We have said this before, foldable phones are cool and nice to look at, unless there is some revolutionary application that is earth shattering or the prospect of the device is going to be short lived. Not to be party poopers but none of the brands that have hinted on a foldable smartphone have rumoured anything beyond the obvious of the device folding in half. Example the above shown image which is a Vivo teased its fans with iQOO a sub brand that jumped the bandwagon, beyond its appearance information is still sketchy.

Another anomaly we see in the mobile phone industry is the trend of divesting into sub brands, a very Chinese method at the moment with Xiaomi, Huawei and now Vivo taking similar route, these approach of having another brand is baffling and we can’t quite figure out the rational except for the expensive strategy the main brands are taking.

Leaving this universe questions behind for a moment, as for the phone itself the price range is being purported to be between RM3,000 to RM4,000 a hefty sum if all you get is a tablet that splits in half. If the bigger screen real estate is purely for watching movie and playing games, then the likely hood of this venture failing is very high. Purposeful leaks by the company shows the design of iQOO smartphone having close resemblance to the Vivo NEX Dual Display Edition and will most likely carry internals close to the Nex as well.

We are not entirely against concepts but just like the Delorian proof that cool factor alone does not and generate mass uptake, and there is nothing compelling for now. There could be more announcement at Mobile World Congress scheduled to take place 25 February, till then everything is yet to be confirmed including the availability in Malaysia.