Will wraparound screens and folding screens start a new battle for mobile phones?

It has been ten years since the death of Steve Jobs, who is missed by everyone. The mobile phone industry has changed a lot in recent years. However, the technical innovation of mobile phones has long been stagnant, and stacking configurations has become a means of competition for major manufacturers. Among them, the technical innovation of screens is regarded as a breakthrough point in the industry.

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Apple phones have returned to straight screens, Samsung has re-entered the folding screen market, and Xiaomi has a concept phone with a surround screen. The screen space of mobile phones is gradually increasing, and a straight screen can no longer meet the needs of young people today.

But objectively speaking, there has been no breakthrough in the systems or screens of mobile phones on the market.

Recently, Apple's newly granted patent for an "electronic device with a wraparound display" was exposed. The patent describes a method for making a wraparound display. Obviously, Apple intends to design the iPhone as a wraparound screen. At the same time, Samsung's two folding smartphones GALAXY Z Fold3 and GALAXY Z Flip3 have sold more than 1 million units in South Korea 39 days after they were launched.

Faced with the full-screen Xiaomi and the new generation of iPhone with notch screen, as well as the hole-punch and curved screen Huawei and OV, will the wraparound screen and folding screen be the future trend?

Is the era of straight screen over?

With the launch of iPhone 4, Steve Jobs gave new life to the mobile phone. The $199 phone replaced flip phones and button phones such as Nokia and Motorola, and brought a new touch screen. It was imitated by countless brands at one time. Old brands withdrew from the stage of history, and new brands emerged like mushrooms after rain.

Samsung, BBK, Nokia and others are all transforming, but Nokia, once a mobile phone giant, was eliminated first. The mobile phone that everyone had was eventually replaced. The reason was that its cooperation with Microsoft at the time made Nokia miss the opportunity to install the Android system. In just three years, the giant of the feature phone era fell silent and was eventually acquired by Microsoft. To this day, phones with Microsoft systems have not replaced Android phones.

Nowadays, Samsung, Xiaomi and Apple are ranked in the top three in global sales. Mobile phone screens have always been dominated by straight screens, and the camera design has become the biggest difference between each generation of mobile phones, from the notch screen to the water drop screen to the hole screen, and now Xiaomi has launched a full screen, which has been shrinking the front camera until it is hidden under the screen. Secondly, the resolution of the screen is also the most concerned issue after the processor. According to DxOMark's test results on the screen, the iPhone13Promax surpassed Huawei and Samsung with a high score of 99 points. It uses adaptive high refresh technology and adjusts itself from 1 to 120Hz. The supplier is still Samsung. Although the notch screen is still there, the high refresh rate is installed on the iPhone series for the first time, bringing a new experience to users.

While the screen refresh rate is constantly increasing, the screen size is also expanding. 6.7 inches is the largest size of straight-screen mobile phones today. In order to expand the scope of screen use, Samsung, Huawei and Xiaomi are all trying various folding phones. As early as the SDC 2018 Developer Conference, Samsung exhibited a foldable Galaxy phone. Under the trend that the iPhone has led for ten years, flexible screens have entered the vision of developers. Nearly three years have passed, and Samsung's folding screen mobile phone has been updated for three generations. Other brands' high-end series have folding screens. Does this mean that the era of folding screens will come in a short time?

The MIX FLOD launched by Xiaomi is a folding screen that can be opened from left to right. It has a thickness of 7.62mm, a screen size of 8.01 inches when opened, a resolution of 2480*1860, a battery capacity of up to 5020mAh, and high configurations such as processor and memory. It is priced from 9999. As the cheapest folding screen mobile phone in the world, its sales are not satisfactory. Since its release in April, according to the online sales statistics of the flagship store, it has only sold 11,000 yuan, which is more than 20,000 less than the sales of the straight screen MIX4 of the same series launched by Xiaomi in August. Xiaomi's folding screen has not been sold well.

On the other hand, Samsung's latest Galaxy Z Fold series of mobile phones are quite popular in South Korea. Compared with Xiaomi, Samsung's screen has obvious advantages, high refresh rate, 6.4mm body thickness and 7.6-inch unfolded screen size, all of which make folding screen mobile phones no longer so bulky. The left and right screens of the folding screen can be independent of each other or connected as one screen. For Samsung, which is obsessed with making office phones with pen, perhaps it is the real sense to meet the needs of mobile phones. However, the price of 14,999 yuan has also discouraged many users who want to try it. According to incomplete statistics, this mobile phone, which has a high sales volume in South Korea, has only sold 5,601 units in China.

