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Foldable Phone Designs are about to get more interesting but also less diverse

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The number of foldable phones launching each year is slowly rising, suggesting that these former novelty items are here to stay. To manufacturers’ credit, the phones are getting more reliable and attractive, even if their prices are still prohibitive for most people. With more players in the market, it’s bound to become a somewhat livelier place, with brands putting their own spins or changing designs to match or challenge their rivals. It now seems, however, that the still niche foldable phone category is about to enter another tumultuous phase with new designs that could shake up the market and some companies throwing in the towel, leaving only a few designs to stick and stagnate.

Triple Folding Phones

The biggest and perhaps only reason for a foldable phone would be to provide a device that can be used as a regular phone when wanted but can transform into a tablet when you want more screen real estate. The current crop of foldable phones does meet those requirements, though almost barely. As tablets, they’re painfully tiny even compared to the already small iPad mini and some 7-inch slates. As phones, some designs make them awkward to use because of their narrow and tall external screens.

One possible solution would be to have a large screen that can fold in three parts, turning into a phone-sized slab, albeit probably a bit thicker than even today’s foldable phones. Samsung has, in fact, been working on such a design for years and it finally showed off a prototype two years ago. It turns out that it might even launch its first tri-fold phone slash tablet later this year.

Designer: Samsung

This timeline is reportedly due to one of Samsung’s biggest rivals trying to make a move first. Huawei, who is rebuilding its empire in some markets, is rumored to be launching a foldable phone that transforms into a 10-inch tablet. Just for the title of being the “world’s first,” Samsung could be taking a big risk and making a leap of faith to get that triple foldable phone out the door quickly, even if it means repeating the mistakes of the first Galaxy Fold.

Stylus Support Inside and Out

One of the biggest draws of foldable phones is, of course, their big screens. They’re not just perfect for showing more content, but they’re also great for actually creating content. With tablets now being seen as productivity and creativity tools thanks to the iPad Pro, these foldable phones are truly powerful laptops you can fit in your pocket, at least in theory. Ironically, very few of the brands actually support such a use case with the right accessories. Even Samsung forces you to buy the S Pen Fold Edition if you want to scribble and doodle on your foldable phone like a notebook.

The newly launched mouthful that is the Honor Magic V2 RSR Porsche Design bucks the trend by actually including a stylus inside the box. Granted, the price of this limited edition would make you think it should include such an item, but you’re also paying for other luxuries at the same time. For example, you get two charging bricks instead of one. Some foldable phones other than Samsung don’t even advertise support for a stylus even if they’re capable of supporting one.

Designer: Honor

More interesting, however, is how the Honor Magic V2 RSR Porsche Design actually supports that active stylus not only on the large internal screen but also on the smaller cover screen. That one-ups even Samsung who is famed for its stylus-enabled Galaxy Note phablets, now sold under the Galaxy S Ultra brand. Honor is showing that such a set of features is possible, and it could lead to a long-overdue trend in the foldable smartphone market, presuming there’s still one in the next few years.

Design Monoculture

One of the reasons why the foldable phone market seems to have stabilized a bit is because of the number of players now in the ring. Of course, you have Samsung and Huawei leading the charge, but now you also have Xiaomi, OPPO, Vivo, Tecno, OnePlus, and Honor in the running. Unfortunately, there are whispers that two of these are bowing out of the race, and their absence could actually have an indirect though significant negative impact on foldable phones as a whole.

Those rumors claim that both OPPO and vivo are calling it quits in the foldable market. The cited reason is not exactly surprising, with both brands suffering significant losses in foldable phone sales last year and they don’t believe they can throw in more resources to recover. It’s unknown at this point whether OnePlus will also be following its cousins, though there’s a real possibility that these manufacturers will pull out sooner rather than later.

Designer: OPPO

While that indeed sounds like a win for Samsung and Huawei (and Honor), it might not actually be good for the entire market in the long run. Competition often breeds innovation, with these brands pushing each other to develop new designs and features at every turn. With only two contenders, each with their own separate kingdoms, there might not be enough incentive to push the boundaries, leading to stagnation and eventual death of the market.

