Another big tech company is reportedly making a foldable smartphone, suggesting folding screen technology might not be a passing trend

Reuters

Sony is developing its own foldable smartphone. Above: the Huawei Mate X foldable smartphone.

• Sony is reportedly developing its own foldable smartphone.
• If true, Sony joins a growing list of major tech companies like Samsung and Huawei in developing devices with foldable screens.
• The vision for foldable devices is to offer a large-screen experience in a device the size of a modern smartphone. Combined with 5G wireless networks that promise ultra fast speeds and responsiveness, foldable devices could become more useful than traditional smartphones.
• The durability of the screen technology and the high price tag associated with it are the main concerns surrounding the upcoming designs - Samsung had to delay the launch of the Galaxy Fold after review units began breaking.
• Visit Business Insider's home page for more stories.

Sony is reportedly developing its own foldable smartphone that could be released at the end of 2019 or early 2020, according to gadgets leaker "Max J," who has reliably leaked news of upcoming devices on Twitter in the past.

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If the information is accurate, Sony would join some of the biggest mobile tech companies working to bring devices with foldable displays to market, including Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi, and Oppo.

Samsung and Huawei alone are in the top three in global smartphone market share, according to Statista. As the list of companies developing foldable devices grows, the concept of foldable devices is becoming more concrete as a future style of smartphones.

Microsoft, LG, and Lenovo/Motorola are also rumored to be developing devices with a foldable screens. 

The goal of foldable devices is to offer a larger display capable of transforming into a device the size of a smartphone. With the option for a larger display, foldable devices can become more versatile, especially for productivity and entertainment purposes. They can display multiple apps more comfortably on a larger screen, or deliver a more comfortable experience for a single app - especially those that benefit from added screen real estate.

Hollis Johnson/Business Insider

The Samsung Galaxy Fold running and displaying multiple apps more comfortably than a traditional smartphone.

Combined with the prospect of ultra fast and responsive 5G mobile networks, foldable devices that offer larger screens in relatively small form factors have the chance to become more useful than a traditional smartphone ever could.

With that said, foldable smartphones are off to a rocky start and their durability in the wild is unproven. Review units of Samsung's Galaxy Fold smartphone ran into issues when the display broke, and Huawei's Mate X foldable smartphone is facing an uncertain future since the company was restricted from using Google's Android mobile operating system in new products as part of the company's blacklisting by the US. At the same time, the US recently eased restrictions on Huawei, but plenty of uncertainty still surrounds the situation.

Foldable devices have yet to be a proven concept, but some of the biggest tech companies in the world seem determined to make them a reality.