Foldable phones are growing in number and sophistication. While not for everyone with its larger form factor, it is gaining traction among some consumers who want to have a smartphone that can fold into the size of a tablet but can also shrink to become a regular sized smartphone.

The foldable smartphones are also extremely expensive compared to the average selling price of most smartphones, lending these devices to be more for early adopters or those specifically looking for a phone with this form factor.

But there is obviously enough of a market for companies to continue to invest in the technology and roll out new phones as we have seen other companies recently debut foldable versions of their flagship devices. This includes Samsung, which recently released its Galaxy Z fold 5G smartphone.

The Vivo X Fold smartphone includes a double 6.53 inch active matrix organic light emitting diode (AMOLED) with touchscreen capabilities. The phone also includes six different cameras and both wide angle and telephoto lenses.

The X Fold phone is powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 8 generation 1 applications/broadband processor from Qualcomm, Samsung multi-chip memory and more.

The following is a partial deep dive into the Vivo X Fold smartphone from TechInsights.

Summary points

• 6.53 inch AMOLED w/touchscreen
• 12 GB mobile LPDDR5 SDRAM
• 16 MP CMOS BSI wide-angle 1/3 inch
• 16 MP CMOS BSI wide-angle 1/3 inch
• 50 MP CMOS BSI wide-angle 1/1.8, 1/1.57 inch
• 8 MP CMOS BSI periscope telephoto 1/4.4 inch
• 48 MP CMOS BSI ultra-wide angle 1/2 inch
• 12 MP CMOS BSI telephoto 1/2.93 inch
• Dual LED flash

Released: April 2022

Pricing: $1,391

Target market: Communication/consumer

Availability: Worldwide

Main board

The main board houses the most components found within the Vivo X Fold smartphone and the most important devices as well including the Snapdragon applications/baseband processor from Qualcomm, Multichip memory from Samsung and the camera power management from Qualcomm.

Other electronic components include:

• Battery chargers, load switches from Texas Instruments
• Stereo DAC from Cirrus Logic
• MEMS microphone from Knowles
• 8 bit microcontrollers and six axis MEMS accelerometer/gyroscope from ST Microelectronics
• Wireless power receiver from Renesas
• 2 bit dual supply transceiver from NXP Semiconductors
• Front-end modules and RF switches from Qorvo
• Quad-band GSM/LB front-end module from Skyworks
• Antenna switches from Sony

(Learn more about microprocessors and microcontrollers on Globalspec.com)

Auxiliary board

The auxiliary board contains the following electronics components: A 5.2 V step-up DC-DC converter and low-voltage comparator from TI; a OVP load switch from AWINIC; a MEMS microphone from Knowles; RF antenna tuners from Qualcomm; and audio amplifier from Orient-Chip Semiconductor.

(Learn more about MEMS on Globalspec.com)

Connector board

The connector board brings together the sensors and amplifiers needed to allow the Vivo X Fold smartphone to work with the internet as well as other wired and wireless capabilities. Specific electronic components include:

• MagnaChip’s digital hall effect sensors
• Qualcomm’s camera power management
• Nisshinbo Micro Devices’ LDO regulators and DC-DC converters
• Silicon Mitus’ display power management chips
• Sensortek’s ambient light/proximity sensors
• Goodix’s Class-D audio amplifiers
• Qorvo’s RF antenna tuner

(Learn more about RF and wireless chips on Globalspec.com)

Major components

• $147.95 — Octa-core Snapdragon 8, generation 1 applications/broadband processor — Qualcomm (Qty: 1)
• $75.44 — 120 Hz main display/touchscreen subsystem — Samsung (Qty: 1)
• $51.88 — 50 MP wide-angle rear camera subsystem (Qty: 1)
• $43.16 — Multichip memory — 12 GB mobile LPDDR5 SDRAM — Samsung (Qty: 1)
• $28.63 — Multichip memory — 256 GB 3D TLC V-NAND flash, memory controller — Samsung (Qty: 1)
• $26.35 — Ultra-wide-angle rear camera subsystem (Qty: 1)
• $21.23 — Cover ultrasonic fingerprint sensor subsystem (Qty: 1)
• $21.18 — Main ultrasonic fingerprint sensor subsystem (Qty: 1)
• $17.48 — 8 MP periscope telephoto rear camera subsystem (Qty: 1)