Designer: Vivo

Uncertain Tomorrow

Of course, there’s still no confirmation that OPPO and Vivo are indeed making an exit strategy, but it does paint a picture that isn’t as rosy as these brands try to paint. Even with the popularity of clamshell-style foldables and with new models coming out year after year, actual sales might actually reveal a very different and less encouraging situation. Given the way technology is developing, foldable and rollable displays will eventually be a staple of tomorrow’s devices, but that doesn’t mean the market won’t experience a few flops first along the way.

The post Foldable Phone Designs are about to get more interesting but also less diverse first appeared on Yanko Design.

Vivo V30 Review: Slim, Stylish, Simple

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PROS:


  • Thin profile and lightweight body

  • Beautiful and subtle water ripple design (Waving Aqua)

  • 50MP wide front camera with autofocus

  • AI-powered Aura Light for studio-quality portrait photos

CONS:


  • No telephoto camera

  • Decent but unimpressive camera output

RATINGS:

AESTHETICS
ERGONOMICS
PERFORMANCE
SUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITY
VALUE FOR MONEY

EDITOR'S QUOTE:

With an incredibly thin profile and a simple yet elegant design, the Vivo V30 is like a breath of fresh air, presenting a familiar face and offering a well-rounded set of features that speak to the hearts of a selfie-loving generation.

Design in the mobile market never sits still, although we are now seeing certain brands leave their design DNA on their phones for longer periods of time. Most of those designs involve cramming everything but the kitchen sink, turning smartphones into a display of technological marvels more than anything else. That’s great for specs and features, but not always for the overall user experience, especially when it comes to aesthetics and usability. Amidst a sea of thick slabs of glass and metal and bulging camera bumps, the Vivo V30 arrives with a more familiar yet still enchanting face. But is it just a pretty face or does it offer something more inside its incredibly slim physique? We take it for a spin to find out.

Designer: Vivo

Aesthetics

The Vivo V30 will immediately strike you as a very different beast from its peers, and that’s even before you pay close attention to the rather graceful patterns on its back, which we’ll get to later. Even before you hold it in your hand, you can already get an impression of how thin it is, a trait that seems to be quickly disappearing even among premium smartphones. Yes, it’s probably because of that curved glass back and “3D curved screen,” a design that some consider to be no longer fashionable these days, but at just the right angles and with the right play of light, it’s hard to deny how sleek and slim it makes the phone look.

The camera bump is similarly distinctive and unique as far as conventional camera designs go. It’s a single raised rectangle with rounded corners that catches your attention not with an obnoxious size but with a pleasant combination of form, color, and finish. The black rounded square of the camera lenses contrasts and complements the similarly shaped Aura Light ring below it. The “2.5D” curved edges of this raised “One-Piece Cloud Step” design are surrounded by a polished metal bezel refined using a diamond cutting technique, providing not just protection for the cameras but also adding a sleek look to anyone looking at those cameras.

The real design highlight, however, is the subtle patterns that give each Vivo V30 model a unique personality. The greenish-blue Waving Aqua review unit we received employs tens of thousands of tiny magnetic particles integrated into a flowing resin material, creating the illusion of ripples that may conjure up images of beaches, lakes, or rivers, all giving a serene and peaceful vibe. The other designs are no less stunning, with Bloom White’s 3D Petal Pattern, created by engraving 13 million tangent lines into the surface using photolithography, or the color-changing Lush Green that turns into tranquil Blue when exposed to UV light. Even Noble Black, with a typical Fluorite AG Glass back, sparkles like a starry night sky thanks to an etching liquid process that transforms the microscopic crystals on the glass surface into prism-like structures.

All in all, the Vivo V30’s slim profile, minimalist aesthetic, and subtle yet elegant design make it easily stand out from the rest of the crowd, especially at its price point. Yes, some might say that its curves make it a bit dated, but that’s exactly why it also feels rather refreshing to take a break from that current trend, especially when the end result is definitely just as beautiful, if not more so.

Ergonomics

There is still some debate on which predominant smartphone design is actually more ergonomic. Fans of curves claim that their preferred design is more comfortable and gentler on the hand, while advocates of flat edges criticize how it doesn’t provide a confident and solid grip. The Vivo V30 is obviously on the former camp so your mileage may vary, but there’s one aspect that puts all those debates to rest: its weight.

