Although affected by the epidemic, manufacturers have moved their press conferences online, but the pace of product updates has not been completely disrupted. Recently, many new mobile phones have been introduced to the market, including conventional phones with further hardware specifications, as well as folding screen phones such as Galaxy Z Flip and Huawei MateXs.

Coincidentally, Rouyu Technology, which launched FlexPai as early as 2018, has also brought their new generation of folding screen phone FlexPai 2. Considering the previous Samsung Galaxy Fold, Samsung W20 5G, Huawei Mate X and Motorola Razr 2019, there are many related products on the market.

Even so, compared with traditional mobile phone products, the absolute number is still much less. In addition, although they are all called folding screen phones, there are some differences in product logic and technology. So why do manufacturers invest huge R&D costs to promote folding screen phones? What new progress has been made in technology?

What can the folding screen bring?

Cool is the first impression of folding screen mobile phones, but the product form change is only the external expression of its core demands. The former serves the latter. As we all know, folding screen phones are currently divided into two major categories, horizontal folding and vertical folding, of which horizontal folding is subdivided into inversion and eversion, and the actual experience brought by different folding methods is also very different.

The core demand of horizontal folding is the large screen.

After touch replaced traditional physical keys as the main control method, the straight mobile phone represented by iPhone 4 ended the product form dispute that lasted for several years, and it still occupies a dominant position until now. The core reason why it can be recognized by manufacturers and consumers is that it is conducive to making the screen larger and bringing better touch and viewing experience.

However, mobile phones are mobile devices after all. Considering the portability and grip of the product itself, the screen size will eventually have an upper limit. As a result, the concept of full screen was also applied. By narrowing the width of the frame, a larger screen can be inserted under the same body volume, but this is just a transition scheme. It is very difficult to move forward.

The folding screen mobile phone with horizontal folding scheme can just solve this problem. As we can see on Softpack mobile phones, Samsung Galaxy Fold and Huawei Mate X, they have achieved the industry challenge of improving screen size by folding the screen while retaining the portability of mobile phones.

However, as we mentioned earlier, although many manufacturers have chosen the design idea of horizontal folding, the folding methods are different. Rouyu and Huawei adopt the outward turning method, while Samsung adopts the inward turning method.

Both approaches have advantages and disadvantages. Because the folding screen mobile phone has a large screen size when it is unfolded, it must be folded when talking or carrying, so the inner folding mobile phone will face the embarrassment of not seeing the screen after folding. The screen of the folding mobile phone is exposed after folding, so the maintenance cost of the phone body is high, and it needs sufficient support from material science. However, from the perspective of long-term development of the industry, with the improvement of flexible screen and hinge technology, the folding out mode is more suitable for the portability and convenience of mobile phones.

As for vertical folding, its core appeal is portability, which is vividly reflected in Motorola Razr 2019 and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip. By using the folding feature of the screen, the product size can be greatly reduced, thus achieving the portability that conventional mobile phones cannot match. However, since portability is not the main user pain point at present, how far this scheme can go remains to be discussed.

"Change" of the second generation folding screen mobile phones

For Rouyu, Samsung and Huawei, the first generation of folding screen mobile phones are obviously not aimed at making profits. Their greater significance lies in shortening the trial and error cycle through market feedback, establishing a feasible product scheme, and verifying the correctness of the technical direction. Facts have also proved that their attempts in the general direction conform to the laws of industry development.

After the initial trial and error stage, how to make the product itself easier to use, so as to promote the product to be accepted by the broad market, has become a new problem that manufacturers need to overcome. Therefore, we have seen some new technological changes in Samsung Galaxy Z Flip, Huawei MateXs and FlexPai 2.

On the Galaxy Z Flip, Samsung introduced UTG ultra-thin glass technology. In theory, compared with polyimide film material, the advantages of glass are mainly reflected in three aspects: high hardness, thin thickness and good light transmittance. However, it just added a layer of ultra-thin glass to the screen, instead of directly covering the periphery of the screen, the part of the screen that we can reach is still plastic film. In other words, this time its screen display effect will be more or less improved, but the extent may not be as obvious as most people think.

The change of hinge is relatively easy to perceive. Samsung uses a folding technology officially called multi angle hover on the Galaxy Z Flip. The obvious difference between Samsung and the Galaxy Fold is that it supports the expansion of the screen at multiple angles (similar to the Surface BOOK and YOGA in PC products), so that the product can stand in various forms.

