Huawei officially announced that the company’s first foldable smartphone, Huawei Mate X is coming in China on November 15th of this month. The smartphone was first announced in February 2019, and since then the launch date of the device has been delayed many times. Now finally, only a few days left for the launch.
According to reports from the Korean media, Huawei Mate X uses a transparent polyimide (PI) film for the outer protective layer of the screen. This transparent polyimide (PI) film is developed by South Korea’s Kolon Industries.
Mate X has an out-folding display and a layer of (PI) should help to prevent the screen from scratching and crease. Transparent PI is flexible and offers resistance against heat and impact. Because of flexibility, the display can be folded or rolled up without cracking. It has properties like high strength, high toughness, wear resistance, high temperature resistance and corrosion resistance.
Kolon Industries invested $77.1 million (90 billion KRW) to commercialize its transparent PI on the full-scale and it also built the industry’s first transparent PI mass-production plant.
Transparent Polyimide (PI) in Previous Foldable Smartphones
Kolon Industries also supplied its transparent PI to the world’s first foldable smartphone manufacturer Royole. Royole made FlexPai and claimed that it can withstand over 200,000 folds. However, this foldable had not achieved that much success. Recent released Samsung’s Galaxy Fold also uses a transparent PI over its display, which is supplied by Japanese company Sumitomo Chemical. Motorola’s upcoming foldable smartphone is also said to use Kolon Industries’ transparent PI. The expected to launch date is 13th of next month.
Huawei Mate X Display
Huawei Mate X has a 8-inch size tablet screen and when it folded it converted into a 6.6-inch folding mobile phone with a main screen (the rear screen is 6.38 inches). The thinnest part is only 5.4 mm thick.
Mate X might be China exclusive and will initially be released at 16999 yuan. The upgraded version will be available in March next year with Kirin 990 5G chipset.
