In June, China's Lenovo unveiled prototypes of two futuristic devices - the CPlus phone, which features a flexible body, and the Folio tablet / Lenovo

Mobile phone designers have become fixated on black rectangular cases, with new models coming out year after year that are almost indistinguishable from one another. That may soon change, writes the Financial Times (FT): some designers are trying new approaches, creating devices with flexible or folding cases, as well as transformable or modular phones.

In June, Chinese Lenovo unveiled prototypes of two futuristic devices – the CPlus phone, which features a flexible case, and the Folio tablet, whose case folds and can become very compact. The CPlus has a flexible 4.26-inch display and a segmented case that allows the smartphone to bend, CNET writes. The smartphone will run Android and will be released in 12 different colors, CNET knows.

Researchers from the Universities of Bristol, Lancaster and Sussex in the UK and Purdue University in the US have created a prototype of a Cubimorph phone that is even more innovative, the FT reports. The device is a set of 16 cubes that can be configured in a variety of ways. According to Anna Rudo, a lecturer in computer science at the University of Bristol, Cubimorph will be able to automatically configure itself, turning into a games console or a tablet-like device with a large screen when needed. However, this technology will only be ready for the market in 10 to 15 years. Currently, such devices are too expensive to produce: the motors for transforming the cubes cost about £500, and the device has 32 of them.

Some modular phones are already appearing on the market. For example, LG's G5 and Lenovo's Moto Z allow for external devices such as a digital camera and speakers to be connected. However, as CCS Insight analyst Ben Wood notes, these devices do little to change the overall picture: "When it was first proposed, consumers really liked the idea, but in practice it was inconvenient to carry all the extra devices around," the FT quotes him as saying.

The Price of Modularity

The increase in size, power consumption and weight of the device due to the transition to modular technology may not exceed 25%, says Ara project manager Paul Eremenko. The flexibility that the modular approach will bring will compensate for this, he believes.

Google is also creating a phone with replaceable components as part of the Ara project. At first, the talk was about the replaceability of the most important components such as the processor, display, and battery, but then it was decided to limit the replacement of peripheral devices. These modular phones should hit the market by next year. Developers from the Finnish company PuzzlePhone decided to go further, equipping phones with replaceable processors, screens, and batteries.

Problems with the inability to replace phone components have worried officials, with some U.S. states considering bills that would require manufacturers to make devices easy to replace and repair.

Proponents of the modular approach point to its environmental friendliness. The ability to replace components as they wear out increases the life cycle of a product from two to five years, says Mikel Ballester, founder of Fairphone, a startup that plans to sell about 140,000 of its modular phones this year.

Smartphone and tablet manufacturers are preparing a revolution in the world of gadgets