Position-invariant icon remapping facilities search performance in foldable smartphones through the contribution of contextual cueing

Enabling smartphones to be foldable provides an effective approach to achieving both portability and large screens. Notably, switches between closed and open states in using foldable smartphones are accompanied by icon remapping, which can decrease smartphone usability if it fails to match usage expectations. This study conducted two experiments to examine the usability of two popular icon remapping methods, position-invariant and order-invariant, as well as the specific roles of contextual cues in different icon remapping. Results revealed that position-invariant remapping is more effective in terms of usability with faster searching speed. Also, getting familiar with the spatial arrangement of icons on small screens reduced performance differences between the two remapping methods on large screens while improving search speed only on small screens. These results together suggest that position-invariant remapping is a more effective design, highlighting the significance of contextual cueing in optimizing icon remapping designs in foldable smartphones.