Foldable iPhones Could Have Self-Heating Displays to Avoid Damage in Cold Weather

[jmgregory1]

Moving past the potential issues of cracking screens in cold weather, the hinge or spine section of a folding screen is going to be subject to significant and severe wear due to the stretching that occurs when the screen is unfolded. Just think of what happens to magazines or even books with fabric reinforced spines - they end up degrading and cracking over time.

And unfortunately there is no such thing as a plastic that can be both pliant and rigid at the same and won’t harden and crack after hundreds or thousands of opens and closes. Just that point alone - how many times would a device be opened and closed? If it’s 18 times a day, effectively once an hour during waking hours (which I think is likely too low a number), you’re talking about 126 times a week, or 6,552 times a year. I would bet good money on an extremely high screen cover failure rate.

Even if the failure is stretched plastic at the spine or cloudiness in the fold area, no one is going to be ok with that, given the high cost of the device.

I’d rather see a device more like the multi panel devices that are used on WestWorld. I think the idea there is to have sharp edges to screen panels that can unfold and line up panel to panel, becoming what functions like a single screen. Makes far more sense and allows for rigid glass screens to be used. It would take a pretty complex connection mechanism to work and squared off screens, but you eliminate the issues around folding a plastic screen.

 

[Mr. Donahue]

Who needs a foldable phone? Make a phone where the screen is folded wrapped round and no matter how you pick it up it’s correct.
But of course they’d better tidy up that gyroscope screen flipping

 

[jayducharme]

the foldable smartphone could have a magnetic latching mechanism that would prevent the device from being folded or unfolded in very cold temperatures to avoid damage to the display. This would be in environments "significantly below room temperature."

So I guess Canadians won't be using this phone. It'd be stuck closed much of the year.

 

[Porco]

Create a problem to sell a solution seems to sum up the latter era of smartphones...

 

[iReality85]

Personally, I don't see the attraction of a foldable phone.

I'd rather see Apple innovate on iPhones with dual LCDs -- a full screen on the front, and another full screen on the back. You could actually do away with the notch completely with such a phone -- at least on one side -- and would eliminate the need to even have a selfie camera. You simply move all the cameras and sensors to one side.

 

[luvbug]

Foldable displays will have to be successful in the marketplace for a couple years before I'll be willing to invest in it. Durability just doesn't seem like a characteristic native to this tech.

 

[raghu8912]

Purely speculation saying it won’t be found by other tech companies.

Lately Apple isn’t doing any more than anyone else.

They been lazy for a while now. Playin it safe.

Apple is innovating in SOC & Graphics processor, not much to do in physical design space, physical design has reached its peak. One thing that I like that Apple didn't do was what Google is doing with their single camera, using AI to get better picture in dark mode.
Foldable screens I don't see much use for it yet as existing phones are already larger than what they need to be, perfect phone would be iPhone 7 with full screen.
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I sincerely hope that folding phones (pholds) do not become the norm and stay explicitly niche.

like Galaxy Edge ?
agree with you.
[doublepost=1551386570][/doublepost]

Create a problem to sell a solution seems to sum up the latter era of smartphones...

they call it innovation

 

[DNichter]

Given the proximity to the launch of Apple Glasses in 2020, overlapping (pardon the pun) foldable display development, I can see Apple skipping folding phones entirely and moving towards virtual displays via retinal projection with glasses.

This is what I think will happen also, although I think there is a ton to work out to hit that 2020 date. I don't think bigger and bigger screens are really the answer, quite the opposite actually.

 

[clunkmess]

Hopefully this whole foldable phone fad will have the same fate as 3D TV’s.

 

[44267547]

Hopefully this whole foldable phone fad will have the same fate as 3D TV’s.

