It’s taken Apple a long time to advance work on the iPhone Fold, and the reason for that was said to be that the company was unhappy with the visible crease in earlier iterations of the display technology.
By late last year, around 100 iPhone fold models were said to have been made for testing purposes. These will of course be closely guarded, but a competing Android phone has given us a reasonable idea of what we might expect …
It’s all about the crease
Samsung’s folding phones have been around for eight years now, but suffered from a number of serious issues. These include the display being vulnerable to damage when dust gets trapped in the device when folded, and an ugly crease visible in the center of the screen when it is unfolded.
Since Samsung is Apple’s primary display partner, that was a problem. The Cupertino company was reportedly unhappy with early samples provided by Samsung, and had to get its own engineers involved.
The device was last week said to be almost ready to enter mass production.
Oppo Find N6
Our sister site 9to5Google reports that the Android smartphone maker Oppo just launched the Find N6 folding phone with what it bills as a creaseless display.
The big news here is that the Oppo Find N6 is the self-proclaimed world’s first “crease-less” foldable. The “Zero-Feel Crease” is built to make the crease effectively invisible to the eye, and nearly impossible to feel while actually using the phone, too. This was accomplished, Oppo says, using a special 3D Liquid Printing process that levels out the hinge and ensures the display has a flat surface to lay on top of. “Auto-Smoothing Flex Glass” further cleans up the look and delivers what is, in person, an impressive lack of crease.
That likely uses similar technology to Apple, and the site’s Ben Shoon is impressed. Oppo claims he should expect to remain so for many years to come.
We’ve been testing a Find N6 unit for the past few days ahead of today’s launch, and it’s really impressive that the crease is not only nearly-invisible, but stays that way even after folding the device. Many foldables that look like they lack a crease will often develop one over time, but Oppo says the Find N6 is certified to stay flat even after 600,000 folds.
While it will eventually develop a more perceptible crease, the company says the mechanism is good for a million folds.
Obviously, the angle at which the above photo is taken does highlight the crease, but it is very different looking directly at the display.
The latest rumor suggests that iPhone Fold pricing will start at $1,999.
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