Apple Supplier Corning Working on Glass Display Solution for Foldable Phones

[iOSFangirl6001]

How bout instead of unnecessary folding phones that harken back to dumb phone days we focus on more practical things

Y’all say Gorilla glass is in use but I’m skeptical.
How bout we focus on things like

• Improved scratch, scuff , chip,
crack and screen breakage resistance

• Improved water resistance or
waterproofing

• Ongoing battery life improvements

• Software improvements with
fewer bugs that don’t kill battery life

And let’s do these things with price tags
under $1,000 per device please
ala iPhone 6 , 7 , SE, XR, X

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Plastic scratches more easily and has an ugly crease where the fold is. Glass would mitigate both of those issues.

So why not work on those issues? I don't see why you have to start from glass and fix its issues rather than vice versa.

Apple has been using an excessive amount of glass for over 8 years now (since the iPhone 4, at least). This whole time we've been promised that the cracking would be fixed eventually, and it still hasn't happened. Seems like Apple has given far too little attention to fixing plastic's issues instead.

I feel like it probably comes down to "green" reasons.

 

[seek3r]

I doubt Apple will have this priced anywhere near $1500 if they do release their version (Probably north of $2000). The reality is, I don’t think consumers will respond very well to a $2000 foldable tech device, not that it won’t convenience them with something that they can enlarge and reduce in size, but are they willing to spend that dollar amount, especially given how expensive smart phones are today? I think foldable smart phones have their appeal, but likely to a very niche demographic that have no problem paying $2000 and above.

If it could replace a laptop/iPad pro *and* phone in one device for normal consumers you might see it happen. It would need a keyboard case that folds too, but it's probably doable (eventually). For anyone with a workload that can be done on an iPad Pro now it might be attractive to have both their phone and their larger compute device be one and the same. If you could dock it to a larger monitor/kb/mouse they might even pick up some users with heavier duty requirements (especially if Apple does truly converge iOS and MacOS and shift to ARM for everything as many here speculate/hope for/fear)

 

[dylanwho]

I wonder how you make glass bendable...

PRRRRACTICE

 

[borntrouble]

Who the f*** cares if they do it for marketing purposes?! Everybody is profiting from it, so stop the Apple hating for once, or switch to one of the most malignant companies in the world - Google/Alphabet.

By the way - thank you Apple, for not treating me as I were the product.

 

[Analog Kid]

To see the dangers of trying to be first, just look at what happened to Samsung. They released the foldable Galaxy, and it was rendered obsolete within days by Huawei.

I saw the Galaxy and thought there was no way this was ready for market, then saw the Huawei and thought "huh, there might be something to this foldy thing after all". If Huawei can show that design is reliable, they just gained stature in the market for sure, while Samsung has to be wondering how they could have missed the mark so badly given their edge in the display tech itself.

If Apple is going to go this route, they're best to wait until they really get it right.

 

[prasand]

The first thing that crossed my mind was, dropping the phone on the class curve (when the phone is folded). *sighs*

Silly thoughts aside, Apple pushing this with Corning makes sense due to their history. The only reason "Gorilla Glass" even became a product was because Apple pushed for it / asked them to make it for the first iPhone (doubt that most would credit Apple for the existence of Gorilla Glass / that innovation, or are even aware of that fact). Though bendable glass kind of causes me to mentally throw fault errors / "does not compute", I look forward to seeing how this is achieved.

 

[spinedoc77]

Please don't take your sweet time on this one Apple, I may have to slum it back to Android for a cycle or 2 to get a foldable phone. But I'd much rather not touch Android if I don't have to.

 

[MacLC]

iPhone Flip 2020. Now it seems Apple is chasing after Samsung..?

Actually I miss my old flip phone A semi-wide flip phone that turns into an ultra-wide screen would be pretty sweet. It would have all the advantages of old flip phones such as convenience, sturdiness, portability, and more that we have long since given up. I had to use a flip phone when on a remote leg of a relief trip a while back and in all honesty, actually enjoyed the experience more than my "smartphone".

 

[andross77]

I hate to see all of this corporate greed for a device that will be eventually become mainstream in less than 2 years. There is nothing wrong with our solution of a phone and tablet. This foldable phone isn't solving an issue for most people, but casting more of an idea of manufacturer's trying to find the next best thing for consumers to latch onto.

Oh honey, you're on the wrong website if "corporate greed" upsets you. Apple is literally the center of the Universe called "Corporate Greed." It's what makes Tim so rich and their shareholders so happy.

If you don't like greed you need to find a non-profit that pays their CEO a sane dollar amount and doesn't need to boost share prices.