At only 186g, the Vivo V30 is easily one of the lightest smartphones on the market, making it comfortable to hold for long periods of time. That’s even more impressive when you find out that it hides a 5,000mAh battery, also one of the largest among smartphones, which should have weighed the phone down significantly, not to mention adding to its bulk. Thanks to a new “One-Piece Encapsulation Technique,” that large battery can become unbelievably thin, and a “Comprehensive Cushioning Structure” is credited for not just the phone’s aesthetics but also its durability.

Performance

The lines between traditional smartphone market tiers are continually blurring as hardware becomes more diversified yet also more powerful. In the old days, a phone like the Vivo V30 would be classified as a mid-range device because of its Snapdragon 7 Gen 3, but that distinction barely holds today. With 12GB of RAM (plus 12GB Extended memory), the Vivo V30 can handle pretty much anything you can throw at it, with moderation, of course. Mobile gaming is no sweat, especially if you turn down the settings a bit, and the large vapor cooling chamber inside ensures your hands won’t burn when you do so.

The large 6.78-inch AMOLED screen boasts 2800 nits of brightness and a fast 120Hz refresh right. The display is definitely bright and vibrant enough to make your content pop, though it’s not exactly something that will blow your mind either. Audio is a bit so-so, decent enough to let you enjoy music, videos, and games without having to reach for wireless earphones, but more discerning users will prefer higher-quality sound anyway. As mentioned, the 5,000 mAh battery is a major highlight for this unbelievably thin phone, and the 80W charger makes sure you can fully top off in a little just 50 minutes or so.

Like any smartphone these days, a lot of focus is placed on the Vivo V30’s cameras, no pun intended. Truth be told, it’s a rather mixed bag for Vivo’s 2024 V-Series frontrunner, checking a few boxes in some areas while missing out on others. For example, there is no dedicated telephoto camera, which means you’ll have to rely on digital zoom and in-sensor cropping for those closeups. Instead, Vivo puts two co-equal 50MP cameras on the V30’s back, one for the main shooter and the other for ultra-wide panoramic or group shots. In fact, group shots are a big thing for the Vivo V30, but we’ll get to that later.

The main 50MP camera advertises a “True Color” Camera-Bionic-Spectrum VCS technology that is supposed to produce color-accurate images that are close to how our eyes see. While the resulting photos do look vibrant and colorful, they still tend to lean more towards oversaturation rather than the more natural and realistic tones. A highlight of the Vivo V30’s camera system is the latest iteration of its Aura Light, basically a mini Ring Light that’s popular among live streamers and influencers. Used for portrait shots, it offers a softer and more distributed light than what a single LED flash can give. It’s even guided by AI so it can automatically adjust its intensity and temperature depending on the distance from the subject and ambient light.

Vivo positions the V series as a line that targets a more youthful crowd, and nowhere is that more evident than with the selfie camera and its whopping 50MP sensor, complete with autofocus and a 92-degree field of view. Just like the 50MP ultra-wide on its back, this camera was made for taking Group Selfies, ensuring that your friends won’t be left out of those Insta-worthy shots. That said, you don’t have the advantage of the Aura Light with this selfie camera, something Vivo might want to look into for future iterations.

Sustainability

It’s going to be hard to deny that the Vivo V30 isn’t exactly a premium device, at least not with the specs above. Most of the phones on this tier skimp on a few features to meet a certain low price point. In most cases, some corners are cut when it comes to durability, but not this beautiful phone. The V30 boasts an IP54 rating, which is modest but sufficient to protect the phone from dust and water accidents. Given who the phone was made for, those accidents are often the norm rather than the exception.

When it comes to materials, however, the phone doesn’t exactly have anything to boast. It uses quite a variety of special materials and processes to make those intricate patterns on its back, none of which can be said to be sustainable or environment-friendly. The V30 doesn’t stray from the beaten path in this aspect, but hopefully, trends will change and even the young will start demanding for more responsibly made smartphones to put inside their pockets.

Value

Given its target audience, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Vivo prices the V30 very competitively. It’s still playing coy about exact figures, but it should start somewhere around $300 upward, depending on the configuration. It’s something that those with very tight budgets would be able to afford, but it’s almost too easy to say you will also get what you pay for. In reality, however, you’re actually getting a solid deal.

Vivo chose its battles wisely and focused on the things that matter most to its core customer base. The phone is light, easy to hold, and easy to take out of or slip into your pocket. Its design adds a bit of glam to the device, and its cameras, though lacking one member, are made for a generation that loves to take selfies, either alone or with others. With gaming performance the only consideration, the Vivo V30 actually offers a well-rounded set of features wrapped in an elegant aesthetic and matched with an accessible price tag.

