Samsung’s first foldable phone was unveiled in February 2019. You can’t say we didn’t see it coming, with the “smartfolds” labeled as the next big thing in consumer tech in the last few years, tons of rumors, some prototypes shown at big technology fairs like CES and MWC by obscure companies, and the highest expectations for a device, launched by one of the world’s most relevant smartphone manufacturers, which would – to be repeated in an optimistic loop - subtract the smartphone to its tedious and nowadays ubiquitous original form factor. The Galaxy Fold, later renamed Galaxy Z Fold, was the first of a kind. Its first months weren’t the simplest: the small cover display was disappointing for many. The device received mixed pre-release reception, and its release was delayed to September for problems with the screen coatings of the first review units. At last, the Galaxy Fold hit the shelves just in time for Christmas Holidays. Some months later, just before the pandemic blocked Europe and more or less a year after the launch of the Fold, Samsung announced the Galaxy Z Flip, a smaller foldable phone which looked less ambitious, maybe, but simpler and more streamlined, which could also be used when demi-unfolded.
How to design a foldable phone, in 11 quotes
A conversation with Samsung’s Jun-yong Song, who played a central role in designing all of the brand’s foldable phones.
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- Alessandro Scarano
- 09 October 2020
The design is really about making the technology beautiful, making sure that the benefits of technology are delivered, as so we don’t to restrict ourselves to a certain technology or design
The heir of Samsung’s original foldable phone, the Galaxy Z Fold2, in now available: its sports a larger cover display, an enhanced hinge, and many other less evident adjustments. It’s a gorgeous device, easy to use in both modes, closed and open, and with when “flexed”, exploiting ad hoc software customization. Long story short, it’s much more similar to what we expected one and a half year ago. Even the price tag around $2000 doesn’t sound so much scaring for a device which, after all, stands out both as a premium smartphone and a tablet, in just one packet, when compared to the current prices in the market.
“Whenever a new design is launched, with new technology, consumers perceive it as revolutionary. Consumers think it’s fun and new. But the most important thing is the next lineup, the next device because they have to continue to appeal to the consumers and satisfy better usability”, says Jun-yong Song, Principal Designer Next Generation Product of Samsung’s mobile division, who played a central role in designing both the original Fold and its successor, pointing out that when the first generation of Fold was introduced, there was no similar product in the market – actually, not much has changed since then -, and so the user experience had to be developed from the scratch. “The first thing we thought about, as we began the foldable project, was to identify the values we can provide our consumers using the flexible display. As you know, the flexible display can fold and unfold, and that can actually offer a brand new unprecedented user experience”.
(continues in the gallery: all quotes by Jun-yong Song if not differently specified)
“We increased the size of the cover display so that the smartphone has maximum usability even when it’s closed”, the Samsung development team says. “The Galaxy Z Fold2’s 6.2-inch cover screen provides a full smartphone experience with many features, even without unfolding the device. Now, the Galaxy Z Fold2 boasts a larger screen size than the bar-type devices that most people used just a few years ago”. But the screen also comes handy when you can take high-resolution selfies using the rear camera, a feature called “rear cam selfie”, which enables the cover screen as a viewfinder. “Not only we provide a better flex mode so that you have good usability even when the phone is half-folded and so that was really one big improvement we apply to this phone in order to provide the true values of the foldable category”.
“For some projects there should be more focus on the internal roadmap, for some projects, more focus on listening to the consumer needs”, Jun-yong Song explains. “The methodology really depends on the nature of the project. If you k about the foldable, the use cases have not been tested and proven on the market yet, because we have introduced it as an entirely new category, so we place the heavier focus on listening to the consumer voices so that we can identify the needs and the values that consumers are looking for and that’s the hot that’s how we’re designing the process of developing new products”.
“The design cycle begins listening to the consumer needs, testing prototypes, listening to more consumers and so on, in an endless cycle, so that we can continue to update and identify new consumer values until the very last”.
“If you think about why the foldable category was invented, in first place it was to offer two values to the consumers: number one, to make it compact enough when it folded, and number two, provide a big screen to improve usability. This is the design language that we had when developing the device. We tested various prototypes to find the right balance, and as result of power test and power prototypes, we made this decision on the screen height”.
“We never define a design or the development or any element of the device. We are always open to what’s new, what’s out there, to what the customers say. We never think of a certain device or a certain design to be definitive because we will continue to explore a better future value. So the design is really about making the technology beautiful, making sure that the benefits of technology are delivered, as so we don’t to restrict ourselves to a certain technology or design”.
“We found out that some of the smartphone users were happy with the screen size, but wanted it to be more compact for better portability,”.
“Unlike tablets, we must account for the seamless transition between the cover screen and the main screen”, Samsung says. “In the first-generation foldable, Galaxy Fold, we focused on creating an optimized UX that connects the experience from one screen to the other when the device is unfolded and puts the tablet-sized screen to good use. This led to the development of «app continuity» to create a smooth transition when transitioning between the screens within one app, and multi-active window that enables the user to split the biggest screen into three for multitasking. After the Galaxy Fold launch, we analyzed qualitative and quantitative data from Fold users and discovered the UX's positive usability in our users’ patterns. We found that multitasking use cases for multimedia purposes were quite common. A significant portion of users (20 percent) wanted to see app continuity when folding the device. This led to the enhancement of multi-active window to accommodate two-way vertical screen split and three-way split, and a customized setting for App Continuity to meet all consumers’ needs to continue using or to close apps when folding the device”.
Folded, unfolded or… demi-folded. Samsung has developed a completely new UX for its foldable lineup, starting from the Galaxy Z Flip, which introduced the “hideaway hinge”. Flex mode enables ‘capture view mode’ and ‘auto framing’ in the Camera app, for example.
“We have a long history of researching and developing various form factors, beginning from the very first feature phones to the flip phones to rotating screening”. For Jun-yong Song, foldable smartphones were born from nothing but full continuity with Samsung’s design history. “We already had data and solutions in order to actually create a foldable phone. The most important issue in the design was identifying the consumer value and the best solutions to identify the value. Our design challenge was to identify how the phone should be folded and unfolded, like a book, or any alternative that could provide a better value. And we had a rich amount of data to answer that question”.
“There are two main ways to do a new design. When you already have the form factor you do the design by styling. Secondly, there are situations in which the form factor itself influences the design and that’s the case with the foldable. The form factor influences all the other elements in the design. In the case of foldable phones simply creating a graphic design is not enough to test the output, therefore you have to use a more comprehensive process that covers the form factor itself, usability as well as the styling of the form factor and so in this case we make multiple prototypes or mockups, we carry out tests, we make new prototypes and we repeat this cycle so that we can carry out a comprehensive test about form factor usability as well as the styling. I would say that design is turning your imagination into reality, during the prototype stage. A very good prototype comes in very helpful way when we start collaborating with developers to physically create the final product”.
“All of the materials that are out there on the planet can be used for the design, but we have certain considerations to make so that the material is right. Otherwise we end up with a piece of art. And with this in mind we continue to experiment and explore all of the materials that are out there because as I said, we’re really positive when it comes to the designs”.