At one point in time not too long ago it looked like Samsung was going to be runaway leader in foldable smartphones with Apple a few years behind. Then out of nowhere Huawei introduced their Mate X on February 24th with news that many others were working on a future foldable phone like Motorola or Xiaomi.
Even Google is getting in the trend as a patent application has been published proving their interest in developing folding phone, though more simplistic than those from Samsung and Huawei.
Google's patent FIG. 1 below is a perspective view of a computing device that includes a foldable display with a single inward fold and the foldable display in a partially folded configuration; FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the computing device with a single inward fold, with the display in a folded configuration.
Google's patent FIG. 5 below is a schematic diagram of a foldable display having a bendable section that is bent around a minimum radius, R.sub.min; FIG. 6 is a graph showing an example stiffness curve for a foldable display in which the limit radius is reached when the foldable display is folded.
Beyond Google, we've learnt that ZTE is also hard at work with a foldable smartphone design closer to that of Samsung's Galaxy Fold. The images below came from ZTE's patent application 201830075747.2 published in late December 2018 in China.
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