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but accoring to people on macrumors, there's no market for this; something about a solution in search of a problem

if people on MR are wrong on this one, why is the market "stalling" and in need of "reinvigoration"?

even a broken clock is right twice a day, you know :)
 
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As long as I can use it as a normal device without ever opening the clamshell. The width might be fine if it’s not so top-heavy in the hand.
 
i don't think apple comes to the foldable market anytime soon. what the foldable market needs is cheaper devices. the tech heads love foldables but average people don't and it's due to price.

still foldables have sold well enough over the years but at some point there will be a slowdown we even see it with slab phones as well.
 
It will bomb just as bad as the Apple Vision Pro, maybe even worse. Very niche for people that want it and it’s far from the masses.
lol this is nothing like the vision pro. foldables still sell millions and millions each year. if apple releases a flip phone it will sell well if they price it at around or under 1k.
 
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Foldable phones. Low quality expensive e-waste. The screens of these devices break within a year with deep scratches appearing within a month. (I've seen it happen). There is absolutely no way I will ever buy a foldable phone.

Sure cute you can bend an OLED screen, but the durability of those bendable screens is so low that in normal daily use it's pointless. Except to increase the price by 2x-3x.
they only break if you are careless like any normal phone.

ive used foldables for 5 years and not one has broke. thats a user issue more than anything else.
 
In what universe would Apple sell a foldable for around the base Pro models? It would easily be £1500+
apple would sell it based on market value otherwise it won't sell. the Z flip 6 retail is 999. chances are apple won't get much higher as the specs will be worse lets face it.
 
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Apple users (I can only imagine as I am not one) are likely bored out of their mind with the recent iPhones with very few changes. Releasing a flip foldable, anything to break the monotony is just what Apple and its users need.
Yeah let’s not speak for apple users when you aren’t one.

I’m fine with my iPhone. I’m lagdroid free and loving it.
 
if people on MR are wrong on this one, why is the market "stalling" and in need of "reinvigoration"?

even a broken clock is right twice a day, you know :)
We have a tech press and YouTube content machine built around the idea of a constant stream of exciting technology, largely built around the smartphone space. Phones are now a mature market and whilst still a modern neccessity, still on par with Washing Machines in terms of excitement and market innovation.

For the average user there is nothing wrong with this. Buying a new washing machine can be fun but its something to be done, outside of breakdowns maybe once a decade. There are cool ideas but nothing to make you 'upgrade' every year.

Thus the tech sector needs to keep making up ideas about unexciting phone launches becoming a problem to keep their audience engaged and their income flowing. It doesn't matter if phones are are unexciting becuase the average person upgrades maybe twice a decade anyway, at which point those annual babysteps have snowballed into something interesting.
 
apple would sell it based on market value otherwise it won't sell. the Z flip 6 retail is 999. chances are apple won't get much higher as the specs will be worse lets face it.
I can't see Apple offering something as niche and as advanced as this for anything other than a super premium price point to be honest. They have never been interested in price preferences for their consumers in the past. Like the Vision Pro I think they will release something like this for big money and gauge the reaction. A cheaper version might follow but with significantly less appealing features to make it more affordable if people are lucky. The product doesn't interest me personally as I much prefer an iPhone and iPad as separate devices, but I am sure there is a niche for this. I don't have a lot of faith in Apple getting the pricing right though.
 
At this point I'd rather Apple upgraded iOS with a Stage Manager desktop mode when plugged into requisite peripherals rather than chasing a fad. I can't think of one time in the last two years where I have wanted my iPhone to unfold into an iPad but plentry of times I wished it could stand in for a Mac.
 
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I call BS on this article. Apple won't release a foldable iPhone anytime soon, unless they can drastically improve what's already out there. The foldable smart phones I've seen have a crease on the screen and have durability issues.
 
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lol this is nothing like the vision pro. foldables still sell millions and millions each year. if apple releases a flip phone it will sell well if they price it at around or under 1k.
About 1% of phone sales.
they only break if you are careless like any normal phone.

ive used foldables for 5 years and not one has broke. thats a user issue more than anything else.
Have you ever damaged the screen? Something like leaving any permanent mark? Be honest…
 
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About 1% of phone sales.

Have you ever damaged the screen? Something like leaving any permanent mark? Be honest…
Nope never

all foldables come with screen protectors on cover and outer display which helps any issues with scratches. i have had a few foldables where i have removed the screen protectors with no issues.

I'm very careful with my devices and foldables are no different.

i never said foldables sell like slab phones that will never happen. They have sold in good numbers over the period of when they were launched. roughly 32 million in past 2 years.
 
According to the numbers I found, of the nearly 1400M mobile phones sold in 2023 fewer than 20M were foldable. Make of that what you want.
last report

15.9 foldables were sold in 2023

IDC predicted about 17 million were to be sold this year for example but no fiqures have really been published yet.
 
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IDC predicted about 17 million were to be sold this year for example but no fiqures have really been published yet.
That sounds like a lot until you compare that to the well over a billion smartphones sold in the same year. Just over 1% are foldable. Which is still more than I expected.
 
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A foldable that folds out to a usable mini tablet size WITH stylus support would be an immediate winner for me, and I'd guess a lot of students and many working people.

Actually, any iPhone with stylus support would be a winner for me...
 
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That sounds like a lot until you compare that to the well over a billion smartphones sold in the same year. Just over 1% are foldable. Which is still more than I expected.
agreed, they aren't for everybody and the cost is often double to a normal slab phone. Reason i like them is i can do more than normal slab phones. that said i'm not the average consumer. i have multiple phones and devices i'm a tech mad user.
 
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