In brief: Samsung is one of the most prominent entities in the foldable phone market. The company has already released three models, but it seems it will further expand its influence in this market by selling foldable OLED displays to other phone manufacturers. Those manufacturers include Google, Xiaomi, Vivo, and Oppo.
Google's foldable phone was been first mentioned in documents leaked in August 2020. Codenamed "Passport," Google's foldable phone is supposedly releasing in Q4 2021. The specifications are still unknown, but a recent report claims it will feature a 7.6-inch foldable OLED display.
Vivo also plans to announce its first foldable phones later this year. This phone will come with an 8-inch OLED display and a 6.5-inch OLED display, but only the former is from Samsung. The 6.5-inch screen will be manufactured by BOE.
Xiaomi, which launched a foldable in March, plans to introduce another one by late 2021. Similar to Vivo's foldable phone, it will feature an 8-inch OLED panel and a 6.5-inch OLED panel.
Oppo will probably be the last one of these four companies joining the foldable phone market. Its foldable phone release has been pushed to 2022 alongside Samsung's OLED production for the company. This phone should feature a clamshell design with two screens: an inner screen measuring 7.1 inches and an outer screen between 1.5 inches and two inches.
Samsung will not only focus on selling foldable OLED displays to third-party phone makers. The report also states that Samsung plans to launch two more foldable phones later this year.
None of these screens seems to be the S-Fold display Samsung showed earlier this year, but the technology powering them should be similar.
Foldable phones have not yet reached the mainstream segment, but as more phone manufacturers jump on the bandwagon, that may soon happen. Moreover, as more foldable phones get into the market, competition will grow, leading to a possible price reduction of such devices.
Image credit: Mika Baumeister