According to the list of patents published by the State Intellectual Property Office a few days ago, Xiaomi has obtained an invention patent similar to a folding screen mobile phone. The idea envisions a smartphone with a two-segment, detachable structure where the two parts can be connected magnetically or by other means (snaps or latches) to provide a screen size close to that of mainstream straight-board models, while reducing costs and simplifying the body structure.
In recent years, in the diversified exploration of smartphone products, folding screen mobile phones are undoubtedly the most eye-catching focus, but this body form brings many advantages at the same time, it also faces a series of pain points that need to be solved urgently, among which the impact of screen creases on the user's visual experience has attracted the attention of many users. At the same time, the more complex internal structure of folding screen mobile phones also leads to its relatively higher cost, and the gap between the hardware configuration and the flagship straight board model is also a challenge that this type of model still needs to face.
Obviously, Xiaomi's above-mentioned patent is an exploration of these pain points, trying to avoid the crease problem caused by screen folding through structural design, and at the same time, because there is no screen folding hinge, it also bypasses the limitations of the complex internal structure of the fuselage, bringing new reference ideas for the subsequent development of folding screen mobile phones. And it is worth mentioning that the equipment conceived in this patent has a certain overlap with the current small folding, which shows that under the influence of the current large screen trend, manufacturers think about the lightness, thinness and portability of smart phones.
At present, the mass-produced folding screen mobile phone has shown a diversified product form, including horizontal outward folding, vertical inward folding, horizontal inward folding, and more avant-garde triple folding, and with the continuous breakthrough in technology of key components such as battery and heat dissipation, it has also ushered in a significant improvement in its battery life and performance, further narrowing the distance with traditional straight board models.
Although Xiaomi's patent is an exploration of the pain points of existing users of folding screen mobile phones, this solution may only stay at the level of technical reserves at this stage, and it is difficult to transform. The reason is that it has an obvious modular design idea, and its two split structures seem to adopt a similar way of contact connection, trying to solve some of the problems in the body structure, cost, and user experience of folding screen mobile phones by "building blocks".
This solution is not uncommon, the moto Z series models in the early years appeared with the same modular design, but the subsequent withdrawal of the series has actually shown that the modular design is still in the stage of "this way out". In addition, this design also faces stability challenges, although the connection method of the magnetic contact with the auxiliary buckle seems to be stable, but with the increase of use, the contact may be unstable due to wear and tear, etc., and the auxiliary buckle may also be loose, and these factors will obviously affect normal use.
Coincidentally, Honor has previously published a patent related to folding screens, but its implementation is more complex, aiming to diversify screen folding by introducing more hinges. But this approach also faces a number of challenges. Cost is clearly at the top of the list. Nowadays, with the progress of related processes, although the hinge price of folding screen mobile phones has decreased, it still accounts for about 10% of the cost of the whole machine, and more hinges will undoubtedly increase the cost.
In addition, the multi-hinge scheme brings more morphological changes, but also actually increases the complexity of the fuselage. Because the folding screen mobile phone is limited by the product form, there is a large amount of irregular space inside, which adds a lot of difficulty to the stacking of core components, and the multi-hinge design will divide the whole more "meticulously", so it will inevitably bring more irregular space, and continue to increase the difficulty of stacking the internal components of the fuselage.
At the same time, the addition of more hinges also increases the probability of failure, and the trend of pursuing durability and reliability in today's hinges is almost non-existent, and the current trend of pursuing durability and reliability in smartphone products has obviously emerged.
On the road of exploring the form of folding screen mobile phone products, mobile phone manufacturers are not the only ones who are fighting alone, and major screen manufacturers have also carried out a lot of explorations in this field. For example, TCL Huaxing applied for a patent similar to the above design of Honor as early as 2020, and showed a sample of the tri-fold form at SID 2024 (International Display Week), in addition, including Samsung, BOE, Tianma and other screen factories have also exhibited tri-fold, scroll screen and other cutting-edge forms, which also indicates that folding screen mobile phones are likely to usher in more forms in the future.
However, in the case of the rapid growth of the market share of folding screen mobile phones, although its shape changes, screen crease control, and cost reduction are now quite eye-catching, these limitations have not yet touched the deeper needs of users, that is, whether such products can truly carry and meet the actual needs of users. After all, for users who pursue efficiency and convenience, whether it can play an effective role in more scenarios is the key to measuring the value of folding screen mobile phones.
It is also based on this insight that relevant manufacturers have begun to promote the cross-terminal integration of smartphones, such as the office suite developed by vivo, which breaks the boundaries of mobile phones, tablets and PCs, and can realize functions such as remote control of PCs, compatibility with multi-format files, and seamless circulation. In addition, software manufacturers such as Kingsoft also provide PC-level office applications for folding screen mobile phones. However, on the whole, there is still a lot of room for improvement in the software ecological construction of the Android camp at this stage.
Google's adaptation scheme for folding screen mobile phones is not progressing well
Taking the adaptation of the large folding inner screen as an example, even after years of development, there is still no significant progress, the main reason is that the characteristics of the Android camp are today, resulting in the lack of motivation for developers to adapt exclusively to specific devices. In contrast, the software ecosystem of Apple's devices is obviously much better, both the number of users and the revenue are enough to drive developers to deeply adapt to it, thus ensuring the market competitiveness of iPhone, iPad and other products.
Therefore, for mobile phone manufacturers who have set foot in the field of folding screens, the innovation of product form is important, but it is obviously not enough to gain more market share. It is obviously a more critical topic to further improve the software ecology on the basis of hardware products, so that folding screen mobile phones can truly become the rigid needs of users.