which is 6.65 inches when fully folded and can be unfolded up to 10.1 inches.
Visionox trifold screen
Visionox unveiled the flexible AMOLED tri-fold screen terminal at the 8th China Electronic Information Expo (CITE 2020), with a screen size of 5.4 inches when folded and 12.3 inches when unfolded.
BOE tri-fold screen
BOE also developed a prototype of f-OLED flexible "N" shaped folding display in early 2022, which supports both inward and outward folding on one screen. The screen size is only 5.6 inches when fully folded, and 12.3 inches overall when unfolded.
It is understood that the flexible AMOLED display is a multi-layer structure composed of a cover, polarizer, touch, display, back film, module support layer, etc., similar to the "mille-feuille" structure.
According to industry insiders, compared with the common folding screen products on the market, the three-fold screen needs to solve two major problems: on the one hand, the screen is folded inward and outward at the same time, and the flexible screen is subjected to compressive stress on the one hand, and tensile stress on the other, which is a huge test for the stress capacity of the flexible screen;
(Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily reporter Tang Zhixiao)