Huawei is said to be working on a foldable phone which we may see later this year or earlier next year. Huawei itself claims that it has a working prototype of its foldable phone as previously reported by Cnet. As of now, a new report by ETNews via Digitimes suggests that Huawei will use flexible OLED displays of a Chinese manufacturer for its foldable phones.
BOE Technology, the first Chinese component maker to manufacture flat LCD/OLED panels, has reportedly begun manufacturing flexible OLED display. Huawei has partnered with its homeland’s company to boost up its innovative work. Huawei is said to use BOE’s in-folding OLED displays — 8-inch in size — in its upcoming foldable smartphones.
Furthermore, two other major smartphone makers have also approached BOE to develop four prototypes of foldable OLED panels. Well, this appears to be a good headstart for Chinese smartphone industry, however, names of other smartphone makers have not been disclosed until now. Though it is clear that BOE will prefer completing the work of Huawei, considering its reputation as world’s third largest smartphone vendor.
Meanwhile, previously we have seen a patent of Huawei on how its foldable phone will look like and how it will work. The patent revealed that Huawei’s phone will have a connecting platform of a sort in the middle that will fold up to a full 90 degree on both sides. To make such a flexible OLED panel would certainly be a tough job for any component maker.
Concludingly, at this point, it is not clear that who will pioneer the foldable phone milestone, Huawei or Samsung? This may not matter in real life, but we have heard more rumors about Samsung’s foldable phone than Huawei’s prototype. However, back in April, a comprehensive report suggested that Huawei’s first foldable phone may arrive in November this year.
image- Phone Arena
