Xiaomi had recently joined the ranks of the few OEMs like, Huawei and Samsung, that makes foldable devices. Now, a new patent has revealed that even Google is working on its own foldable devices that would launch sometime in the future.

According to a PatentlyApple report, the search engine giant has filed a patent that showcases their interest in foldable devices. The company filed the patent with the US Patent Office, which was published titled “Hinge Mechanism by Gear Set with Slider for Foldable Display Device.” This implies that the device in question could be a foldable smartphone, tablet, or even a netbook. In the patent, the brand highlights the issues that current foldable devices face and states that its patent offers a solution.

The Google patent first highlights the shortcomings of conventional hinge mechanisms and their issues. After which, the company offers its own solution in which, a device may “include a hinge assembly having a slider mechanism and a set of gears. The slider mechanism and the set of gears operate to transfer a rotational movement into a translational movement of one of a first housing or a second housing.”

To put it simply, the new hinge mechanism can transfer a rotational movement of the flexible device and allow bends without any damage or breakage. Unfortunately, this is still just a patent. While it implies that the Google engineering team is working on the device, it is still too early to offer anything concrete. So stay tuned for more, as we will be providing updates when additional information is available.

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A number of phone manufacturers are working on foldable phones. While some like Royole, Samsung and Huawei have commercially available foldable devices, other manufacturers have shown off prototypes or patented designs. OnePlus doesn’t belong to any of the aforementioned groups and it might remain that way for a while. The company’s CEO, Pete Lau, revealed in an interview about its plans on foldable devices and other products they are working on.

Speaking in an interview with the Italian blog, Republica.it, Pete Lau revealed they have actually been considering a foldable phone for over a year. However, they haven’t been able to make a device they believe meets the standard they want or their users deserve. Mr. Lau believes foldable phones are still niche devices and will remain so for the foreseeable future. He also believes they don’t do anything special that a traditional phone can’t do.

He is quick to clarify that he’s not writing off the technology completely. He says foldable displays actually provide interesting possibilities but the form factor for foldable phones is still too thick and the radius of curvature needs to be reduced. He concludes that it will take time for the technology to mature.

Pete Lau also spoke about the company’s other focus for now – TVs, or rather smart displays as he prefers to call them. When asked why smart displays, he responds by saying the home is the next place they want to focus on. “TVs haven’t changed much in decades, people still get home and pick up the remote to turn on the TV” which he says is outdated already. He envisages a screen powered by AI that can predict or anticipate your needs based on your habits and actions.

To achieve this OnePlus says there has to be seamless interaction between the phone and the smart display, a unifying ecosystem of some sort. This is actually the bigger picture for OnePlus. Pete Lau says that the plan is to include the car and the office in this ecosystem. No, OnePlus isn’t building a car but a platform for automobiles that seamlessly communicate with your other devices. However, it might build PCs to get into the work environment.

Pete Lau says they are taking things one step at a time but the unifying ecosystem is the bigger picture. He adds that with 5G, they should be able to offer a super virtual assistant by 2025 that will assist us in ways we can’t imagine today.

READ MORE: Leaked poster reveals OnePlus 7 Pro tag line, teases camera

The OnePlus Smart Display will adopt the same business model as the phones – insane value at an affordable price, but there is still no time frame for its release yet.

(Source, Via)

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It’s been the third consecutive year since 2017 when we will witness a further decline in the smartphone shipments. As per a new report from IDC, the smartphone shipments will drop by 0.8% in comparison with the last year. The smartphone shipments will dip to 1.39 billion this year. Although, the market seems to recover in the second half of 2019 with the year-on-year growth of 2.3%. Moreover, in the coming years, the smartphone industry will boom with a surge in smartphone volumes to 1.54 billion by 2023.

As per the report, the smartphone market is expected to be back on the growth path by the end of this year. 5G smartphones are also going to cater to the growth in the upcoming few years. IDC’s vice president, Ryan Reith has said that the reason behind the expected growth is still unknown. He further added that many reasons such as longer replacements cycles, competition from the Chinese market and various other reasons are the culprit behind sluggish growth in the past couple of years.

“The biggest question that remains unanswered is what will bring the smartphone industry back to growth,” said Ryan Reith, program vice president with IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers. “There is no question industry growth has been down for reasons that have already been identified – longer replacement cycles, a challenged China market, and geopolitical headwinds – but it is shortsighted to overlook the possibilities of some important technology advancements that are within reach with 5G probably being the most significant.”

In the year 2019, the industry is expected to witness new advancements with the introduction of foldable devices and 5G smartphones. Mainly, 5G phones are supposed to represent 0.5 percent of the total smartphones shipments among 1.395 billion smartphone volumes. Although, at snail’s pace the 5G shipments will only grow upto 26% in 2023. In other words out of 1541 billion of total shipments 26% percent will be 5G devices. In 2023, the year-on-year growth of smartphones will be at 1.7 percent.

This year is quite challenging for foldable devices. Speaking on the occasion, Sangeetika Srivastava, senior research analyst with IDC added that “Though the 5G developments and foldable screen buzz is yet to have a reality check from users, 2019 will be surely marked as a year of modernization in the smartphone market.”

Many big manufacturers have already announced 5G smartphones. Samsung has launched its Galaxy Fold with other high-end specs, while Huawei has announced the Mate X foldable phone. Similarly, some Chinese smartphone manufacturers have also come up with foldable devices. These launches will surely cater 5G adoption growth in the upcoming few months. Further, many foldable devices are pending for launch by the end of this year.

Talking about 4G shipments, then it will slowly reduce to 1105 billion shipments in 2023 by -4.4% YoY growth from 1336 billion in 2019. In total, 4G market share will dip from 95.4% to 71.7% in 2023. The ageing 3G technology will shrink to 2% in 2023 from 4.1% current market share.

The stats are quite interesting if we take a look at the growth of the smartphone market. The new generation smartphones will be witnessing a significant growth in the upcoming few years.

• Read More: Worldwide smartphone shipments to decline 3% in 2018, will return to growth in 2019: IDC

As of now, Samsung and Apple are the big OEMs which have witnessed a decline in the smartphone shipments. Despite the slow growth, the Chinese smartphone manufacturers like Xiaomi, Huawei, Vivo, Oppo are still on the top, generating most of the sales. The above informaton is compiled from the current available information by IDC.

(Source, Via)

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Samsung, Huawei, and Nubia are set to announce foldable devices over the next few days. LG says it is sitting it out for now and Xiaomi has shown off a prototype. A report says China’s TCL is also joining the party with not one but five foldable devices.

TCL is known as the licensee for BlackBerry and Alcatel brands. It owns the Palm brand too but has licensed it to another company which made the Palm phone released back in November. A report by CNET says the company has joined the foldable train and is developing two foldable smartphones, two foldable tablets, and a fifth foldable device that wraps around your wrist like a large bracelet.

According to patents and renderings, one of the tablets folds inwards while another folds outwards. The same applies to the phones too but are said to bend on the horizontal line like a flip phone. The fifth device, which sounds more exciting, can wrap around the wrist. CNET says a TCL executive told them back at CES 2019 that their first foldable phone will launch in 2020.

 READ MORE: TCL announces Alcatel 1x (2019) and Alcatel 1c (2019) at CES 2019

Don’t get too excited. There is a possibility that the design of these devices might change or any one of them might be scrapped and not see the light of day. Nevertheless, it is nice to see more players are interested in making foldable devices even though they might not become mainstream for a few more years.

(Source, Via)

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