Foldables are the new craze in town. Samsung showed off its Galaxy Fold a few days back, followed by Huawei’s unique take on the design. But one thing’s clear. Foldables aren’t meant for the masses, not at least in the initial period. We are still a few months away from getting our hands on the recently announced foldables. The announcements were basically a formality as we still haven’t got a good look at the devices from both Samsung and Huawei. But these aren’t the only two manufacturers trying out their luck in this market.
Other Chinese companies are working hard to perfect their foldable versions. We have already seen the one from Xiaomi, but it’s still in the prototype stage. Now, even OPPO confirmed that it has been working on one, but unfortunately, you won’t be able to get your hands on it. The company’s VP, Brian Shen showed off a few real images of the OPPO Foldable smartphone but went on to say that they had no plans to mass produce it.
The OPPO Foldable phone has a similar design as the Mate X. And judging from the consumer response so far, it’s clear that the Mate X’s out folding design is preferred. So, it’s possible that this design would catch on among other manufacturers.
The decision to not mass produce the device isn’t really surprising. The technology is still in the nascent stages. It’s really a huge bet to just mass produce these devices which will have a very niche market considering their exorbitant price tag. This year’s release is more of a proof of concept rather than a device that’s worth mass production. That said, Mate X is one phone that we all are looking forward to. Despite being a first generation product, if the hardware and software work close to what we are expecting, then the company will have a winner this year.
But at present, it looks as if other manufacturers are happy watching how the market unfolds. If things go well for Samsung and Huawei, expect a lot more foldables entering the market next year.
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