 

[imola.zhp]

#NoThanks

 

[oosamon]

You got to know when to hold them
Know when to fold them
Know when to walk away
Know when to run

 

[Gogeta-Blue]

I don't know why apple bother with this
based on the majority of comments on MR
apple users don't want or care about fordable phones
they say that tech sucks
I honestly don't believe them and I think they are lying to themselves
they simply are bitter and live on denial

I know that they are just upset because apple didn't come up with this new revolutionary tech first
they just don't want to admit it but deep inside their hearts or in the back of their heads they know is true

but as soon apple releases one of those phones they will run to the store to buy it
even if the phone is worth 6 months of rent



it is a cool tech, no doubt about it, I don't know why all the hate
oh yes , the competition were the ones that came out with the new innovation , not apple
they know this , that is what is eating them alive on the inside

so when they be with their buddies and ones of their friend take out a Huawei or samsung fordable phone
and you take out your fordable iPhone, you already know what they are going to say

yeah but, apple copied

that is what bothers you because you know is truth
others simply don't care and will say , yeah but samsung also copied many things from apple, which is also true

apple fan # 3 yeah samsung and Huawei made the phone first but apple took it to another level and apple fordable is much better than samsung or Huawei even if it cost double the price



what was that famous line, oh yeah

you can't handle the truth

 

[PickUrPoison]

I don't know why apple bother with this
based on the majority of comments on MR
apple users don't want or care about fordable phones
they say that tech sucks
I honestly don't believe them and I think they are lying to themselves
they simply are bitter and live on denial

I know that they are just upset because apple didn't come up with this new revolutionary tech first
they just don't want to admit it but deep inside their hearts or in the back of their heads they know is true

but as soon apple releases one of those phones they will run to the store to buy it
even if the phone is worth 6 months of rent

it is a cool tech, no doubt about it, I don't know why all the hate
oh yes , the competition were the ones that came out with the new innovation , not apple
they know this , that is what is eating them alive on the inside

so when they be with their buddies and ones of their friend take out a Huawei or samsung fordable phone
and you take out your fordable iPhone, you already know what they are going to say

apple copied

that is what bothers you because you know is truth
others simply don't care and will say , yeah but samsung also copied many things from apple, which is also true

buddy # 3 yeah samsung and Huawei made the phone first but apple took it to another level and apple fordable is much better than samsung or Huawei even if it cost double the price

what was that famous line, oh yeah

you can't handle the truth

Wasn’t interested in the Royole FlexPai, and the Samsung at least has the display on the inside but the phone display is too small, it’s too thick and it has a wrinkle. Huawei copied the FlexPai with the display on the outside, but it has an ugly wrinkle at the fold as well. All are half-baked at best—and very high priced

If Apple released anything like these prototypes, I wouldn’t be interested in it either. But if Apple releases something that doesn’t have the problems of those other three, I might be interested, depending on the price.

 

[jmgregory1]

Just my US$0.02.

I can see use cases for these foldable displays, but not by Apple. The demand simply isn't going to be big enough to justify Apply making a device with a foldable display.

Besides, diplays are already passé. The future is going to be a device that projects a 3D image directly onto the retina.

I think one of the other challenges of doing a foldable display, like what Samsung has shown, is that you kind of need to have two displays to make a fold-to-the-inside screen work, which adds even more cost (clearly an issue exposed already). And with the Huawei version that folds out with both sections of the screen exposed all the time, you have what will be even more chances of scratching the screen(s).

Maybe the answer isn't a folding display for a phone, but rather making a MacBook Pro that is one very large display that bends in the middle. The benefit here is that you could use the computer much like we do today, where the screen on the horizontal plane converts into either a keyboard and trackpad, or a drawable surface for Apple Pencil 3 use. And if you unfold it all the way flat, you can turn it sideways and have a really big display that can be used with an external keyboard and trackpad.

I would make a bet that we'll see something like this in the near future. I had thought about a two screen laptop years ago, as being an interesting solution, but making the screens one big piece that can be either in conventional laptop format or as a single screen makes even more sense.

 

[Baywoof]

Transparent aluminum?

Yes laddie! I believe it was invented by a bloke named Scott.

 

[Gogeta-Blue]

guys , apple doesn't have any other choice but to fight fire with fire

they have to make a fordable phone for now, there is no other way

they only way they can get out of this situation is by making or creating something new

even better than a fordable phone

so they can finally move on and leave all that behind

but if very hard because we don't know what else can they make or create

can't honestly reinvent the wheel lol

but if they don't innovate no more then they are in big trouble

this is actually good that it happened because now apple is force to innovate

 

[deebinem]

guys , apple doesn't have any other choice but to fight fire with fire

they have to make a fordable phone for now, there is no other way

they only way they can get out of this situation is by making or creating something new

even better than a fordable phone

so they can finally move on and leave all that behind

but if very hard because we don't know what else can they make or create

can't honestly reinvent the wheel lol

but if they don't innovate no more then they are in big trouble

this is actually good that it happened because now apple is force to innovate

I wanna see transparent slabs like in The Expanse:

Hell, I'll settle for Amos just going ape sh*t on people...

 

[kdarling]

At least waiting for Corning to create foldable glass seems more likely to be fruitful, than Apple's years of trying to make Liquid Metal economical to manufacture and use in huge amounts.

 

[Defthand]

I think a folding device has practical advantages. However, I don't want a phone that expands. That defeats the purpose of a pocketable, discreet device. Instead, a tablet would benefit from the feature, making it more compact for travel.

 

[Tech198]

Man!!.. that 'Corning'... Always wants to be the best

First with 0-bend USB cables, and now this...


Always full of surprises..

 

[dan110]

Here's what confusing about Apple.

Everyone knows they're not doing their best work when it comes to hardware and arguably software as well.

Now, that they're pivoting to services, what are they going to do in their stores and will they continue to sell overpriced hardware?

It would seem like a better strategy to make iOS devices as ubiquitous as possible if you're trying to get people to use your services. Yes, I know they're dabbling in cross platform ventures, but it all seems ad hoc and reactionary.