New foldable smartphones
This is Samsung’s newest foldable. | Image by Android Headlines
Foldable smartphones have mostly stuck to a tried and tested design, their external displays resemble a standard smartphone and they unfold to present a larger squarish display on the inside. It worked, but apart from the Huawei Pura X, there wasn’t much variety to be seen.
That changed this year and it will continue on for the foreseeable future. The Huawei Pura X Max launched in April with a wide-folding design, making it ideal for watching movies while also making it easier to navigate with one hand when folded.
If reports are accurate, then the new Samsung foldables will launch this July. Alongside the Galaxy Z Fold 8, there is a new Galaxy Z Fold 8 Wide, also being called the Galaxy Z Wide Fold. Like the Pura X Max, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Wide is also a horizontally folding smartphone.
Lastly, Apple will be releasing the foldable iPhone Ultra later this year as well. The Huawei Pura X Max has been very popular and Samsung and Apple are betting heavily on this form factor taking off with customers.
So we’ve got new foldables to look forward to on the horizon, and I’m guessing that other phone manufacturers will follow suit if the new design sells well. Who knows, perhaps these foldables will surpass today’s traditional folding smartphones.
Speaking of other phone manufacturers following suit.
The borderless iPhone trend
Apple’s most ambitious iPhone plan might see completion next year. | Image by Fpt.
In my opinion, and I’ve said this countless times before, the best thing to happen to the smartphone market will take place next year. Apple, barring any unforeseen circumstances, will announce the iPhone 20 Pro.
This fascinating piece of kit will feature a perfect borderless display and no cutouts of any kind. No Dynamic Island, no punch-hole camera, and — if the tech is readied on time — no distortion of the contents of the screen.
Better yet, other phone manufacturers are also researching displays like this for their own offerings. I have my fingers crossed that this trend takes off and spreads like wildfire across the smartphone industry like notches once did.
New smartphone display sizes
The two different types of smartphones that could exist very soon. | Image by Digital Chat Station
Apparently, shorter and wider smartphone displays are also being researched. So the entire design of modern smartphones is being reworked in some lab somewhere, with the hopes of finding a new form factor that sticks or is more intuitive to use.
On the other hand, smartphone display sizes are growing as well, with screens projected to surpass seven inches pretty soon. The variety of smartphones on the market is evolving in many different directions and consumers will have a diverse range of options to choose from within the next two years.
Is this a final glorious song?
You cannot ignore smart glasses forever. | Image by Samsung
If I said that smart glasses will overtake smartphones within a decade, I would probably be laughed at. But hear me out.
Is this a final glorious song by smartphones? A magnificent explosion of variety before fading off into irrelevance?
Most people don’t put much stock in smart glasses at the moment, but they are improving rapidly. The Meta Ray-Ban Display are a massive step up from the display-free smart glasses that the company started with and still sells.
But much more importantly, major smartphone manufacturers themselves are entering this space. Samsung has just announced the Android XR smart glasses that we’ve been waiting years for and Apple is also working on smart glasses of its own.
Once your favorite phone company offers you glasses, and once you get used to the convenience they provide, will you really be able to go back? Will you be able to say no?
Current smart glasses are just the beginning. Once true AR smart glasses hit shelves, I know I’ll be giving them a try immediately.
But until then, the smartphone world is going to be a very interesting one, and we all know that smartphones aren’t going to completely disappear anytime soon.