Verdict

The market is overflowing with smartphones and, despite all the analysts’ warnings, there doesn’t seem to be any sign of slowing down. Designs are also ever-changing, though the trend seems to be moving towards bigger, thicker, and flatter smartphones. Against this backdrop, the Vivo V30 arrives like a breath of fresh air, offering a face that is both familiar and striking. It’s not going to win benchmarks or photo contests, but its features have been carefully selected to really address the needs and desires of its target market: people who just love taking selfies and holding their phones almost all day.

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iQOO 12 Review: Checking Most of the Right Boxes, No More, No Less

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PROS:


  • Impressive camera output

  • Outstanding hardware performance

  • Distinctive BMW "Legend" Edition design (not the review unit)

CONS:


  • Low IP64 water resistance

  • Mediocre 16MP front camera

  • Limited global availability

RATINGS:

AESTHETICS
ERGONOMICS
PERFORMANCE
SUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITY
VALUE FOR MONEY

EDITOR'S QUOTE:

Designed for mobile photography and games, the iQOO 12 delivers a solid performance without much fuss or fanfare.

The year is almost over, but it’s never too late to announce new flagship smartphones, especially when there’s a new mobile processor available. Riding on Qualcomm’s momentum, a few phone makers have almost simultaneously revealed their newest wares in a race to be the first and the best. Of course, just because you’re using the latest hardware available in the market doesn’t immediately mean you’re able to deliver the best overall user experience. There are a lot of ingredients that make up the perfect smartphone dish, so we’re taking the new iQOO 12 for a taste test to see if it managed to get the perfect mix or if it just had too much on its plate to leave a positive impression.

Designer: iQOO

Aesthetics

The moment you see the iQOO 12, you will immediately appreciate its elegant design. After that first impression, however, you might suddenly feel like you’ve seen it before, especially with the black “Alpha” edition that we received for this review. Aside from the large and unconventional camera island, the phone’s Fluorite AG glass is quite common. Yes, it has a sandblasted finish that makes it sparkle when viewed from certain angles, but that, too, has been done before. It’s pretty, yes, but nothing to write home about.

On the other hand, the BMW “Legend” Edition is a bit more interesting from a design perspective. It uses a Porcelain Enamel Glass that gives it a unique texture, while the clean white motif endows it with a stylish classic appearance. The engraved signature BMW M Motorsport stripes are tastefully done, clearly marking its identity without being flashy. It has the right balance of branding and minimalism that paints a picture of a truly special design.

Although almost opposite in their appearances, both Alpha and Legend editions share a common design element that you won’t find on any other smartphone. Rather than a square or a circle, the iQOO 12 employs a “squircle” shape that the company describes as a nod to ship portholes that let light in and give a dramatic view of the outside world from within a ship. Of course, it stretches the camera metaphor quite a bit, but its unusual shape still gives the phone a distinctive appearance.

The iQOO 12 Alpha carries a simple and elegant design that gives it an air of being a premium phone. Unfortunately, that doesn’t exactly help it stand out from its peers, especially if you find the “porthole” camera design less appealing. The design won’t win fans, but it probably won’t attract haters either.

Ergonomics

Fluorite AG glass has become a favorite material for smartphones because of how it’s able to avoid smudges. Some are even able to pull off matte textures using it, or at least some semblance of matte texture. In practice, however, it’s still glass and the iQOO 12 feels quite slippery in the hand, regardless of what the marketing material tells you. If you’re not confident with your grip, you’ll probably want to put on the included clear case just for peace of mind.

The iQOO 12 is by no means a thin phone at 8.1mm, nor is it that lightweight at almost 204g. It’s a large slab of metal and glass and you can definitely feel it the moment you hold it in your hand. That means you’ll have to try and grip it harder to ensure a more stable hold, but that also means putting more strain on your hand in the long run. The phone is also a bit top-heavy, which isn’t surprising considering all the parts located there, though that means the position of the fingerprint scanner near the bottom of the screen makes it a little bit precarious to hold.

