Curved screen, the end of the song is scattered

Text|Nonoise

Now, this screen display technology, which has been disliked for nearly 10 years, has finally completed its historical mission, and like all the short-lived failed innovations in the past, it will become a thin page in the history of science and technology in the tribute, nostalgia, and regret of digital fans.

In the 10th year of the curved screen, its creator, Samsung, decided to abandon the curved screen. The Galaxy S24 series flagship released in January this year has adopted a straight screen design across the entire series, which is a strong signal that high-end phones are abandoning curved screens.

Source: Samsung's official website.

Over the years, although the curvature of Samsung's flagship curved screen has become smaller and smaller, and even some models have quietly switched to a straight screen design, the top-of-the-line Ultra version still maintains a curved screen design. But it's clear that now even Samsung can't bear it.

As for domestic head manufacturers such as Huawei, the whole system of curved screens has been abandoned since the previous generation of flagship machines, and the standard versions of mate50 and mate60 have been changed back to straight screens.

Like all star technology products, curved screens have been full of controversy since the day they were born. In digital forums and social networks, a very small number of praises about the curved screen's sense of science and technology, beauty, and good feel will always be overwhelmed by the overwhelming screen that will shatter as soon as it falls, and it will take four digits to change the screen.

In addition to being easy to touch by mistake, the edge of the green screen , and in the early years, there were also foreign tech bloggers who complained that in the days of playing Pokémon Go, he found that switching to a curved screen mobile phone meant having to relearn how to throw curveballs.

A veteran digital fan told "Noise Canceling" that he had had enough of curved screen phones, and was completely forced at the beginning, because the flagship phones of the Android camp were all curved screens, and there was almost no choice. But after a few years, it's really chicken. 」

In the most prosperous years of the curved screen, a well-known technology blogger publicly bombarded on Weibo: Almost all manufacturers have followed the trend to make curved screens, which fully proves that Android phones really have no gimmicks to fry. It's really sad that such a *** design is so sought after by manufacturers. 」

From all dimensions, curved screens are not a perfect innovation. Before saying goodbye to the curved screen, we may need to review the contributions and reflections it has brought to the industry.

01 Curved screen = high-end? A commercial marketing triumph The world's first curved screen phone was Samsung's Galaxy Round released in 2013, using Samsung's own flexible AMOLED screen, but this phone was originally only a prototype test phone, so it was not mass-produced and well-known to the outside world.

At that time, Samsung was eager to bring its flexible AMOLED screen technology to the market, so a year later, the world's first strictly curved screen mobile phone, Samsung Galay Note Edge, was born. The left side of this phone still retains the straight screen design, and only the edge of the screen side has a large arc curve, that is, a single-curved screen.

Zhang Wei, a veteran Samsung user, told "Noise Reduction" that the Note Edge was really refreshing, and what impressed him the most was that Samsung designed a particularly small display task bar on a single-sided curved surface, which can maximize the use of the curved surface, but in fact, looking back now, it is a kind of show-off. 」

After the advent of Note Edge, there were even ** who called it a new dawn for the smartphone industry and a new milestone for smartphones. Samsung, which wanted to strike while the iron was hot, soon launched the Galaxy S6 Edge a year later, which ushered in a nearly decade-long era of hyperboloid screens.

Samsung relies on its own efforts to promote curved screens, and there are two calculations: one is to sell the screen, and the other is to use the innovation of the screen display form to fight against Apple, and stand up to the differentiated competitiveness of Android high-end machines.

Why a high-end machine? Because of the technical difficulty and high cost of early curved screens, only high-end flagships can afford to use them.

For domestic mobile phones that were still in the role of followers, the introduction of curved screens has naturally become one of the standard configurations for brand impact on the high-end, which is similar to the industry that later played with Leica lenses and Zeiss lenses.

In March 2016, vivo XPLAY5 was released, which was the first mobile phone in China to use a curved screen. There are many major events about curved screens this year,Huawei Mate 9 Pro was released in the second half of the year,Adopt a double-curved screen design,**4699element,It was the highest priced product of domestic mobile phones at that time。

Also in 2016, Xiaomi Note2 wanted to attack the high-end with a curved screen, and even spent a lot of money to ask Tony Leung to endorse it. However, due to the fact that Xiaomi executives offended the top business Samsung, Xiaomi could only settle for the next best thing and chose to purchase curved screens from LG. Who knows that the quality of LG curved screen is inferior to Samsung, which directly led to the word-of-mouth overturn of the Xiaomi Note series.

