Foldable phones are going to be all the rage in 2019. Samsung has already given us a glimpse of its foldable phone along with a couple of other relatively unknown Chinese OEMs. Not to be left behind, Xiaomi’s co-founder and president Bin Lin has also posted a short video showcasing the company’s foldable device cited as the “world’s first ever double folding phone” in action.
The video shows Bin Lin watching a video on a device with a relatively wide aspect ratio display. He then switches the orientation of the device before folding the display from its edges to the back turning it into a normal smartphone. Since the screen folds from the left and right edges, the power button on the device is located at the top.
As soon as Lin folds the display, the UI scales to fit the smaller display and continues playing video. All this happens on the fly with hardly any delay.
Excited to share this video of a special Xiaomi smartphone from our President and Co-founder Bin Lin. It is the world’s first ever double folding phone — that’s pretty cool, isn’t it? #xiaomi #foldingphone #technology pic.twitter.com/iBj0n3vIbW
— Wang Xiang (@XiangW_) January 23, 2019
Bin says the device in the video is a result of Xiaomi’s relentless hard work to overcome challenges related to folding hinges, display, UI, and more. The device is still in prototype stages with Xiaomi gauging consumer interest before deciding if it should mass produce the phone or not.
The demo video posted by Bin Lin is definitely cool and shows off the future of foldable phones. We might not see a foldable phone from Xiaomi release this year or function in the same way as shown in the demo but down the line, we are definitely going to see foldable phones like this become a reality.
Xiaomi is primarily known for its budget Redmi devices but the company has been coming with some pathbreaking design handsets over the last few years. This includes the likes of the original Mi Mix which started the bezel-less trend and more recently the Mi Mix 3.