Vivo launched a new sub-brand a few days ago, dubbed iQOO. It was supposed to be all about gaming, but it turns out there’s also a foldable phone involved. That device has just been rendered and published online, via Chinese social network Weibo.
The foldable seems to be rather tall and it transforms from phone to tablet with ease. It seems to adopt a fold out design, instead of fold in, like the one that most manufacturers use. It keeps the screens on the outside, as it turns out. It also seems to run the FunTouch OS that was overlayed on top of Android Pie on the Vivo NEX Dual Display, for example.
The tipster claims that the product is going to cost quite a bit above $1000. The images shown here don’t feature any buttons or ports, so it may just be a case of very early prototypes, or simply it’s the same approach as the Vivo APEX 2019. I can’t quite see any trace of a front or main camera, but we have yet to see the back side. The problem is that when folded, the back screen would cover it…
With Oppo also making foldables and patenting a lot of stuff and Oppo and Vivo belonging to the same company, it’s pretty clear that they’ll share technology. I can’t exactly say if we’ll get to see such a device at MWC 2019 or not though…
