Last year, we saw brands like OPPO and Vivo taking up the fight against display notches by launching smartphones with a slider design and elevating selfie camera. This year, we are expecting the fight against notches to get more intense as smartphone brands gear up to launch phones with punch-hole displays. It’s literally going to be a design trend this year in the smartphone industry. However, 2019 will also be a year of foldable display smartphones finally becoming a reality. Samsung is expected to launch its foldable smartphone next month on February 20. OPPO, too, is expected to do the same at its MWC event. Well, it looks like Xiaomi also wants to hop onto this bandwagon as the company has already developed a foldable display smartphone that’s shown off in a video by the company president.
Xiaomi President and Co-Founder Lin Bin has shared a short hands-on video (attached below) of the company’s first foldable smartphone. And, unlike Samsung’s foldable smartphone, Xiaomi’s smartphone folds from both the left and right side.
https://www.facebook.com/donovansung/videos/10108954209683823/
As evident from the video, the smartphone is running MIUI which is obvious. The smartphone doesn’t have any notch, and, its back has a shiny finish, but it’s currently unclear whether it’s a glass body or plastic. The phone looks pretty large but turns compact and easy to use with one hand after it’s folded from both the sides. Well, this is the same smartphone that was leaked by popular leakster Evan Blass earlier this month.
Bin, in a post on Chinese social network Weibo, said that the company overcame technical problems like “flexible folding screen technology, four-wheel drive folding shaft technology, flexible cover technology, and MIUI adaptation” to build this double-side folding smartphone.
That said, this is still a prototype, and there’s no word on when Xiaomi will begin its mass production. However, Bin said that if this phone garners much interest and is liked by people, the company will start its mass production.
This phone also doesn’t have any name right now, but Bin has come up with two names for it – Xiaomi Dual Flex and Xiaomi MIX Flex. Which one do you like more?
Xiaomi has scheduled its MWC 2019 event on February 24 where it’s expected to unveil the 5G variant of Mi MIX 3. We might see the company revealing more details about its foldable smartphone as well at this event.