Performance

The iQOO 12 definitely has all the makings of a high-end smartphone. It is one of if not the first to launch with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, and that is paired with fast 16GB LPDDR5X memory and an equally fast 512GB UFS 4.0 storage. Those alone already mean that it can handle any task you throw at it with aplomb. The bright and vibrant 6.78-inch 2800×1260 AMOLED screen with 144Hz refresh rate is great for viewing moving content, both videos as well as games. It’s an all-around powerful workhorse, but it also has a trick up its sleeve.

While some brands have custom processors for photography or AI, iQOO’s Supercomputing Chip Q1 focuses on enhancing display performance without taxing the main Qualcomm processor. Its biggest achievement is boosting frame rates to 144fps to match the screen’s native 144Hz refresh rate for a smoother and more fluid visual experience. Even under all the stress, the phone gets only lightly warm and never too hot, all thanks to a new four-zone vapor cooling chamber.

On the software side, the iQOO 12 runs the latest FuntouchOS 14 that’s already based on the current Android 14 release, and it’s promised to still get three years of Android updates. There is surprisingly little bloatware, although it still exists, and the user experience almost resembles vanilla Android while still offering plenty of customization options. The UI is smooth and responsive, though that should be expected given all the hardware driving it.

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1x Night

10x

The phone’s triple camera system is living proof that you shouldn’t judge hardware by their brand. Eschewing the usual Samsung or Sony sensors (except for one), the iQOO 12 was made in collaboration with and showcases the best of what OmniVision has to offer, particularly with the 50MP OV50H main camera and 64MP OV64B telephoto camera with a periscope-style lens. The latter is able to achieve 3x optical zoom and 10x lossless zoom, though iQOO is advertising a 100x digital zoom that, in practice, isn’t really going to wow anyone. The third camera is a 50MP Samsung sensor for ultra-wide shots.

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1x Portrait

1x Portrait

10x Night

What all these translate to in practice are impressive images, both during the day and at night. Details are rich and colors are quite vibrant, though they tend to be a bit more saturated by default, as expected. The 10x lossless (a.k.a. hybrid) zoom is surprisingly good, though with the expected loss of detail. Combined with Night Mode, it even makes decent nighttime photos, though that largely depends on the subject as well. Thanks to that same periscope telephoto camera, bokeh or Portrait Mode comes out with pleasing blurs and accurate separation of foreground and background elements. All in all, the iQOO 12 delivers an excellent mobile photography experience, except for the 16MP front camera that brings only the bare minimum to the table.

Ultrawide

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3x

10x

Sustainability

The iQOO 12, unfortunately, doesn’t grade well when it comes to sustainable design and longevity. It has your usual assortment of unsustainable materials, and the brand isn’t as aggressive in promoting its eco-friendly strategies as its rivals (unless you consider its parent company, vivo). The phone is also only IP64 rated, which means it has very weak defenses against water and other liquids. Sure, it’s better than nothing, but you’d expect a much better guarantee from a premium phone such as this.

Value

From a holistic perspective, the iQOO 12 is quite a splendid high-end phone. It has the chops to cater to both photography and gaming enthusiasts and has a design that, while simple, is still stylish enough to not look cheap or dated. But no phone exists in isolation, and the iQOO 12’s value will largely depend on the competition.

At the moment, there are very few phones running on the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, but that’s about to change in a month’s time or so. But even now, those few devices, the iQOO 12 included, have very limited availability in the first place. The $600 price tag is tempting but pointless if you can’t buy one that is 100% guaranteed to work on your country’s cellular networks. There’s also the fact that the design, while pleasant, doesn’t have enough pull to make it stand out from the crowd unless you’re able to get the BMW Legend Edition. It’s definitely a strong contender, but not one that might leave a strong, lasting impression.

Verdict

The iQOO 12 feels like it has almost everything. It has the latest specs that breeze through the toughest demands, especially gaming. The cameras are generally impressive under the majority of situations, except for that disappointing 16MP selfie cam. It’s clearly iQOO’s best work yet, but it also feels like it lacks that final punch to knock everyone else out of the ring.

Despite its pleasant minimalist aesthetic, the Alpha Edition’s design is honestly a bit underwhelming. The porthole-inspired camera bump is new to our eyes and ears, but it’s simply just another take on the same old design. In terms of both style and materials, the BMW Legend Edition is far more interesting, though possibly also more limited in supply. Then again, not everyone will be buying phones just for their looks, and the iQOO 12 does make an enticing offer, but soon there will be others that will easily grab the spotlight from it.

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