I think we need to give the foldable displays a chance really, I mean, I haven’t (Or others) even had hands-on experience with one yet to make a fair evaluation of how they can convenience me for my daily usage. I like the idea of able to enlarge a device and then truncate it when you want something for more one-handed use. But I’m willing to wait for a while to see if this much technology matures enough, of course there is the exorbitant price point to consider as well.

 

[JosephAW]

Apple should design a device that scrolls out and not fold. That way the screen size can be variable with even larger width.

 

[Gilligan's last elephant]

I didn't say only Apple tests their products? Obviously Samsung and Huawei test their products, but I guess they felt that a screen crease was okay for their customers.
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That's cool by me too, just as long as they fix any issues before ever considering releasing a foldable screen.
[doublepost=1551385182][/doublepost]

Not at all. If Apple released a phone with a crease right down the middle, I wouldn't be happy either. If you are totally fine to accept that because it's a first generation, you have every right to, but it's not for me. I have the latest iPhone and my LTE and Wifi connection are just fine, doubled in speed from the X to the XS actually on LTE.

When did Samsung release a folding phone?

 

[fabian9]

I don’t see folding phones take off... next hype just like 3D screens.

In my opinion the future is in phones with fewer mechanical elements. So clunky unreliable and quick to fail hinge mechanisms are not the way to go.

 

[Rlittle89]

⌘C > ⌘V

 

[mattster16]

Apple’s latest phones have terrible LTE/WiFi connections compared to their older devices, due to their petty dispute with Qualcomm. So it seems like Apple can create issues for problems they’ve never had before...no need to trash Samsung and Huawei for products that aren’t even in consumer’s hands yet.

Terrible? I've had pretty much every other iteration of the iPhone since the original. Now have the XS Max. I don't notice any connection problems.

 

[DNichter]

When did Samsung release a folding phone?

There was an announcement last week. It comes out in April I believe.

 

[JGIGS]

This is the kind of attention to detail that I doubt you will find in the Galaxy Fold. But yet, people will still say Apple doesn't do enough.

Love this. When other companies are 2nd to market on a product to Apple it's copying. When Apple does its innovation because of their attention to detail.

This forum cracks me up.

I guess there's at least as much "courage" in this forum as there is at Apple HQ.

 

[dannyyankou]

The timing of this makes me think they filed it to make investors optimistic.

 

[JGIGS]

When did Samsung release a folding phone?

Really?

 

[VulchR]

I still think a folding display on a phone is such a bad idea. The damage due to flexing is inevitable. Can't see this ending well...

 

[normang]

Am I the only person wondering why we need foldable iPhones?

No, I think no matter what they do, they are not going to be as reliable as a device that does not fold. Why to people get fascinated with things like this, ultimately, a foldable device is not really going to improve the iPhone or any other like device.

 

[Taipan]

T

At the courageous price of $2,499

That won‘t be enough, since the Huawei Mate X is already in that area.

 

[Crowbot]

While I appreciate the novelty of a folding screen, I'm still having doubts that there is that much demand for a product like this.

I'm with you. Considering the number of people I see with cracked phone screens, there's going to have to be some serious R&D on screen materials for this design to last a week.

 

[JGIGS]

It seems Apple *has* to make a foldable iPhone to be able to "keep up" with the competition.

Making it will also create the idea that Apple is copying, not innovating.

Sure, Apple wil make a better foldable iPhone (what shall we call it... FiPhone? iPhone F? iPhone FSX Max?) than the current offerings.. but still...

They will make a better folding phone? Maybe, but I think you can already make an argument other manufactures are making better phones hardware wise. What's keeping Apple going at this point is software and ecosystem attachment, along with this sense of prestige cool factor. You slap an apple logo and ios on the S10 it would be better than any of the hardware in apple phones. Well I guess Apple processors are pretty money I'll give them that, but I also don't know how iOs would perform on a snap dragon processor with way more ram.

 

[Gilligan's last elephant]

There was an announcement last week. It comes out in April I believe.

I am fully aware it was an announcement. Several of your posts have inferred it has been released