In the early days, most of the curved screens used by domestic manufacturers were produced by Samsung, and it was inevitable that they would be controlled by others, but in recent years, with the maturity of domestic mobile phone manufacturers and the ** chain, the situation has been completely different.

Li Gang, a senior analyst at BGD Consulting, told "Noise Reduction" that Samsung's screen display technology around 2013 was much ahead of China, but in recent years, domestic manufacturers have overtaken in corners, and the improvement speed in the field of flexible screens and folding screens is very fast, and the production yield has reached a very high standard.

Three years after the birth of the curved screen, in 2017, BOE announced that the 6th generation flexible AMOLED production line would achieve mass production in Chengdu ahead of schedule, becoming the second company in the world to achieve mass production of this product. This also marks the end of the situation in the field of flexible screens dominated by Samsung.

For example, the flexible OLED screen used in Huawei Mate 60 series mobile phones is provided by two domestic screen manufacturers, BOE and Visionox. Domestic manufacturers can even provide customized solutions to meet the performance and design of the screen. The screen of the Xiaomi 14 Pro is also provided by the domestic manufacturer CSOT.

Gradually, in order to have a new story to tell on the screen every time, domestic manufacturers began to involute the curved screen to the point of madness.

For example, in vivo nex3 released in September 2019, a waterfall screen design is adopted, the so-called waterfall screen is a surfing screen with a curvature of nearly 90 degrees on both sides, and the screen can also be seen on the side, swipe it with your finger, and there will be a waterfall on both sides of the screen. The Huawei P40 Pro, which was launched in April 2020, uses a quad-curved water overflow screen, showing a slight arc around the screen, and the fluid edges are overflowing and dissatisfied. In February 2021, Xiaomi released the quad curved waterfall concept phone.

Of course, everyone has gradually realized that behind this ultimate pursuit of screen form, it may not be helpful to users, because there are too many shortcomings of curved screens, and the advantages are only beautiful and good feel. A technological innovation, if it does not increase too much cost, can make users have a certain degree of stickiness, this is a more important innovation, otherwise it is very chicken. Li Gang said bluntly.

Mobile phone manufacturers are also aware of the technical problems of curved screens, so compromises are inevitable. Although it is still under the banner of curved screens, the curvature of curved screens on high-end Android machines is getting smaller and smaller, and in the past two years, micro-curved screens have become the mainstream.

The Xiaomi 14 Pro, released last year, uses a fully isodeep slightly curved screen . Lei Jun said,The R & D investment of the screen is 18 times that of the traditional hyperbolic screen,It combines the advantages of a straight curved screen,Boasting that it is the most perfect screen form。

Source: Xiaomi's official website.

Glory's latest high-end modelMagic6In the middle, a micro-curved screen with a hole in the center is used, and this micro-curved screen design is only slightly curved around, which looks a bit like a straight screen, but it is much more convenient to use than a curved screen. In the flagship ace 3 released by OnePlus in January this year, a slightly curved screen design is also used, and Huawei's latest flagship Mate60 Pro is also a four-sided slightly curved screen.

At least literally, the Android high-end machine still retains the last stubbornness. Although the slightly curved screen is more and more similar to the straight screen.

02 In terms of the degree of chicken ribs, it is difficult for curved screens to be surpassed For users, curved screens have always been such a love-hate existence. Compared with the straight screen, the curved screen not only feels smooth to hold, but also has an excellent appearance.

If you go back to the background of its birth, the curved screen is a technological innovation that will definitely appear at that particular time. From the point of view of the iterative process of screen display technology, it was in the process of transferring from hard screen to flexible screen. How to let consumers intuitively feel the iterative changes of screen technology? The curved screen was the best form of presentation at that time, or gimmick.

But judging from the evolutionary results,Li Gang thinks,The functional experience and improvement that curved screens have brought to users over the years are really limited,I'm afraid it will be difficult to iterate and continue,A technology,If there is no long-term continuation、No cost reduction,No coverage from flagship to low-end,In fact, it is a flash in the pan。 」

Of course, in the minds of many users, the decline of curved screens is not worthy of sympathy.

