“Very little thought” has gone into them − OnePlus isn’t a fan of folding phones
The Huawei Mate X was probably the star attraction of MWC 2019, but eye-catching as folding phones are, they haven’t blown everyone away. One person who’s been left less than impressed is OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei.
Asked why OnePlus hasn’t decided to jump aboard the foldables bandwagon, he told Trusted Reviews: “One thing we’re seeing now in the smartphone space, and in technology in general, is it’s more about function than how it works.
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“Take foldable phones, for instance. Okay, now we can have a bigger screen, but very little thought has been put into the fact that now that we have a bigger screen, what are the new interaction models? How does the UX need to change for the larger form factor? It’s just the same thing with a bigger screen.”
That’s an important point. The aforementioned Mate X was unveiled just a few days after the launch of Samsung Galaxy Fold, but we haven’t yet been able to spend an extended period of time with either of the two devices.
We did, however, get to go hands-on with the Mate X at MWC. With Google Chrome at least, it appears to launch the desktop version of the browser when you’re in tablet mode, and the mobile version when you’re in phone mode.
If you already have Chrome open and then switch the Mate X from tablet mode to phone mode (or vice versa), the version of Chrome you get remains the same.
That said, the Mate X we got to spent time with was running an early version of the software, so things could be different when the handset actually hits the market.
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“We decided to only put our brand on a product that we believe is ready for consumers to really embrace,” Pei told Trusted Reviews.
“So more exploratory form factors like foldables are not really something that we’ve looked at. Our approach would be to see whether it works, whether people like it, before thinking about one for ourselves.
“We need to focus on the consumer side. How can we capture the needs of consumers the best and be able to deliver the product that’s most pleasant to use. That’s where we’ll be focused.”
Are you tempted by the Mate X of Galaxy Fold? Let us know on Twitter @TrustedReviews.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
