All the Incoming Foldable Phones of 2019
With Google betting on a foldable future for Android, it seems all phone manufacturers are getting these type of devices ready. Even Apple is reportedly looking into this form factor (though certainly not this year), which offers the convenience of extreme portability when folded and a larger screen whenever you need it.
Update April 23:Samsung has delayed the April 25 launch of the Galaxy Fold, and there's no specific date on when the phone will ship. You can read our updated Galaxy Fold review to find out what we think about the phone.
Samsung Galaxy Fold
After years where it seemed like a Samsung foldable phone was on the verge of being launched, Samsung finally made good on years of hype — though we could be in for an additional wait for Samsung's foldable phone.
Here's what we do know about the Fold, especially now that we've had the chance to use the phone ourselves. It connects over LTE, though Samsung says ia 5G-ready version will be offered later on.
The batteries are split into two, one on each side, for a combined power pack of 4,380 mAh. The 7-nanometer processor powering the device is aided by 12GB of RAM. And the Galaxy Fold offers six cameras total — three on the back panel, two inside, and one up front.
More problematic have been reports about problems with the screen. While two of the cases are being attributed to reviewers inadvertently removing the protecting layer from the Fold's screen, other devices have run into problems as well, ranging from a bulge in the display to part of the screen going blank.
When announcing the delayed Fold launch, Samsung said some issues "could be associated with impact on the top and bottom exposed areas of the hinge. There was also an instance where substances found inside the device affected the display performance."
Once it ships, the Fold may just be Samsung's initial entry into the new field of foldable phones. Assorted patent filings indicate Samsung has other designs on the drawing board, from a phone that folds in two places to a device that can bend its way around your arm. These are just patents so they may never result in shipping products — and likely won't in 2019 — but it shows just how serious Samsung is about folding devices.
MORE: Galaxy Fold vs. Huawei Mate X: Which Foldable Phone Will Win?
Pre-orders for the Fold began April 12. AT&T is taking pre-orders, too, and you'll pay $66 a month over 30 months if you buy your Fold through an AT&T Next installment plan. Best Buy and T-Mobile are offering the phone, too, though it's unclear how the rumored delay in the Fold's launch will impact those plans.
Huawei Mate X
Huawei's folding phone has surfaced, and at €2,299, the Mate X is not going to come cheaply.
We're expecting to see the Mate X arrive in June, though in keeping with Huawei's recent launch strategy, we're unlikely to see this foldable phone in the U.S.
MORE: 7 Ways the Huawei Mate X Beats the Galaxy Fold
Royole FlexPai
The world’s first foldable phone already debuted last November. It isn’t as polished as Huawei or Samsung’s but, hey, the little Chinese David beat the two Goliaths to be first to market. Called the FlexPai, it has a 7.8-inch AMOLED screen with a 1920 x 1440 resolution and measures 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.3 inches.
We had a chance to go hands-on with the FlexPai during CES, and it's a more polished experience than initial videos of the phone might have you believe. Folding the FlexPai is relatively fluid, and you can use the phone in full-screen, phone-sized and tent modes. The device also doesn't feel that heavy. Still, the FlexPai felt a little unfinished, like it had been rushed to market to beat the bigger players. We hope to eventually test out the cameras and see how this phone holds up to everyday use.
Motorola
The brand now owned by Lenovo may resuscitate its legendary RAZR model in the form of a foldable phone, at least judging from US Patent and Trademark Office patents found by Dutch tech blog Mobielkopen and confirmed by a January report in the Wall Street Journal.
According to TechRadar, Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing said that foldable screens may be the key to reintroduce the RAZR, a really compact flip phone that expands into a full screen similar to the 6.5-inch phones we have today.
“With the new technology, especially folding screens, I think you will see more and more innovation in our smartphone design," he told TechRadar. "so hopefully what you just described [the RAZR] will be developed or realized very soon." Patents spotted on the World Intellectual Property Office database seem to back that approach up. A firm named Yanko Design followed weeks later with a mockup, seen below, based on sketches filed in those patents.
Motorola essentially confirmed it will come out with a foldable phone in an interview with Engadget. Motorola has "no intention of coming later than everybody else in the market," Motorola vice president of global product Dan Dery said.
MORE: Motorola Razr Rumors: Release Date, Price and Specs
Xiaomi
Xiaomi's folding phone has gone from prototype to a more polished promotional video that emphasizes what an eye-catching design Xiaomi is working on. It's a double-folding phone where the top and bottom of the tablet-sized screen fold down, leaving you with a compact (if chunky) smartphone.
The latest video, posted to Weibo, shows us what the phone will look like when it folds and how it will work when unfolded. Xiaomi's effort could be called the Xiaomi Dual Flex or Xiaomi MIX Flex, and it's unclear when it will available.
Oppo
There have been rumblings about Oppo's foldable phone plans, first uncovered by Mobielkopen in the form of patent filings. And now the Chinese phone maker has come out and said that it's ready to build a folding phone — if there's enough interest.
In his post, Shen said the foldable phone could enter mass production if Oppo sees enough customer demand.
ZTE
ZTE has filed patents not just for a phone that folds in in itself, but also a phone with a wrap-around display. While drawings reveal the general design of each, their size, price, and development progress is not yet known.
LG
Mobile World Congress came and went this year without an LG foldable phone, as had been rumored. Instead, the company showed off the new LG G8 ThinQ and 5G-ready LG V50 ThinQ phones, right after LG president Kwon Bong-seok, told the Korea Times that it's premature to come out with a folding device. "We have reviewed releasing the foldable smartphone when launching 5G smartphone but decided not to produce it," the LG executive said. Instead, the company is focusing on its 5G device for now.
The Dual Display add-on won't be coming to the U.S. LG hasn't announced pricing.
Still, let's not assume LG has given up on a foldable device entirely, especially after IP Park, chief technology officer and president of LG Electronics, told us at CES that his company was working on both rollable and foldable phones. And recent trademark filings suggest that LG is at the very least lining up potential names for a rollable device.
There’s also another patent — filed on November 20, 2018 — that shows this strange foldable by LG:
MORE: Smartphones With the Longest Battery Life - A Comparison
Other prototypes
We're doubtlessly going to hear from other device makers about foldable phone plans, especially if the Galaxy Fold and Huawei Mate X prove to be popular once they ship. For now, though, we'll have to satisfy ourselves with concept designs.
Google has patents of its own for a phone that folds in two and three places. That, plus Google's work on a version of Android that supports devices with flexible screens, has fueled speculation that we could one day see a foldable Pixel.
2020: Apple?
And finally, there’s Apple. The Cupertino company is not talking about its foldable plans at all, but there’s no doubt they are working on exploring different designs, as this patent on hinge designs show.
