CES 2020: Foldable phones, circular smartphones and 5G were all the rage at the Las Vegas tech show

By Holly
January 23, 2020

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Foldable Phones

Gimmick or the ideal tablet and phone combo? From the relaunch of the retro Moto Razr to the Galaxy Fold, there have been mixed opinions and reviews about folding smartphones. They are super expensive for starters due to it being new tech, and very delicate. There has also been speculation over the durability of the screen itself with creasing being a common occurrence in early models from Samsung, which has since hopefully been fixed.

Still, innovation is what keeps things interesting at shows like this.

TCL debuted their foldable offering at CES this year that isn’t as aesthetically pleasing as the Moto Razr or as competent as the Huawei Mate X but is more affordable than it’s rivals which will make folding tech more accessible to the masses (should they want it).

Foldable phone on show at CES 2020 — Are foldable phones the next big smartphone evolution? Lots of tech companies at CES seem to think so.

5G Phones

TCL had a horse in this race too at CES 2020 as did Coolpad. To add to the mix, Xiaomi and Realme revealed budget 5G handsets in China recently so there should hopefully be a bit of choice for the consumer in 2020 to experience the extra ‘G’ ‘without breaking the bank.

5G has arrived in the UK so this is an exciting and untapped market for the manufacturer that gets the feature vs price point balance correct. Remember how quickly 4K TV’s dropped in price. Hopefully we’ll see similar patterns with 5G-Ready phones.

TCL's 5G phone at CES — TCL are hoping to capture the mass market with a lower cost 5G phone.

New Camera Tech

Smartphone cameras now rival some SLR’s for quality shots and 2019 saw triple and quad camera’s as standard, whatever the price of the device. However, the extra camera tech meant more standout on the back of the phone which was an eyesore for some and bulky for others.

As a solution to this, OnePlus demonstrated how to completely hide the camera modules behind electrochromic glass which can turn transparent, semi-transparent or opaque whenever the camera is required.

This glass can also be used as a neutral density filter which will assist budding photographers when taking photo’s and video’s in extremely bright light.

OnePlus concept phone at CES — Where’s the rear camera? Behind that black bit at the top of the phone. The lenses reveal themselves when you activate the camera app.

Circular Phones

Mobile phones have taken many forms over the years but a circle has never been one of them! A bit like a compact mirror, this device has 2 headphone jacks so it very much a phone to be shared and to bring people together physically as well as online.

It is called the Cyrcle Phone, runs on Android, is very much still in the prototype stage and was at the more bizarre end of the new tech spectrum along with the toilet smell sensors and tennis ball shaped robot companions.

Cyrcle phone - a prototype circular phone shown at CES 2020 — Still very much in the prototype stage, but could circular phones become a thing?

Favourite gadget spotted at CES? Let us know in the Comments below.

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