As per a report from China, Sony Mobile is planning to come out with its first foldable smartphone next year. The alleged smartphone is reported to be carrying the Xperia F moniker, with the “F” standing for foldable. Along with the Xperia F, the report suggests Sony will be launching the Xperia 2 flagship smartphone as well, next year.

Samsung and Huawei were the pioneers in launching their flagship foldable smartphones earlier this year. Catching up to the race are a few other companies like Motorola and Xiaomi, also expected to launch foldable smartphones before the end of the year.

The rumored phone will use Using Samsung’s OLED Flexible Screen Technology

There have been reports claiming that the Sony Xperia F will use Samsung’s flexible OLED display panel. The phone will also have the same 21:9 aspect ratio as the current Xperia 1 flagship smartphone.

The most important question to be asked here is if the Xperia F will offer the same 4K Ultra HD resolution as the Xperia 1. This is not surprising since the foldable smartphone will be featuring 5G connectivity as well. The Xperia F will reportedly fold vertically, unlike the Galaxy Fold and the Huawei Mate X. However, no affirmation has been received whether the phone will fold inward or outward.

A tech website uncovered a Sony patent filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) that revealed a foldable smartphone design with a transparent display, in December of 2018. If the reports out of China were to be trusted, the foldable smartphone with a transparent display may not see the rising sun anytime soon.

The Xperia F will come loaded with a 13 MP front camera with 3D face recognition technology, and a dual 19 MP + 12 MP rear camera array. The foldable phone will also feature an in-display fingerprint reader, a foldable design with flexible polymer joint, and a dual-edge display that once folded out delivers a 6.2-inch 4K OLED screen. The smartphone will be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 CPU, 8 GB of RAM, and three storage configurations of 128 GB, 256 GB, and 512 GB.

As per the company’s CEO Kenichiro Yoshida, the younger generation no longer watches TV and smartphones are their first touch point for entertainment. Sony’s smartphone business is on a downward spiral over the last few years.

The company sold nearly 6.5 million handsets and its smartphone unit made a loss of $879.4 million, in the last financial year. To cut down the costs, the company has exited some markets like Australia and the Middle East and is focusing on just Europe, Hong Kong, Japan, and Taiwan.