What you need to know
- Google might introduce a new review process to foldable phone OEM makers.
- The requirement is to ensure a “high level of quality among foldable devices.”
- It involves foldables to match at least 200,000 folds/unfolds.
Google was one of the recent OEM makers to venture into the foldables smartphone market this year. While many believe foldables need more guarantees when it comes to their longevity, the search giant is likely to introduce new hardware requirements for future foldables to help alleviate concerns.
According to Mishaal Rahman (via Android Authority), Google will likely implement new hardware requirements for OEM makers who make foldables phones in the near future. It is seemingly a quality review process for OEMs to ensure a “high level of quality among foldable devices.”
Rahman further notes that the process would involve a questionnaire followed by OEM makers sending sample devices before releasing them to the public. The requirements from Google would then include the ability to last at least 200,000 folds and unfolds. These folds correspond to using the foldable for five years with 100 folds a day, or roughly 10 years if folds occur only 50 times daily.
These 200,000 folds and unfolds should also match 80% of the original torque hinge as part of the requirement. This new review process will likely be in conjunction with OEM makers’ benchmark criterion and quite similar to Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5 foldable phones. Other OEMs like Motorola and Oppo have 400,000 fold cycles for their latest foldable phones, with the new Xiaomi Mix Fold 3 claiming 500,000.
According to Rahman, the other requirement from Google, per insider sources, involves said Android OEMs providing at least two major OS updates followed by three years of security updates.
This doesn’t seem to be much different from what most foldables offer and even falls behind some OEMs like Samsung and OPPO, which promise four OS upgrades and five years of security patches. Still, it adds additional security that these devices will receive years of software support, and it’ll be good to see Google making an effort to ensure good-quality hardware and software support for foldables.