Users of screens that fold left and right tend to be male, while screens that fold up and down are more favored by female users. The Galaxy Z Flip series of mobile phones are more inclined to female users in terms of color and size. The compact shape has ultra-high configuration, a body thickness of 6.9mm, an unfolded size of 6.7 inches, and a price starting at 7599. It is indeed more attractive to users who want to re-experience small-screen mobile phones. Xiaohongshu search data shows that most girls show the shell and small screen display of the mobile phone in a folded state. Because of its small appearance, it is mostly equipped with a cute cartoon style. This phone is obviously more popular, with 81 units sold in just 24 hours, and the total number reaching 12,000 units.

Folding screens have been developed by Samsung to the third generation, and improvements have been made to problems such as screen fragility and obvious creases. However, the concept of surround screens has always been questioned by most people. In 2019, Xiaomi MIX Alpha was launched at the Xiaomi 9 Pro conference, but it has not been launched yet. As a surround screen concept phone, it has attracted the attention of users. The 180.6% screen-to-body ratio, aviation-grade titanium alloy materials for the bottom and frame, and ceramic frames at the joints all illustrate Xiaomi's ambition to develop surround screens. Apple's application for a "surround display" patent has brought speculation about a surround screen concept phone, but Xiaomi's surround screen phone has not been launched yet, which has also made users wonder whether the surround screen is not suitable for the current mobile phone market. Is there any practicality behind the cool sense of technology? Will the real phone be eliminated after it is launched?

Whether the advent of wraparound screens will be accepted by users like foldable screens is still an unknown, after all, the era of foldable screens has not yet arrived. Currently, Samsung has absolute say in foldable screen phones. In the high-end phone market, Apple's hegemony is gradually shifting downward, and the two phones, GALAXY Z Fold3 and GALAXY Z Flip3, almost occupy the entire foldable phone market. The emergence of foldable screens is a breakthrough for the exploration of screens and electronic technology products to break the limitations of space.

Has the shortage of mobile phone chips become the norm?

The current wrap-around screen or folding screen concept phones have not attracted the attention of users, but the topic of Apple and Android phones has remained hot. Every year, Apple's autumn conference will become the most watched hot spot in September. Apple has always been far ahead, and Android phones have been constantly imitating, whether in appearance or built-in interface, but in recent years, Apple's changes can be said to be relatively unchanged, and each update is only a minor change, and it has remained in the same place.

However, Apple is proud of its A series chips and their supporting iOS system, which are indeed unsurpassed by Android phones. Android phones are constantly trying to independently develop chips that are compatible with them. Samsung's "artik chip" research and development has long been mature. For domestic mobile phones such as Huawei, Xiaomi and OV, they are still in the stage of trial and error. Huawei's chip shortage, Xiaomi's S1 chip failure, vivo's semi-customized strategy in cooperation with Samsung, and OPPO's Jinsheng Communication all aim to make independent chips. There is still a long way to go to achieve this goal.

Take Xiaomi's chip manufacturing as an example. Seven years and a billion investment may only be the starting stage for chip manufacturing. The Pengpai S1 chip, which took 28 months to manufacture, was 12nm behind the mainstream chips developed by Qualcomm, MediaTek and others at the time. Since then, the research and development of chips has fallen into trouble, and there has been no news about the S2 chip. The research on chips has encountered bottlenecks, but Xiaomi has not stopped. In 2017, the establishment of Hubei Xiaomi Yangtze River Industry Fund shifted its target to investing in other chip-related companies. At the same time, it also shifted chip research to AI and IoT chips in the semiconductor field and mobile phone SoC chips and AI chips. The joint development of multiple parties will be Xiaomi's second task after the research on the S1 chip.

Chip research requires precision instruments. With the current development, it will definitely take more than 7 years to break through this barrier. Huawei HiSilicon successfully developed C&C08 in 1993. The A-type machine using SD509 entered the rural market with a super high cost performance. Then, the C-type machine occupied the city. By 2003, the cumulative sales reached 100 billion yuan. During this period, HiSilicon has been researching wireless base station projects, but encountered problems such as incompatibility, which caused many projects to fail. The experience brought by failure allowed HiSilicon to clarify the research direction. Finally, the advent of Balong 700 became the first mountain to be crossed. Then the Kirin series came out, and Huawei mobile phones came into being.

