Samsung and Huawei have dominated the news when it comes to foldable devices for good reason. They actually have working and soon commercially available products that prove they exist. You might think, however, that their vision of how phones and tablets should fold is all there is. Sharp, however, is proving that there are others and it might hold the key to making a clamshell phone with a foldable display.
Sharp heard you complaining about smartphone display notches and clearly decided to really give you something to moan about, with the new Sharp Aquos R2 Compact having not one but two of the screen cut-outs. The diminutive Android phone has one of Sharp's well-esteemed IGZO LCD displays, but to stay true to its "Compact" billing it takes bites out of that panel top and bottom.
Sharp certainly knows how to make a beautiful 8K television, but it'll cost you to put one on your wall. The Sharp AQUOS 8K TV - otherwise known by its catchy LV-70X500E name - packs a heady 33.2 million pixels, courtesy of its whopping 7680 x 4320 resolution.
It's been less than half a year since the Essential Phone debuted with a camera cutout in its display, introducing us to the soon-to-be-ubiquitous "notch." Apple's iPhone X was next, of course, and now the design is making its way to Japan's domestic market smartphones. Sharp has announced its latest Aquos model, complete with barely-there bezels on three sides of the display, and a camera notch that's just like the Essential Phone's.
Even though most of this week's announcements have come from IFA 2017, Sharp decided to strike out on its own by making its big reveal in Shanghai. At that event, Sharp announced the launch of its new 8K AQUOS TV. Though this is technically a global roll out, the regions in which the AQUOS 8K TV is launching are limited to just four for now.
The iPhone 8 may have its notch, and the Essential Phone its front camera cut-out, but Sharp is exploring some seriously unusual shapes for its latest panels. The company brought its latest IGZO free-form displays along to IFA 2017 to demonstrate that, at this point, square is pretty passé. Targeting mobile devices, smart home gadgets, and car dashboards, the new screens promise tiny bezels along with their odd shapes.
The iPhone 8, Galaxy S8 (and Galaxy Note 8), Essential Phone, and Mi Mix (and 2) have a bit of competition in the Sharp AQUOS S2. This phone has a full-faced display, with minimal bezels, and a forward-facing camera set in its forehead. It also has a pair of cameras on its back lined up vertically, and a set of odd colors in casings to choose from. It's as if Sharp saw the playbook for every major smartphone brand and said, "yes, let's do ALL of this."
While we're looking to either Sony or OnePlus to bring the next smartphone powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, we might have overlooked one potential candidate. Granted, Sharp isn't exactly a common name in the smartphone market outside of Japan. So when it comes out with something like the AQUOS R, it's hard not to take notice. While not as glamorous as an LG G6 or Samsung Galaxy S8, the Sharp AQUOS R still packs top-tier hardware and throws in its own AI-assistant and a rather strange charging dock to go along with it.
This week the Nokia P1 has been teased right on the heels of the announcement of the Nokia 6. The latter device is the real deal - the former isn't yet confirmed as a real device. Sources suggest that the Nokia P1 will utilize company connections to base its design on the Sharp Aquos Xx3. As such, the images you see in this article are literally of the Sharp Aquos Xx3, as it was when it was introduced last year.
An iPhone with a curved OLED display could arrive as early as next year, according to new reports. Apple is apparently asking its display suppliers - which include companies like LG Display, Sharp, and Japan Display - to ramp up production of OLED panels, according to sources close to the matter. We've heard that Apple wants to deliver a knock-out for iPhone's 10th anniversary, and shipping a model with a curved OLED could be part of that strategy.
A new Star Wars movie is coming out soon, so that means lots of tie-in merchandise. And few countries love big-name brands and media properties more than Japan. Put the two together and it means Japan is getting exclusive Star Wars-themed smartphones in celebration of the release of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Apple's iPhone 8 details appear (well before release date) at a talk with Sharp CEO Jeng-wu Tai. This event occurred over the weekend at at Tatung University and, at first, seemed innocuous enough. Speaking about displays isn't off-topic for Sharp's CEO, but revealing Apple's future is. A switch by Apple from LCD to OLED would be a big move, especially since it'd be the first major update to iPhone displays in years.