Are "folding smartphones" such as Huawei and Galaxy becoming fashion items?

Huawei announced the company's first foldable smartphone "P50 Pocket". Smartphones have long been a symbol of digital devices, but recently they have also been attracting attention as fashion items. [Photo] Huawei and Galaxy's highly designed "folding smartphone" Foldable smartphones that are appearing one after another, but the concept of "folding the large screen and carrying it compactly" is common to all models. ing. The P50 Pocket has a large 6.9-inch screen that can be driven at 120Hz, but can be stored in the palm of your hand when folded. A 1-inch circular sub-display is mounted on the back, which can be used to check the time and notifications. The feature of P50 Pocket is the beautiful processing on the outside of the main body. The gold-colored "Premium Edition", which is a high-end model, collaborates with haute couture designers and adopts organic enclaving (metal processing technique) reminiscent of plants. The white model uses micro glass material and is designed to reflect light beautifully. The large circular camera and sub-display on the back follow the Huawei design so far. While many smartphone designs are made up of straight lines, the P50 Pocket also emphasizes its uniqueness in appearance. Huawei is not the first to sell a vertically folded smartphone as a fashion item. Samsung, which has a lineup of multiple folding smartphones, has announced the "Galaxy Z Flip3 Bespoke Edition" with replaceable panels in the past. The base Galaxy Z Flip3 is a foldable smartphone with a 6.7-inch display. And with the Galaxy Z Flip3 Bespoke Edition, you can order from 49 patterns of front panel, back panel, and body frame color on the back. In addition, a special wallpaper is also available to match the colorful body. In collaboration with fashion brand DR. DENIM, jeans with a dedicated pocket for storing the Galaxy Z Flip 3 have also appeared. You can see how Samsung attaches great importance to fashion in the Galaxy Z Flip3. Although not as much as the P50 Pocket and Galaxy Z Flip 3 mentioned above, the gold model has been introduced to Motorola's folding smartphone "moto razr 5G", and it is differentiated by coloring. .. The introduction of a new model of moto razr has also been announced, and I would like to expect design evolution. In the smartphone industry, commoditization (generalization) of functions and designs has been regarded as a problem. It is also true that all devices are shaped like boards, and the installed processors are lined up side by side ... for a long time. However, with the advent of folding smartphones, it can be said that the evolution of design has begun to move again. We look forward to the emergence of even more attractive smartphones through the technological innovations and new design senses of each company.

Naoki Tsukamoto