Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
Fully hermetic hinge on Pixel 10 Pro Fold
TL;DR
- Google has explained how it designed the hinge on the Pixel 10 Pro Fold.
- Instead of gears, the hinge uses mechanical components called CAMs.
- Changing the design of the hinge allowed for a bigger screen, a larger battery, and a thinner build.
When it comes to foldables, the hinge is one of the most important parts of the device. How the hinge is designed can dictate how the rest of the smartphone is made. For the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, Google decided to change the design of the hinge. The tech giant has now explained how the new hinge benefited the Pixel 10 Pro Fold’s development.
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In a blog post, the Pixel team revealed why it decided to change the hinge and how it was done. Previously, Google’s foldables used gears for the hinge, but this time it went with a gearless design. “The team was interested in this new design because gears can cause issues over time for a hinge,” said industrial designer Sangsoo Park. “A gearless hinge is more reliable — it will continue to work flawlessly over time.”
Part of the challenge that went into making this gearless hinge was making sure that the two halves of the device opened and closed symmetrically. To overcome this challenge, the team decided to use mechanical components called CAMs. Where gears typically move in a rotational motion, these CAMs move in a linear motion. This difference helped to save some space on the inside of the device.
On the switch from gears to CAMs, Yongho Lim, who worked on the Pixel 10 Pro Fold’s architecture, said:
We thought using spring-loaded CAMs on each half might work in place of the gears. With the CAMs connected across the hinge, when either half of the device is opened, the other would be forced to follow! We knew we were on the right path when we built the first prototypes and the two halves opened perfectly in sync.
Due to the new and improved hinge, Google was able to make improvements elsewhere. For example, there was now enough space to expand the display all the way to the hinge. The team was able to shrink the bezels, allowing the outer display to reach 6.4 inches. This extra amount of space also allowed the company to fit in a larger battery than before. On top of that, the new hinge made it possible to make the device thinner than its predecessor.
Google still has some work to do if it wants to catch up to Samsung and its impressively thin Galaxy Z Fold 7. But it sounds like the Mountain View-based firm is still finding ways to improve the design of its foldable.
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