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| Google is developing a foldable Pixel smartphone |
Google may have abandoned the Pixel Watch, but it looks like the Pixel foldable phone is about to hit the market.
A leak that surfaced last August suggested that the company plans to launch its first foldable Pixel phone by the end of 2021.
A new report has revealed that Samsung will start producing foldable OLED displays in October for the upcoming foldable phones from Google, Vivo, and Xiaomi, all of which will be announced later this year.
Google hasn't kept its foldable phone ambitions a secret and filed a patent for foldable screens in 2019. It admitted it's been prototyping them for a while, but said it doesn't have a clear use case yet.
But now it looks like Google has a foldable phone called Passport which may be about to release.
9to5Google found a new Passport reference in Android 12 code last month, along with other code names that will be the upcoming Pixel 6 and Pixel 5a 5G.
Google develops foldable phones:
Google's foldable phone should have a 7.6-inch screen that folds inward. The next vivo phone has an 8-inch main screen and a 6.5-inch external screen.
It is not clear if the Pixel Fold will come with a display designed by Google itself.
This may be because Samsung is a contract manufacturer of many other companies, such as the production of some Apple processors.
There are reports that Samsung is supplying its ultra-thin protective glass (technically from German manufacturer Schott) to other smartphone manufacturers and Google is likely to use it.
Xiaomi announced a foldable phone, Mi Mix Fold, earlier this year. But it looks like there will be a second phone.
The news also indicated that Oppo has postponed the launch of the new foldable phone until 2022.
The next phone is expected to have a 7.1-inch main screen and a smaller 1.5-2.0-inch external screen.