First of all, due to the complex process, the cost of the curved screen is high, and the repair cost is too high once it is damaged. Take Huaweimate40 Pro as an example,The official background displays,The curved screen warranty maintenance fee is as high as 1679 yuan,The screen replacement price of other curved screen flagships is basically around 1500 yuan。 For example, the classic Xiaomi 11,Many years ago, the maintenance cost of its curved screen was between 800 yuan-1200 yuan,Based on the starting price of Xiaomi Mi 11, the maintenance cost of the screen alone accounts for half of the selling price。

Affordability but can't repair has become a headache for many curved screen users.

What's worse is that due to the structure of the curved screen fuselage, it is inherently difficult to do anti-drop treatment, which leads to a greater breakage rate of the curved screen than a straight-screen mobile phone. Zhang Wei's Samsung S8 back then,I experienced a broken screen in a few months, Because the screen looks too beautiful,So I didn't want to put a protective case,The result was too smooth,It slipped out of the pocket。 」

There is a professional analysis on Zhihu: Even with the same glass-ceramic structure, this model with a traditional hyperboloid screen and a coherent middle frame must be more likely to break. 」

This also explains why the later Xiaomi 14 Pro and Huawei Mate60 only use the design of wrapping the screen with a middle frame, and they do not hesitate to sacrifice the feel, but also to ensure that they are resistant to falling.

Even the peripheral services of the curved screen are more troublesome. A mobile phone dealer told "Noise Reduction" that the cost of curved screen tempered film is generally about 30% higher than that of straight screen tempered film, and it takes twice as long as an ordinary screen to apply a curved screen film.

The time it takes to paste a curved screen can be two ordinary screens. And not all employees can paste curved screens, and I have to recruit people who can put curved screens. The dealer complained that due to the difficulty of operation and high requirements, the curved screen film must be replaced if it is scrapped, and the loss rate is also high. From the perspective of merchants, the service of applying film to curved screens is not cost-effective.

In the early days, because the curved screen technology was completely monopolized by Samsung, this also led to the high cost of the screen. Many manufacturers can only be subject to Samsung's screen supply, and over time, users have formed the perception that curved screen = high-end machine.

The only one who really dares to compete with the curved screen is Apple. Although Apple has made many iterations on the appearance of the screen, it has always been based on the transformation of the flat screen. This is related to Apple's design philosophy for a long time. Since the release of the first generation of iPhone, Apple has always adhered to right-angle bezels and flat screens, which have become its signature features.

After Jobs retook Apple, he expressed his understanding of design in an interview with Fortune magazine: Design is not only about how a product looks, but it must reflect the essence of the product. He and his partner, Jonathan Ivor, agree that design should be simple. The vast majority of companies are engineering-led, with the exception of Apple, where the enclosure form is determined first, and then engineers in turn build the matching motherboards and components.

For Apple, the use of curved screens involves the reconstruction of the entire APP ecosystem and even the software and hardware ecology, which will undoubtedly increase the complexity of product development and production, and will bring challenges to the entire ecosystem. In addition, since Apple does not produce displays itself, if a curved screen with a relatively complex process is introduced, the cost will skyrocket. The resulting profit changes and price increases are also foreseeable risks.

Of course, more importantly, Apple, which is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, does not need the high-end of the curved screen to prove its value. Mediocre tech companies are catering to trends to retain users, and only Apple is confident that it can lead the way.

03 Will the folding screen be the new lifesaver? After interviewing a number of mobile phone-related people, the most intuitive feeling of "Nonoise" is that the mobile phone industry has lacked innovation and bottlenecks in recent years.

A practitioner in Huaqiangbei, Shenzhen, feels that the mobile phone industry has changed in the past ten years. Li Gang also believes that since the emergence of 4G, there have been few revolutionary iteration directions in the industry. After the curved screen became the selling point of high-end mobile phones in the Android camp, the evolution of the camera has led the development of the mobile phone industry, followed by folding screen technology. However, the folding screen does not have as much impact on the industry as the camera.

