I bet MacRumors loves posting these types of stories because it definitely engages both the pro and against folding device folks. One thing I’ll comment on, that multiple people who have been pro-fold, is that just because Samsung (or Apple for that matter) can make something [like a foldable phone], doesn’t mean that they should.
You can currently buy a smart watch, smart phone, tablet, laptop and desktop, where each can do what the others can, just expanding on the scale and performance as you go up in size. So a folding phone is an alternative to a smart phone and tablet. It doesn’t address a Watch sized device, or a laptop or desktop sized display.
And it will work for people where a single device may be the only product they have. If you’re used to using an iPad Pro 12.9”, having a folding iPhone (or Samsung) that has a screen twice the size of the Pro Max, for example, would be less than half the size of the iPad Pro, so it’s really more of an iPhone / iPad mini device. How many iPad minis, or mini Android tablets are sold each year (I’m assuming it’s a really low number)? That should give you a good indication of why making a phone turn into a mini tablet isn’t a great idea, or at least an idea that will be embraced and used by the majority of consumers. It may be a great product for several sectors of industry, retail and healthcare, where that pocketable device can be expanded to show more data on-screen.
If someone, like me, currently uses an iPhone and a 12.9” iPad Pro, having a folding iPhone isn’t resolving any issue. What I’ve actually come to realize is that I’m spending far more time on my 12.9” iPad Pro and not on my iPhone Pro Max, and will downgrade to either a standard pro model or even the iPhone mini just to further minimize what gets stuffed into my pockets and used more as a phone and camera, than an everything internet device. At some point in the future, I can see getting rid of the iPhone altogether, and living / working using my Watch and iPad Pro, if Apple can make the Watch a better standalone product.