Huawei and Xiaomi are developing chips at a very high speed, but the difficulties they encounter are beyond imagination. It may take several years to overcome a difficult hurdle. If you are lucky, you will win success, but if you are unlucky, you will have to start all over again. In addition to hardships, the chip research process also brings sacrifices. Wang Jin, the head of Huawei's baseband project, who was known as "the hard worker" and "the one who can chew the hardest bones", passed away due to overwork at the age of 42. What he left to the chip industry was advanced technology, strong barriers, and a solid foundation. Chips are a hurdle that must be overcome in the communications era. Just like high-speed rail, they are an important milestone in human development and progress. I believe that through continuous efforts, success will eventually be achieved.

Whether it is a mobile phone or a car, they are both indispensable tools for the public. In this rapidly developing information age, chip research will be the top priority, carrying the mission of the progress of human civilization. Only when the core is developing rapidly, the battle between surround screens and folding screens will be meaningful.

Camera, a lifeline amid lack of innovation?

Chip development has reached a bottleneck, and straight screens are currently the most popular choice. Brands use "pixels" as a competitive advantage, and cameras have become a battleground. The popularity of Xiaohongshu and Douyin has made people develop a hobby of taking photos. Taking photos and videos shows the life attitude of young people. The trend of "eating with the phone first and playing with the phone first" has gradually dissipated, but it is inseparable from people's lives.

Among the many manufacturers that have promoted the concept of "pixel", VIVO and OPPO are the most prominent brands. From music phones to camera phones, they entered the mobile phone market with a special intention. Their initial target customers were women. The classic performance of spokesperson Song Hye Kyo brought them a lot of traffic. That melody was particularly impressive, and BBK music phones also came into the public eye.

Until the classic slogan "20-megapixel front camera, soft light selfie, illuminate your beauty" appeared, VIVO X9 kicked off the pixel war among various brands. Subsequently, more and more mobile phone cameras were added, and the camera function became more and more powerful, extending from simple photo function to shooting objects at a very long distance. The Huawei P40 with 5x optical zoom, 10x hybrid zoom and 50x digital zoom suddenly became popular, and other brands followed suit. Taking pictures of the moon has become a routine operation.

Not only the distance advantage is highlighted, but also the polar night video function and real-time black light night vision function are realized, all of which rely on the support of professional imaging chips. Take the first professional imaging chip vivo V1 released by VIVO on September 6 as an example. According to the official introduction, based on the powerful imaging capability of the main chip ISP, the professional imaging chip V1 is superimposed with the computational imaging algorithm. When processing the same amount of computing tasks at high speed, V1's dedicated algorithm reduces the power consumption of the hardware circuit by 50% compared with the software implementation method.

At the same time, we developed ultra-low dispersion high-transmittance glass lenses and multiple coatings to create professional cameras. The VIVO X70Pro+ equipped with V1 has a 50-megapixel main camera and a 48-megapixel ultra-wide-angle micro-gimbal main camera with extremely high pixels, and supports 5x optical zoom and 60x super zoom. Although it cannot be compared with professional cameras, it is enough for users who love taking pictures.

Xiaomi's professional imaging chip Surge C1 was also released on March 30. The Xiaomi MIX FOLD folding screen phone is equipped with the C1 chip and has a 108-megapixel rear main camera. The latest Xiaomi MIX4 has a 100-megapixel main camera and a 50x periscope telephoto lens. In the pixel race, Xiaomi is not willing to lag behind. A digital blogger said that Xiaomi will launch a 200-megapixel mobile phone in the second half of next year.

Chips, cameras and screens include the important hardware of a mobile phone. Chips, as the core, are also the most difficult to research and innovate. Without independent chips, the cost of our mobile phones will gradually increase, and the corresponding prices of mobile phones will also increase. The continuous improvement of camera pixels has also brought necessary hard functions to the mobile phone itself, but it is also a helpless move in the absence of chip innovation. The emergence of folding screens and surround screens is a renovation of communication equipment.

Both folding screens and surround screens are mainly intended to expand the screen. It is still unknown whether they will be accepted by the public, but the thickness of the body goes against the original intention of making mobile phones thinner and thinner. We still need to wait and see how to further realize the screen transformation, but as of now, folding screens and surround screens will usher in a new battle.