We always choose a color we like when buying a smartphone. But in the future, we may no longer need to make this choice because the phone body will support the color change function. Today, VIVO released smart color-changing glass technology. Through this technology, the back cover of the smartphone can be changed into any desired color and even texture at will. Manufacturers only need to release one color, and consumers will get countless kinds of color back covers that belong only to themselves. However, VIVO also emphasized that this technology is a conceptual exploration and not a mass production product function.
When you first took the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, did you notice the portholes on the plane can automatically change color? And this is also the source of inspiration for VIVO smart color-changing glass technology.
The discoloration technology of the Boeing 787 portholes is also common in the exterior walls of buildings, vehicle glass, and other places, which is called ‘EC technology’ in the industry. The principle is that under the action of an external electric field, ions in the electrochromic layer will be injected or extracted. And the entire electrochromic layer will undergo an oxidation-reduction reaction to achieve a reversible color change, thereby achieving the purpose of color change.
Well, there is an important question whether this will make manufacturers put additional layers. The concern behind this is whether the smartphone’s weight will be increased. According to VIVO, compared with ordinary glass, it is ‘0.15-0.2mm thicker’.
In fact, this technology won’t consume much power. The power of a small button battery is enough to ensure that the glass changes color a considerable number of times.
VIVO said, ‘Only when the color changes, the glass consumes power, and the daily color rendering does not consume power. Just like the Kindle consumes power only when turning pages and daily display does not consume power. AMOLED screen display power consumption can be ignored, and the power consumption of this technology is much lower than that of the screen display. So there is no need to worry about power consumption.’
Besides the official video, one of the Weibo bloggers also posted a video demonstrating how it works. It is reported that the phone is a VIVO engineering machine, using electrochromic glass backplane technology. The video shows that the back shell of the phone inside changed from purple to silver in seconds. The highlight is that the color of the body can be customized, and it can even become transparent. The blogger also revealed that a new machine will adopt this option next year.
