Cancelled due to coronavirus fears,
One year after it announced the Mate X foldable,
Able to unfold to eight inches and run several apps on screen at once, it aims to bridge a gap between phone and laptop. Google apps are notably absent however, owing to the ongoing US trade embargo.
In hardware terms, the improved design is purported to be much smoother and sturdier than its predecessor, to address consumer concerns around the unreliable build quality of this pioneering generation of folding phones. The first to the party, last year's Galaxy Fold was mired in technical issues when it launched - small pieces of grit and debris could work their way through the hinge and underneath the flexible screen - prompting
Launched at the tail end of 2019 to much nostalgic fanfare, the Motorola Razr sought to bring back the once-outdated clamshell design. The screen is far less prone to failure than every other folding phone that had come before, though the build quality of the slipthin, flip-phone chassis was lacking. The hinge is reported to creak with repeated use, while design compromises had to be made to accomodate the entire thing folding in half.
Manufacturers, spoiled by a postiPhone generation of solid black slabs that managed to eradicate almost every physical button going, are seemingly having to relearn how to make moving parts. And to consumers yet to be sold on the folding phone concept alone, this series of high-profile and over-priced flubs - the Razr costs a cool £1,300 - presents little motivation to move away from the status quo.
It's into this uncertain market that
Consumers are yet to be sold on the folding phone, put off by a series of high-profile and over-priced flubs
(c) 2020 City A.M., source