Samsung foldable dream might have fizzled out but that's not stopping Google to deep dive into the foldable world. Google has shown interest in the foldable phones and it could be the next big name to join the list of companies working on the technology. Other than Samsung, Huawei, Oppo, Xiaomi and Motorola are also working on the foldable smartphones. The Mountain View based search giant has already announced support for foldable phones in Android Q. However, there is still sometime before the Pixel foldable phones will see the light of day as Google doesn't see clear use cases of the technology.
"We're definitely prototyping the technology. We've been doing it for a long time," Mario Queiroz, Google's Pixel development lead, told CNET last week in an interview. According to Querioz, however, "I don't think there's a clear use case yet."
Google exploring the idea of the foldable phone isn't surprising as the company has already said that it is excited about the upcoming smartphones that will run on the Android operating system. Post the Samsung's debacle, it is understandable that the companies are being cautious.
"We're prototyping foldable displays and many other new hardware technologies, and have no related product announcements to make at this time," Queiroz said.
Recently, the preview units of Samsung Galaxy Fold broke for some users and the screens failed during the testing phase. Samsung's folding design was initially hailed as the future in a field that has seen a few surprises since Apple Inc's iPhone in 2007. The plastic display screens are still not ready for primetime and Samsung realised that the hard way. The company has since pushed the release date indefinitely to sort out the problems in the display technology.
Google, it seems, is looking to iron out the problems in the foldable tech before coming out with a final product.
Edited By: Udit Verma
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