The first XIAOMI foldable smartphone is expected to be released in 2021

 There are no revolutions taking place in the smartphone market right now. It was expected that the emergence of foldable devices with flexible displays would be the event that would revolutionize the industry. As a result, we got expensive and incomprehensible smartphones that many want to show. But they lack clear positioning and understanding of the benefits that the consumer will receive. Now, it seems that the foldable smartphone is getting ready to be presented by Xiaomi as well. 

At the very beginning of last year, a video was posted on the network, where the president of the company, Lin Bin, sits with a compact tablet in his hands and flips through social networks. And then with a slight movement of the hands, the device is transformed into a smartphone. Moreover, it bends on both sides.

Then it was said that the company will be ready to present a commercial version of the foldable smartphone. But this never happened until today. It will not happen this year either. Chinese sources said that Xiaomi will launch its first foldable smartphone next year.

Earlier, Xiaomi President Lin Bin said that in creating a dual-fold mobile smartphone, they were able to overcome a number of technical challenges. This includes flexible matrix technology, hinge mechanism, flexible matrix coating and MIUI adaptation. And it will be the world’s first dual-fold smartphone.

But it seems that the Xiaomi foldable smartphone is still far from perfect and there still some problems. One of them is that the smartphone should not be expensive. Yes, the company has already stepped into the territory of flagships from A-brands and began to produce expensive devices.

But in the case of a foldable smartphone, it runs the risk of not finding its audience who is willing to pay a lot for the experiment. I think that the reaction from users to the concept Xiaomi Mi Mix Alpha confirmed that the audience is not ready to buy such products at a high price.

Samsung plans 3 types of foldable phones in 2021

Samsung is reportedly planning to launch three kinds of foldable smartphone models next year.

According to OLED research firm UBI Research, these will likely be called Galaxy Z Flip 2, Galaxy Z Fold 3 and a new Galaxy Z Fold Lite.

Foldable phones are getting cheaper

According to The Elec, a reliable source in general, we will see the more affordable Galaxy Z Fold Lite model in 2021. These will be followed by the two flagship models Galaxy Z Flip 2 and Galaxy Z Fold 3. It’s going to be a good year for Samsung foldable phones.

All three models will use ultra-thin glass as cover windows.

Galaxy Z Flip 2 will have a 6.7-inch internal screen and a 3-inch external screen.

The internal screen size is the same as the first Galaxy Z Flip launched earlier this year. But the external screen size has increased from the 1.1-inch of the original Flip.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold Lite will offer the same display configuration (probably without the under-display camera tech) paired with cheaper internals to achieve a lower price point.

The Z Flip successor will come with the same 6.7-inch foldable panel but a bigger 3-inch external one, compared to the original Z Flip's outer display of just 1.1-inch.

The report also said that the Z Fold3 will have S Pen support.

The company earlier introduced Galaxy Z Fold2 that sports a 6.2-inch cover screen and a 7.6-inch main screen when unfolded.

Galaxy Z Fold2 is Samsung's third foldable smartphone after Galaxy Fold and Galaxy Z Flip.

Foldable smartphones coming in 2021

 According to Ross Young of DisplaySearch, a good source of information regarding smartphone screen tech in the past few months, 2021 will be a great year for foldables. Specifically, the second half of next year.

That's when, Young says, we'll see such devices launched by Oppo, vivo, Xiaomi, as well as Google. That's on top of Samsung's expected Galaxy Z Fold3, Z Flip2, and Z Flip Lite. On that point, Young insists that the much rumored Fold3 Lite won't happen, instead the 'affordable foldable' will be of the Flip variety. We'll have to wait and see.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 coming with S Pen, new ultra-thin glass in June 2021

A new report from Korea claims that Samsung will push the Galaxy Z Fold3 from a Fall announcement to June of 2021. More importantly, the report claims that the Galaxy Z Fold3 will not only support an S Pen, but have it embedded into the device's body, like on the Galaxy Note series.

Samsung will reportedly be able to make the S Pen work on the flexible screen on the Galaxy Z Fold 3 thanks to second generation Ultra thin glass. It will reportedly be hard enough so as to not be marked by the S Pen.

The Galaxy Z Fold 3 will also use an under display selfie camera for an uninterrupted display experience. Samsung reportedly though about a pop-up camera on its next foldable, but decided against it for durability reasons.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip Lite may be on the way

Foldable smartphones may or may not be the future, but one thing's for sure: they're still very expensive at the moment. In the past, we heard Samsung was working on a Galaxy Z Fold Lite that would be cheaper than the Z Fold 2, but now it seems that project may have been shelved.

The information comes from Ross Young, founder of DSCC and frequent purveyor of foldable-related rumors (with a decent track record no less). He says he hasn't heard about the Z Fold Lite in a while, which may indicate it was shelved.

Not all hope is lost for a more affordable foldable, though. That's because recently Young has been hearing about a Galaxy Z Flip Lite, which would supposedly aim to be cheaper than the Z Flip. Interestingly, the Lite model will keep the Ultra Thin Glass employed in the Z Flip.

Oppo X 2021 rollable concept phone

The biggest wow factor with this device is that it doesn’t have a fixed display size as it can adjust between 6.7 and 7.4-inches in diagonal which presents new opportunities for developers and users. Oppo gives the example of clicking a video link which then results in the screen adjusting for the aspect ratio on its own.

In its basic form, the display is 6.7-inches. It’s an OLED panel with a proprietary Warp Track high-strength screen laminate part of which sits below the actual display and is just 0.1mm thick at its thinnest point. We don’t get specifics on the actual material on the outside layer of the display but it's presumably some sort of plastic.

Thanks to its dual rolling motors underneath the display Oppo managed to achieve a zero-crease screen, something current foldables are still trying to overcome. The motors can retract and extend the display with equally distributed force on both halves.

Going back to the other companies, it's perhaps no surprise that the Chinese players are in the game, but Google will launch one foldable Pixel too. Between the three of them, Oppo, vivo, and Xiaomi will out a total of four foldable devices.

While Young uses the phrase "foldable smartphones", we have to wonder whether this list may also include a rollable model, akin to the Oppo X 2021 concept. Or better put, we're daydreaming about that possibility over here. Perhaps in a year the technology will be mature enough to be put through mass production. We can only hope.