How far are we from having a cool and stylish fully transparent phone?

People's pursuit of technology is always limitless, which is particularly important in daily life. Mobile phones are currently an indispensable necessity in people's daily life and have a huge market. Therefore, the exploration of technology and future in the field of mobile phones has become the focus of major manufacturers.

Speaking of high-tech mobile phones, how many people still remember the fully transparent mobile phone in Tony Stark's hand in "Iron Man 2".

Many people were amazed after watching the movie. The cool appearance and powerful functions of the transparent phone immediately attracted the attention of countless viewers.

Some people even predicted what the future iPhone would look like based on this and designed concept drawings.

It's not just the iPhone that has outstanding concept designs, this one too.

So the question is, when can we really see similar transparent phones on the market?

In fact, people have been exploring the road of fully transparent screen mobile phones for a long time, and some products have been mass-produced and released in the era of non-smart phones.

In 2010, Sony Ericsson released the world's first transparent screen mobile phone, Xperia Pureness.

The concept of this phone was unique at the time. It was equipped with a 1.8-inch black and white transparent display with a screen resolution of 320x240. As a feature phone, the price of Xperia Pureness was very expensive.

The following year, Lenovo also launched the world's first mobile phone with a color transparent display - S800 based on the Sony Ericsson phone.

Although the concepts of these two mobile phones are advanced enough and their appearance is very fashionable, in the early 2011 when the smart phones were popularized, the non-smart phones with insufficient functions obviously failed to attract people's attention.

At the CES in early 2015, Samsung exhibited a fully transparent mobile phone used in the movie "Avengers 2" to promote its investment in the movie.

Of course, Samsung later explained that this was just a prop template used in the movie, not a real smartphone, but they said they would conduct relevant research and development in this area.

However, there are real breakthroughs in this field. In 2013, Taiwanese company Polytron was preparing to launch a fully transparent, multi-touch display, and they are now looking for partners. According to Mobile Geeks, the key to Polytron's prototype is a technology called "switchable glass" - a conductive OLED screen that uses liquid crystal molecules to display images. When the phone is powered off, the composition of these molecules makes them look very light white, almost transparent. But once these molecules are activated by electric current, they can be reorganized to display text, icons and other images.

The head of Polytron once said that the phone would be put into mass production and put on the market by the end of 2013. However, two years have passed and the project has never been mentioned again, and it seems to have disappeared.

It was not until August this year, when Lenovo's Magic Factory released the ZUK Z1 smartphone, that a peculiar mobile phone was displayed in the experience area after the press conference: a transparent screen mobile phone.

As can be seen from the picture, the product is already quite mature. If nothing unexpected happens, it should be equipped with the Android operating system. The screen brightness and color reproduction are relatively weak, but within an acceptable range if you can tolerate the large piece of plastic under the screen.

So, what is this plastic plate? I think that although the current display technology can achieve self-luminescence and full transparency (OLED screen technology), many components in the mobile phone cannot do so. Whether it is the processor, camera module or battery, etc., these cannot be made fully transparent with the current level of technology. Therefore, under this plastic plate, there will be other accessory modules needed in the mobile phone.

It is believed that to realize the full transparency of mobile phones, two points need to be achieved with current technology before they can be officially put into production. First, the invention or discovery of new transparent materials or coatings can make other module components transparent and invisible. Secondly, the production process should be improved to reduce the volume of other module components so that when they are integrated under the screen, the volume remains within a reasonable range and does not appear abrupt. If the above two points can be overcome, I believe that fully transparent mobile phones will be around us in the near future.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.