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Xiaomi and Oppo Working on Foldable Smartphone
August 06, 2018

ET Times. reports that Xiaomi and Oppo are working with suppliers to obtain components related to a foldable phone, including hinges and foldable displays. The two brands will follow Huawei and source foldable displays from Chinese supplier, but given their low yields, LG Display is also been touted as a possible supplier.

Figure 1: Foldable Smartphone Prototype

​Source: Android Authority
 
ET Times says Xiaomi could be working on a foldout design, as opposed to Huawei and Samsung’s supposed in-folding design. It’s not known what kind of design Oppo is working on. One key question is whether Xiaomi’s foldable phone will be cheaper than the competition, since the brand typically offers more bang for your buck than rival manufacturers. Xiaomi is likely to undercut the likes of Samsung and Huawei.  Xiaomi’s special edition Mi Mix, featuring 18 karat gold trimmings, was available for ~$590. Then there’s the Mi 8 Explorer Edition, packing more tech than the standard Mi 8 flagship for ~$577. Separately, LG Display is expected to supply OLED displays to Huawei for the first time. Huawei decided to use LG Display’s flexible OLED for ‘Mate RS’, which was recently introduced. Mate RS is Huawei’s premium smartphone and it costs more than $1,885 (2 million KRW). It is equipped with 6-inch flexible OLED display, which bends the sides of a screen, and provides 2,880x1,440 resolution.Mate RS’s display recognizes fingerprints without any separate button, as a fingerprint recognition sensor is positioned on the back of a display panel. It seems that LG Display is also responsible for combining a panel and a sensor into single module.LG Display is supplying OLED displays to Huawei for the 1sttime. In the past, LG Display supplied its OLED displays to LG Electronics and Xiaomi. It was late in entering small and medium OLED market by focusing on manufacturing large OLED panels for TVs.