Including Samsung, Honor and other Android manufacturers, the transformation of the terminal is currently pinning their hopes on AI models. Some industry insiders bluntly said that in the short term, AI is still just a marketing gimmick, and it remains to be seen whether AI can bring some new experiences to users in the future.

From a global perspective, mobile phone giants seem to be collectively entering a period of water reversal. Samsung's just-released financial report for the fourth quarter of 2023 shows that Samsung's operating profit has declined for six consecutive quarters, and last year's full-year revenue was **85% year-on-year. In addition to the sluggish global demand for memory chips, which has affected the semiconductor business, the mobile phone business is also full of difficulties, on the one hand, the industry has not yet come out of the cold winter, and on the other hand, the competition has intensified - Samsung's global mobile phone shipments will be overtaken by Apple for the first time in 2023.

In this case, the latest flagship Galaxy S24 has become the hope of the whole village. Samsung Group has previously announced that it has set a shipment target of 35 million units for the Galaxy S24. Under heavy pressure, it is inevitable to abandon the curved screen of chicken ribs and bet on AI models with more marketing gimmicks.

I think it's a good thing, because it shows that Samsung is capable of accepting failure. From the perspective of technology enthusiasts, Zhang Wei believes that it is Samsung's bold attempt to abandon the curved surface and return to the straight screen. Maybe the next straight screen doesn't sell well and returns to the curved screen,That also shows that Samsung has the ability to correct errors and transform in time, For a technology giant like Samsung,Even if you make a wrong decision,It's better than doing nothing。 」

Perhaps for technology giants, leading technological innovation is the best way to maintain the top of the industry.

Although the era of curved screens has come to an end, the industry is always looking forward to new innovations, such as people have projected more expectations onto folding screens.

According to research data, in 2023, the global folding screen mobile phone market will sell about 18 million units, a year-on-year increase of 27%, of which the sales of folding screen mobile phones in the Chinese market will reach 6.8 million units, a year-on-year increase of 140%.

Source**: Global Foldable Smartphone Insights Report.

In terms of branding, Huawei said that on February 22, it will release a new generation of vertical folding screen mobile phone Huawei Pockets2, and adjust the pre-shipment of its folding screen by three times. Not only that, vivo's next-generation large folding screen new machine will also be released in March, some bloggers broke the news, vivo x fold3 series folding screen mobile phones are expected to be divided into two models, large and small cups, small cup models will be low, intended to speed up the popularity of folding screen mobile phones.

In the eyes of industry insiders, compared with curved screens, folding screens have improved the scalability of people's visual experience and application experience more obviously.

NoNoise also found that despite the considerable growth rate, in 2023, China's smartphone shipments will be about 27.1 billion units. Based on this calculation, folding screen mobile phones only account for 2% of the total shipmentsAbout 5%. In other words, the folding screen will not be able to support the role of the main force of growth for a period of time.

Compared with curved screens, the low penetration rate of folding screens is mainly due to its high cost and high price, and it can only be used as a display of high-end flagship machines for manufacturers in the near future. As for whether it can subvert the existing screen form, it may take longer to verify.

IDC data shows that global smartphone shipments in 2022 will be 12100 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 113%, the lowest since 2013. It's just that unlike the competitive environment more than ten years ago, although the global mobile phone brands have fallen into a recession and cold wave, the strength of today's Chinese mobile phone manufacturers has long been different.

As strong as Apple, this threat can also be clearly felt. In Apple's latest quarterly earnings report, Apple's revenue in Greater China fell 2% year-on-year5%。Revenue fell for the fourth consecutive quarter, the longest decline since 2001. A month ago, the price reduction of products on Apple's official website was also historically rare. China has been the world's most competitive smartphone market, and that hasn't changed, Cook said at the conference after the earnings report.

Previously, Samsung continued to build momentum to the outside world, saying that the new machine will be equipped with an AI large model, and the Samsung Galaxy S24 will become the first AI large model mobile phone. Unexpectedly, the domestic machines released before the Galaxy S24 have said that access to large models has long become the standard. In August last year, Huawei officially announced that the Harmony OS 4 system was fully connected to the Pangu model, and then, Xiaomi and vivo also showed off their large model muscles.

It is foreseeable that the involution of technological innovation will continue.