ZTE folding screen mobile phone patent exposed: more radical than Huawei and Samsung, using a three-fold folding method

In the past few years, the homogenization of smartphones has almost become the most complained-about issue among fans, and is also the most troublesome issue for many mobile phone companies. How to achieve product differentiation is an industry issue that needs to be solved urgently. . From the perspective of industry development trends, after the comprehensive screen trend triggered by Xiaomi, folding screen mobile phones led by Huawei and Samsung are becoming a new trend in the high-end flagship market.

For folding screen mobile phones, there are currently two main design styles. One is the left and right folding screen styles of Samsung Galaxy Fold series and Huawei Mate X series. Such designs usually have higher requirements on the screen, so Similar products have problems such as obvious screen creases, and even screen damage. The second is the top-down folding screen style of Motorola Razr and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip. Such designs usually have smaller product sizes, but the screen area is also large. Smaller, it seems a bit contrary to today's large-screen era.

Recently, Chinese communications giant ZTE’s latest folding screen mobile phone patent has been exposed. The basic design concept it adopts is still the left and right folding screen concept. The difference is that its design is more radical than Huawei and Samsung. It adopts is a bold three-fold design. According to PriceBaba, the patent, which has been filed with the China National Patent Office CNIPA, shows a device that can be folded two-thirds outward to form a tablet. One side of the device forms a thicker "handle" when unfolded, unlike Huawei's Mate X foldable phone or Kindle Oasis e-reader.

It is worth noting that this is not the world’s first tri-fold screen mobile phone. TCL has previously announced its tri-fold screen concept phone. The screen is 10 inches when fully expanded, using TCL’s Using "Dragonfly Hinge" and "Butterfly Hinge" technologies, folding the display inward and outward can be done smoothly with almost no gaps. The folded size of the phone is 6.65 inches with an aspect ratio of 20.8:9, but TCL has not yet mass-produced it. Plans to produce these two concept machines.

Of course, ZTE may not mass-produce it in a short time. But considering the design has apparently gotten to the point where it's worthy of a patent, future possibilities still exist. In fact, as early as January 2018, ZTE released the world’s first foldable screen mobile phone, the ZTE Axon M.

ZTE Axon M is equipped with two 5.2-inch 1080P resolution displays, made of fifth-generation Corning Gorilla Glass. The folded body of the phone is 12.1mm thick and weighs 230g. The power button integrates a fingerprint recognition function. It has a built-in 3180mAh battery, supports QC3.0 fast charging, is equipped with 4GB running memory, and has a built-in Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor and supports dual speakers Dolby sound effects.

However, ZTE’s Axon M did not arouse much market response. The reason is that it does not have as strong a visual impact as today’s full-screen, and it even received complaints because of its weird appearance. Many people think it is just a pseudo-innovative product, just like the modular mobile phone proposed by Google before. It is not that practical at present.

So what do you think of ZTE’s 3-fold foldable screen phone? Do you think folding screen mobile phones under the leadership of Huawei and Samsung will become the mainstream trend in the future?