Compared with Samsung Galaxy Z Flip, Huawei MateXs has not changed much with the naked eye, mainly because it has improved and supplemented all aspects on the basis of the previous generation. Specifically, it still adopts the eagle wing folding screen design, but uses double-layer aerospace grade polyimide flexible material, which further improves the durability of the screen. In addition, the hinge strength is further improved, making the screen open and close more smoothly.

Rouyu Technology, the first to launch folding screen mobile phones, has also added many impressive technological changes to FlexPai 2.

The first is the screen upgrade. FlexPai 2 adopts the third generation of Cicada wing full flexible screen of Rouyu. In view of the main pain points in the current application of full flexible screen, such as creasing, sliding, display failure after bending, it has carried out a comprehensive technical upgrade in reliability, display performance and other aspects, and a number of core indicators have reached the best level in the industry.

It is understood that Rouyu not only independently conducted more than 200000 bending experiments on more than 10 mold layer materials, but also conducted more than 200000 bending experiments on complete display modules, hinges and the whole machine, and found the best solution to comprehensively improve the reliability of the flexible screen.

At the same time, in view of the new display form of the full flexible screen, Rouyu has independently defined a new generation of intelligent display driver chip and circuit design. The brightness of the third generation of Cicada wing full flexible screen is 50% higher than that of the second generation. Other optical parameters, including contrast, color gamut, response speed, etc., have also reached the industry-leading color display effect.

In addition to the screen, Rouyu Technology has also made new progress in the hinge part, that is, FlexPai 2 uses an innovative super seal&Stepless Hinge (referred to as 3S axis), with an ultra precision processing technology of 0.01mm, so that the hinge can better protect the screen against falling impact and extrusion. While realizing seamless folding, it can also support the screen to bend and stop at any angle from 0 ° to 180 °, which is also not satisfied by other horizontal folding screen phones at present.

This also means that its use mode has more imagination space on the basis of previous mobile phones and tablets. For example, when it is not convenient to hold the phone, you can adjust the opening and closing angle of the screen according to your own use needs, so that the phone can stand on a plane, thus obtaining a more convenient viewing experience, which is impossible for such products before.

It is conceivable that after the adjustable angle of the hinge is increased, the requirements for its durability in actual use are higher than before. Therefore, this time, Rouyu Technology used aviation grade aluminum titanium alloy and liquid metal in the hinge core components, giving consideration to both lightweight and its own strength, which can provide better support for the screen.

Looking back at the new generation of folding screen mobile phones of various companies this year, the screen and hinge are still the undisputed core points, but on the basis of the previous, everyone has taken a big step forward. Under the premise of folding, new achievements have been made in the reliability of the screen and the ease of use of the product itself, which has also accelerated the pace of such products to the mass market once again.

The future of folding screens

It is not easy for a new technology to be launched and popularized, and it needs to be supported by a large enough market width. As far as the folding screen is concerned, no product is more suitable for this role than the mobile phone. However, the genes of each company are different, and they also have their own thoughts on product logic and technical route.

As for the definition of the company, Liu Zihong, chairman and CEO of Rouyu Technology, said publicly earlier, "From the market side, Rouyu Technology is now a To C company, which may be similar to Samsung's model. However, each company's technology and specific application methods will be different. To B is still To C, which is not absolute."

In a sense, the folding screen mobile phone is not only the concentrated embodiment of the flexible screen technology of Rouyu Technology, but also provides a set of reference solutions for the industry. Once the mobile phone line runs smoothly, its application in fields such as smart mobile devices, intelligent transportation, entertainment media, smart home, sports fashion, office education, etc. will also be much easier.

Of course, compared with conventional mobile phone products, there are really too few folding screen phones in terms of product model or absolute number. For new technologies, people always have many expectations. However, in the long history of scientific and technological development, there are many examples that were once favored by everyone but ultimately died. However, there is no shortcut to verify whether it can be accepted by the broad market, only constant trial and error.

To speed up the process of trial and error, we need to work together. The arrival of FlexPai 2 has once again expanded the folding screen camp and enabled it to get market validation faster, so as to go through the trial and error stage as soon as possible, establish a set of folding screen solutions widely recognized by the industry, and then promote them to more terminal products.