If you have been paying attention to the bendable
Motorola Razr announcement, it might have occurred to your subconscious that you are not seeing any creases like on vertical-axis folders like the
Mate X or
Galaxy Fold.
Granted, the Razr is much narrower, but it turns out that this has been a deliberate strategy of Motorola’s engineering team ever since it saw the first foldable phone iterations that, admittedly, didn’t go down well when it comes to timely releases with the original design.
Apart from the double layer of transparent polyimide (PI) film that it applied, Motorola
reportedly designed the hinge of the Razr (2019) in such a way that it stretches the film a bit, so that the potential for creasing is kept to a minimum. The Koreans from Kolon Industries are supplying said film to Motorola, and its exec Lee Seong-chan chimed in during an industry conference last week that:
RAZR also used hinges to pull the display at the corners for less creases, and this all indicates that flexible thinking and the use of different materials and parts can help solve the problem.
While Samsung fixed the Fold’s release problems by extending the PI cover over the corners, so as it doesn’t look like a
screen protector, it has reportedly decided to move away of such films in the future, replacing them with… ultrathin glass cover.
Apparently, the notorious rigidity of a glass structure isn’t as valid for glass that is 100 micrometer thin or less, and for the
Fold 2, Samsung has wiggled its way into an exclusive long-term contract with a local manufacturer that can go down to 30 micrometer even.
The Kolon Industries exec acknowledged that ultrathin glass is also making strides as a viable alternative to the PI film as display cover, and is exactly what Samsung will be using for the
clamshell Fold 2 in the spring.
That’s despite Moto’s success with the film layer that doesn’t crease, as both technologies present different challenges for manufacturers that are on the verge of being overcome, he added.
Japan’s Asahi Glass was able to attain 3R-level in terms of bendability by making the glass as thin as 70㎛, then applying chemical reinforcement, and Germany’s Schott is manufacturing UTG of under 10㎛ that can be chemically reinforced… Glass has to overcome the challenges of mass production and size, while film material has to raise the yield rate and perfect hard-coating technology.
