Yeah having a phone that has the option of turning into a bigger screen is on par with putting a chip into your brain. Great analogy.
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Foldable iPhone Like 'Two Titanium iPhone Airs' Joined at the Hinge
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I agree that price won't be a huge obstacle for gen 1, but imagine if they are somehow able & willing to put this together for something like say.. $1500-$1800.
I'm not saying they can or will do that, but if they did they would eat the other foldables market share for lunch and create a viable "upsell" beyond the Pro Max to further increase revenue and upgrades. If you take the fact that one half will be the Air with essentially just battery and screen (no need for separate cameras, cellular modem, processors, etc.), then sub-$2000 would seem possible -- depending on how much the R&D for the hinge is and whether any additional screens or cameras are needed for the exterior.
Again, I don't think we see this sub-$2000, but the market impact would be huge if we did (and they could still upsell to well north of $2k with memory upgrades -- seeing as how the $1199 base Pro Max can be configured to $1999 now.
I’m not defensive—don’t care what others prefer in their devices. I’m pointing out your flawed logic. You state it’s unwieldy but it’s comparable or even smaller than current iPhones when closed. When open it’s smaller than any tablets on the market.
sure, they could do that but when in Apple's history have they ever chosen to compete on price?
You're paying for the convenience of a foldable phone going in a pocket or purse.
They do, for certain product categories, i.e. Walmart distributes a $599 M1 MacBook Air. That's purely a price-play.
So basically an iPhone Air x2 lol? My friends and I was just talking about how the Air is just a beta test for the fold body
Next year's rumored foldable iPhone will showcase an ultra-thin design resembling "two titanium iPhone Airs side-by-side," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
Writing in the Q&A section of his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman says Apple's first foldable device will be "super thin and a design achievement," combining Apple's thinnest iPhone form factor with cutting-edge folding technology. However, this engineering feat is still expected to come with a premium price tag of at least $2,000.
Apple launched its ultra-thin new iPhone Air last week. The device is 5.64mm thick and represents the company's thinnest iPhone to date, though it's still shy of the M4 iPad Pro's impressive thinness at 5.3mm.
Gurman says manufacturing the foldable iPhone will involve Foxconn in China, despite recent speculation about potential production in India. The device remains slated for 2026, dropping around Apple's traditional fall launch window, "give or take" hedges the Bloomberg reporter.
Industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo previously outlined specifications for the foldable iPhone, including a 7.8-inch inner display and 5.5-inch outer screen, with pricing between $2,000 and $2,500. Apple reportedly plans to forgo Face ID in favor of Touch ID integrated into the side button to optimize internal space. The titanium device is expected to include a dual-lens rear camera, with a front-facing camera for both folded and unfolded states.
The foldable iPhone will compete in an increasingly crowded market dominated by Samsung's Galaxy Z series, establishing Apple's late entry into the folding smartphone category after years of the rumored device's development.
Article Link: Foldable iPhone Like 'Two Titanium iPhone Airs' Joined at the Hinge
Using someone else's foldable and actually owning one are two different things. But, it is great that you've spent what sounds like a fair amount of time using them, which is more than I can say for most on here. Everyone is different, but for me it is almost impossible to feel the crease on the ZF7 and the Find N5. And yeah, the plastic screen protector is what you are feeling on the inner display. I always remove it from my foldables because I prefer to touch the glass. The unwieldy part is hard for me to understand, but that doesn't mean I am discounting anything you are saying. I've owned every iPhone from the 4 to the 12 PM, and I owned every iPad Mini from the 1st gen to the 5th, and after buying my first foldable (the Z Fold 3), I would never go back to the slab phone and mini tablet combo as separate devices. Also, after owning foldables, I don't understand how people can spend so many hours a day staring at the small screen on a slab phone. Whenever someone asks me to look at something on a slab phone, like a photo, web page, etc. I think to myself "this experience sucks" haha.
sure, but that's an old, entry level device designed at price sensitive consumers, so hardly an applicable parallel to a brand new, foldable iPhone.
Has Apple ever entered a new product category or niche and underpriced its competition?
iPadOS now has the phone app so I don't see why it wouldnt just use iPadOS
this is a truly hilarious belief
Yeah I’ve used them enough to know they’re not my cup of tea basically. Both lovely devices though and they’ve come a LONG way in just a few years. Both the Fold 7 and Oppo N5 are mind blowing thin when unfolded.
Basically for me, I just find the mini tablet form awkward to use for a phone device for what I use my phone for. Typing in particular. The unfolded/tablet size is too big for a phone and too small for a tablet for me - it’s kind of my no man’s land. So essentially the entire point of the foldable form factor just doesn’t work for me. I use my iPad Pro 12.9” mainly for work as a secondary device (with Magic Keyboard), and a bit for watching movies, but it only travels with me to a clients office or sometimes a cafe for deliberate work use otherwise it’s at the bedside.
Now what would work for me is the Flip form factor, if they can eradicate the crease entirely - I’m just never gonna be sold if there’s even the smallest of crease, which I’m sure one day they’ll solve but until then it just bugs me and I can’t let it go.
I bought the Z Flip 7 FE as a backup phone. The Flip has come a long way since the Z Flip 4, which I bought as a backup phone and returned in about a week because with basically no outer display it was pointless. The usability of the outer display on the newer Flips make them a perfect backup phone to the Fold for me.
What, you don't think a multi-trillion dollar company that's known for selling overpriced products will go bankrupt in a few years?
It is simple. Just buy what works for you. I know people who want an Air because they are not on their phone very much every week but when they go out they want something light..... if they are traveling they might want some extra juice vs. plugging in at an airport during travel.
So often I see people say what they don't like about a device... Apple is never going to make a perfect device for everyone... but what they do produce covers most users. It is no wonder as they have one of the most popular products ever.
PS, I do buy a Pixel ever few years just to have something different to use. Plus I like to see what's going on with other OEMs etc. I'm eyeing the Pixel 10 now myself.