TCL Offers Next-Gen Mobile Device Concepts With Rollable, Bendable Displays
TCL developed the first rollable, extendable smartphone concept, it announced Thursday. The 9mm rollable AMOLED display uses internal motors to extend a 6.75-inch screen to a 7.8-inch display with a button press. When the phone isn’t in use, a motor-driven sliding panel conceals the flexible display, said the company. The announcement was part of a peek into the electronics company’s design efforts with flexible displays that it expected to show at MWC 2020 in Barcelona last month, before coronavirus concerns forced organizers to cancel (see 2002120065).
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TCL, a latecomer to the U.S. smartphone space under its own brand, needs strong differentiation to make it in a market owned by Apple, Samsung, LG and Motorola, Stefan Streit, general manager-global marketing, told us Monday in New York. TCL is banking on its AMOLED display technology to do that, Streit said, vs. camera technology that other phone makers tout.
The company has a 20-year history in mobile phones under the Alcatel brand; it also manufactured Palm and BlackBerry devices. TCL's white-label business supplies branded phones for U.S. carriers, said Streit, emphasizing those existing relationships. TCL is the No. 5 cellphone manufacturer globally, he said.
The coronavirus that caused organizers of MWC 2020 to cancel the mobile phone industry’s premier event, created unpredictability in the supply chain, though TCL has had no production shutdowns, said Streit. “Right now, I cannot say there is an impact, but I can also not promise there is no impact in the future because the situation changes every day.”
At CES, the company announced a trio of 10 series phones, including a 5G model, due to come to the U.S. this year at under $500 (see 2001070001).
Streit used the Monday interview to show off a few of TCL’s foldable phone concepts, including the motorized sliding display and a tri-fold tablet-to-phone design. The company credits a larger axis and rolled display for enabling devices with no wrinkles or creases found in other AMOLEDs. The design enables a new user experience that includes split screen and multitasking user interface enhancements, TCL said. No pricing or availability dates were given. Streit said some bendable devices could hit the market in first half 2021.
Challenges to bendable phones include creating a display that can fold successfully many times, and customized hinges that can stop and hold a screen in any position, Streit said. One of the designs he showed had been opened and closed 200,000 times, he said, to prove durability. The company is tapping hinge expertise from its appliance division and adapting them for mobile devices.
Streit showed us concepts of TCL's DragonHinge and ButterflyHinge in a tri-fold design, which folded a 10-inch tablet into a 6.65-inch device with a 20.8:9 aspect ratio and 3K display resolution. It would be the first large screen tablet to employ dual hinges and folds, said the company. The design ensures smooth folding inward and outward with minimal gap, said Streit. Acknowledging the heavy weight of the concept piece, Streit referenced “a lot of gears” and the need to divide the battery into three parts.
Another challenge in foldable designs is ensuring the user experience is compelling with a second screen. “You have another display: what does it mean?” Streit asked, saying designers have to consider what consumers would find useful in second and third screens. The company wants to free mobile phones from a form factor that has "looked the same for 10 years," Streit said.
Making a bendable display isn’t difficult, said Streit, noting TCL is also working on bendable displays for wearables and displays that could be woven into clothing. The primary challenge is how to incorporate batteries: “You need to break them or find other solutions.”