Sorry but IMO millions of units is not "still a niche market." Perhaps it is relative to selling hundreds of millions of iPhones, but IMO that is wrong-headed thinking.
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Apple to Make More Foldable iPhones Than Expected
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Apple is not using of the shelf displays from Samsung. They are using their own developed and patent tech. Samsung is just the manufacturer just like Foxcon. Samsung has the machines to make them. Also they not only use Samsung as a manufacturer. Also Samsung Displays and Electronics are separate entities.
Not really. A flip opens up to SINGLE vertical screen just lime a regular iPhone whereas a Fold will open up to a “doublewide” screen while being as tall as regular iPhone screen is.
When Apple doesn't go out of their way to try to reinvent the wheel, it's usually successful.
More battery, camera, display - just look at Pro Max - success. An Apple folding phone will undoubtedly be successful.
Vision Pro, iPhone mini, iPhone Air were attempts to go against the grain - failures.
More battery, camera, display - just look at Pro Max - success. An Apple folding phone will undoubtedly be successful.
Vision Pro, iPhone mini, iPhone Air were attempts to go against the grain - failures.
It is niche. You see rarely folds in the wild and after 6 years the market share is still very very low. 6 years is a lot of time. Its iPhone 2G to iPhone 5s. By that time smartphones were well established and had a huge market share. I bet we will see folding phones disappear by the 2030s and be just a footnote in history just like with 3D TVs, curved TVs, edge displays, VR, pop up cameras… All gimmicks that were hailed as the future and all didn’t make it. Also more moving parts make the device more fragile. And the plastic screens are a no go. Plastic screens were the reason why the iPhone 2G almost didn’t make it on launch because they switched to glas last minute and Steve was right about plastic screens.
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Every OEM that orders Samsung's displays has it custom for their needs, Apple isn't unique in this matter. Bottom line, the display tech is Samsung all day every day. Stop trying to give Apple credit for the display innovation they have nothing to do with. Samsung created UTG to make these displays foldable. If Samsung doesn't exist, these foldable as we know it today, wouldn't be where they are. Fact.
I love how everyone that claimed foldable were useless and a solution to a problem that didn't exist are now going to be first in line. Truly the exact type of consumer that holds back innovation. Let me blindly be loyal to a company that only takes on the innovation of others. No thanks.
They not only using Samsung as a manufacturer. This tells you Samsung offers just the regular tech and machines to Apple. Also look all the patents Apple has. That is also why Samsung electronics is not using the same displays as in the iPhone. Also Folds are still a gimmick and useless and not a innovation. It is a solution to a problem that doesn’t really exist. You just interpreting too much in my comment making it about brand loyalty bs.
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According to the rumors, when unfolded it will be only slightly smaller than an iPad mini. Conversely, a Samsung Galaxy Z fold is more of a square which sometimes means you don't get a viewable area much bigger than on a standard bar smartphone in landscape. I think that means when folded the Apple foldable will be unique in that it will be noticeably wider which I'm interested to see.
I think it's to do with institution purchases. Schools need cheep iPads, medical professionals and aviators need small iPads that fit in scrub pockets. They have the iPad Air and iPad Pro on top of that. The Macbook and iPhone lineup seems to be headed in the same direction; a cheap (rumored) Macbook and iPhone, and then a more expensive Air and Pro line for the higher end.
It'll be 10 to 11 million iPhone Folds, since each foldable will have two screens.
In other words, Apple is working to catch up on manufacturing stuff people will actually buy, instead of expensive goggles that only Tim thought they would buy.
Or they’re trying to satisfy everyone with an optional upgrade at least once every few years.
Yes! Just waiting for this one to come!!!
Apple has ordered 22 million OLED panels from Samsung Display for the first foldable iPhone, signaling a significantly larger production target than the display industry had previously anticipated, ET News reports.
In the now-seemingly deleted report, ET News claimed that Samsung plans to mass-produce 11 million inward-folding OLED displays for Apple next year, as well as 11 million accompanying external displays. With Samsung Display serving as the exclusive supplier of these components, the production plan implies that Apple's own target output for the first-generation foldable iPhone is in the range of 10 million finished devices, since suppliers usually produce more components than Apple needs to account for yield and quality variations.
This production plan is more than 30% higher than initial industry expectations, which placed early foldable iPhone shipments between six million and eight million units. Those earlier estimates were based on the historical performance of the global foldable smartphone market, which has hovered just above 20 million units annually.
The report reiterated that the device is expected to feature a book-style, inward-folding design with a 5.35-inch external display and a 7.58-inch folding internal display. It is believed to contain an advanced hinge design and specialized material properties to minimize the crease in the folding display.
Apple reportedly plans to adopt Color Filter on Encapsulation (COE), a method that removes the traditional polarizer layer and integrates its functionality directly into the OLED stack. Eliminating the polarizer can reduce thickness and improve brightness. The device is also rumored to incorporate an Under Display Camera (UDC), allowing the internal display to achieve a more seamless full-screen appearance without a punch hole or visible camera cutout.
The first foldable iPhone is expected to launch next year alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max.
Article Link: Apple to Make More Foldable iPhones Than Expected
I for one was not talking about innovation. I was talking about manufacturing specs: "What Samsung uses and what Apple uses are different, even when Samsung makes both." Personally I [try to] avoid all the silly arguments about who's innovating what.
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According to earlier leaks it will supposedly have a 5.5” outer display with a 3:2 aspect ratio, and a 7.8” inner display with a 4:3 aspect ratio. As an iPhone and iPad mini enthusiast myself I’m pretty stoked, although that 3:2 outer display is still not ergonomically ideal, it may be the best we small Phone folk get. Here’s some nice renderings based on the leaked dimensions.
Yeah… and how well have you folded and unfolded liquid stuff in life so far?
It doesn’t have to be better. It just needs to be an iPhone/Apple product. Many people only consider iPhone
Make it under 6" when closed, give it a triple camera, make it not much heavier than the fold7 (which is barely heavier than my 17 pro) and I'll pay whatever you want.