OPPO's flexible mobile screen is a big hit

Recently, OPPO released an OPPO X2021 roll-up screen concept phone. Although Huawei, Samsung and other companies have also released folding screens before, OPPO's roll-up screen concept phone still subverted the public's perception, caused a sensation at the Future Technology Conference, and became the focus of the entire event.

Flexible display screens have become the key development direction of display screens due to their outstanding advantages such as light weight, unbreakable and easy to bend. Take mobile phones as an example. Mobile phones can be folded after using flexible display screens. In related technologies, the main ways of folding mobile phones are inward folding and outward folding. However, no matter which way is used, the thickness of the mobile phone after folding is roughly twice the thickness when unfolded.

To this end, OPPO filed an invention patent entitled "A mobile terminal" (application number: 201910765640.4) on August 19, 2019, and the applicant was OPPO (Chongqing) Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd.

Figure 1 Schematic diagram of the initial state structure of the mobile terminal

Figure 2 AA cross-sectional view of the mobile terminal in the initial state

FIG1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the mobile terminal in the initial state, including a flexible display screen 30, a first support body 10, a second support body 20 and a scroll 40, and FIG2 is a cross-sectional view of the mobile terminal in the initial state in the AA direction. The scroll 40 is rotatably arranged in the accommodating space 101, and is fixedly connected to the other end of the flexible display screen 30 to wind up the flexible display screen 30. When the mobile terminal is in the initial state, the volume occupied by the mobile terminal is the smallest, and the display area is the smallest. At this time, the first support body 10 and the second support body 20 cannot slide further in the direction of getting closer to each other. After the first support body 10 and the second support body 20 slide in the direction away from each other, the mobile terminal is in an extended state, and the volume occupied by the mobile terminal and the display area are increased compared with the initial state. Moreover, when adjusting, the first support body 10 and the second support body 20 can be slid a certain distance according to the actual needs of the display area.

Figure 3 Schematic diagram of the structure of the mobile terminal in the extended state

Figure 4 Cross-sectional view of the mobile terminal in the extended state along the BB direction

During the relative sliding of the first support body 10 and the second support body 20, the sliding smoothness of the first support body 10 and the second support body 20 directly affects the user's operating feel and the user's experience of the flexible display screen 30. For example, if the first support body 10 and the second support body 20 shake up and down during the sliding process, on the one hand, the surface of the flexible display screen 30 will also appear to be arched and concave, affecting the user's experience. On the other hand, it may affect the working reliability of the precision electrical components arranged inside the mobile terminal.

Therefore, in the design process, as shown in Figures 3 and 4, two edges of the two supports are formed with a slide groove 24 and a convex rib 14 on the lateral side perpendicular to the sliding direction. The convex rib 14 and the slide groove 24 cooperate to guide the sliding process of the first support 10 and the second support 20, so that the relative sliding of the first support 10 and the second support 20 is more stable and reliable.

In short, OPPO's mobile terminal patent uses a sliding and retracting method to achieve the change of the display area of ​​the mobile terminal, which is completely different from the inward or outward folding method in the related technology. Before and after the display area changes, the thickness of the mobile terminal remains unchanged, which can save the overall thickness of the mobile phone. Therefore, the overall size of the mobile terminal can be made thinner and more convenient to carry. At the same time, using a scroll to wind up the flexible display can make more reasonable use of space.

OPPO has made use of the scroll screen technology by virtue of its continuous technological innovation and talent investment. What impact will it have on the development of future smartphones? Let us wait and see.