From rollable phones to Wi-Fi 6E, the next wave is coming.
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There are roughly 328 million people in the U.S. and about 269 million of us use a smartphone.
In fact, so far in 2020, 126 million new mobile phones were shipped across our country alone.
Add those numbers to Nielsen’s 2019 report that 95.9% of the 120 million homes with TVs receive signals via broadcast, cable or a broadband internet connection, and it’s clear that we Americans deeply value our connected status.
Globally, Cisco’s annual internet report says that by 2023, 66% of the world’s population will be internet users. That will be 5.3 billion of us connected to the internet through a projected 29 billion networked devices.
Innovations in the smartphone industry contribute to driving those numbers higher, with foldables, and in 2021, rollables, being at the forefront.
In fact, Statista reports the U.S. smartphone market contributed over $77 billion to the 2019 economy — not exactly a drop in the financial bucket.
Manufacturers expected to ship eight million foldable phones by the end of 2020, up considerably from 2019’s one million.
The mobile devices
Samsung leads the charge into foldables with their Galaxy Fold, the newest of which, Galaxy Z Fold2 5G, retails for $1,999.99.
That’s a hefty price tag for the new tech, but as more companies get into the manufacturing of folding screens, those prices are dropping. Microsoft’s Surface DUO and Motorola’s 2020 razr are both selling for $1,399.99.
Apple and Google have filed patent applications for their own versions of a foldable phone, but there haven’t been any hints to debut dates.
LG’s WING hit the market in 2020 on Verizon at $999.99. Introduced as “the world’s first 5G swivel smartphone,” the WING has a swivel screen that allows a user to stream their movie above, while still being able to read and respond to incoming messages and calls from the screen below.
LG isn’t stopping with the WING, having already teased their rollable screen phone, dubbed Project B, at the end of their WING announcement. Reports say it will hit markets in early 2021.