Foldable smartphones are the next design upgrade over glass slabs that we use today. While Samsung, Huawei, and Royole have already given us a feel of what the foldable future might look like, Oppo is taking it a step further with its concept phones. Firstly, Oppo X 2021 arrived as a concept phone with a rollable display, and now, the Oppo Slide Phone is imagining a more modular foldable form factor.
In partnership with Japanese design studio nendo, Oppo has today showcased a new concept foldable phone with a tri-fold design. It’s called the Oppo Slide Phone and it boasts “three foldable screens attached by hinges folding over in the same direction.” This is merely a design concept and a prototype, like the Oppo X 2021, does not exist for this unique and mesmerizing design.
The Chinese giant says phone sizes have grown over the years and it’s cumbersome to use them with one hand. Oppo Slide Phone wants to solve this issue by leaving the size choice over to users. You can slide open the foldable screen in three positions – two of those are shown in the image above and the third is shown in the header image.
After the first unfold, you get 40mm of usable screen space to view notifications, check out call history, and control music playback. The second unfolding shows 80mm of the screen and lets you carry out most smartphone functions. Oppo, however, believes it is best for clicking selfies and photos. You can obviously unfold the top part to reveal the entire screen. It is partially bent at the center and packs stylus support (housed in the chassis).
I don’t know about you, but the first thing that came to my mind when I saw the Oppo Slide Phone concept is this iPhone meme. Remember how everyone joked that iPhones will become this huge and elongated down the road. It seems like Oppo has taken the meme quite seriously. There is currently no information on whether the company has any plans to bring this concept to life down the road.
