Will Foldable Displays be Part of Smartwatches?

It’s the foldable smartphone season with Samsung’s device already out and Huawei’s foldable handset being planned for release in the market on November 15. There are half a dozen other brands waiting to launch their foldable smartphones in the market soon. What would it be like if smartwatches are fitted with foldable devices? This is not a new idea since there is already a smartwatch in the market from Nubia called the Nubia Alpha. How will it be if the concept is adopted by other brands and we have smartwatches with foldable screens? This is what Li Nan, former Vice President of Meizu is trying to promote.

Smartwatches Offer Better Malleability

The logic Li Nan is using to justify his recommendation to go for foldable displays in smartwatches is that they are better suited for them. One of his points could be that the small displays of smartwatches need to be made bigger for the user to view the contents easily. He is also suggesting that the area to be folded being small, the technological challenge is limited. He is mentioning this in comparison with the larger smartphones.

In the Nubia Alpha, you see the display size expands to a 4-inch screen that has a resolution of 192×960 pixels. The regular display on the smartwatch would fit the width of the watchstrap of around 1-inch+ size. The company is said to have received assistance from Visionox for bonding and bending the 11 layers of the OLED display panel. One has to wait till smartwatch manufacturers respond to a call like this and focus on releasing wearables with foldable displays.

Market Trend Still on Foldable Smartphones

Irrespective of the opinion or suggestion from the former Meizu VP, the market appears to be ready to see only more smartphones with foldable displays. The Samsung Galaxy Fold has seen pre-orders exceeding the expectations of Samsung despite its price of close to $2,000. Huawei’s Mate X 5G foldable smartphone to be released on November 15 is being priced at $400 higher and hopes to sell. There are other brands like OPPO, Xiaomi, and others, which have already made public their intentions to release foldable smartphones. The Chinese technology company TCL has also released a foldable device that has triple folds.