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iPhone XS Max iPhone Foldable
- Thread starter Achillias
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It’s amusing that people think Apple won’t somehow take part in this new race:
https://gizmodo.com/the-race-to-foldable-phone-perfection-is-on-and-its-go-1832960403
https://gizmodo.com/the-race-to-foldable-phone-perfection-is-on-and-its-go-1832960403
I appreciate the idea of companies trying new things, but folding phones feel like curved TVs or 3D TV to me. A mature market whose product has become commoditized trying desperately to restart the growth train.
I am not going to predict that folding phones won't take off because you never know what will happen. However, they have a lot of hills to climb. A foldable will always be more expensive and use more battery than a regular phone. The aspect ratio of the screen is going to have to be a compromise in at least one of the two forms, if not both. A 1:1 screen does not really help anyone. Nor does a super tall screen. Then there is the issue of durability with the hinge and plastic screen. They will also always be thicker.
Those are a ton of negatives (just what I can think of off the top of my head) and the positives are of dubious value. Maybe I am not seeing it, but I am not sure have two compromised screen sizes is worth all the negatives. In a time when people are keeping phones longer and are less interested in the features, I think folding phones are going to be a tough sell.
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My understanding of Samsung is that is not at all how they work. Their divisions are completely separate and all do what they can to make money. One division will not hold something back to help another. Unlike Apple, Samsung is an extremely diverse company in which cellphones are only one part of. If someone wants to buy screens, chips, etc. they will definitely sell it to them.
I am not going to predict that folding phones won't take off because you never know what will happen. However, they have a lot of hills to climb. A foldable will always be more expensive and use more battery than a regular phone. The aspect ratio of the screen is going to have to be a compromise in at least one of the two forms, if not both. A 1:1 screen does not really help anyone. Nor does a super tall screen. Then there is the issue of durability with the hinge and plastic screen. They will also always be thicker.
Those are a ton of negatives (just what I can think of off the top of my head) and the positives are of dubious value. Maybe I am not seeing it, but I am not sure have two compromised screen sizes is worth all the negatives. In a time when people are keeping phones longer and are less interested in the features, I think folding phones are going to be a tough sell.
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My understanding of Samsung is that is not at all how they work. Their divisions are completely separate and all do what they can to make money. One division will not hold something back to help another. Unlike Apple, Samsung is an extremely diverse company in which cellphones are only one part of. If someone wants to buy screens, chips, etc. they will definitely sell it to them.
I wasn’t a fan of either of these additions. They didn’t really offer anything new practically, as they were mainly visual-focussed selling points.
I see Foldable phones as the more practical progression in their technical category. It should become more evident as they evolve.
The aspect ratio of the unfolded Mate X isn’t ideal, but the aspect ratio should improve once manufacturers make dual-hinge Foldables. Also, with three panels, internal components may be spread across a larger ‘footprint’, allowing these devices to thin out.
We won’t know unless we start somewhere & try something different, which is the name of the game in the tech world.
Hard to argue that foldable phones won’t be great eventually.
Equally hard to argue that the first couple of generations won’t be unwieldy, grossly flawed and be stuffed in a drawer within a couple of months. Maybe even a month. I shudder to think what the early software/software compatibility will be like, never mind the underlying OS.
Unless you can monetise buying one via reviews/clicks/ads or you’re absolutely stinking rich to excess, you’d have to be an utter loon to buy the early iterations as a personal purchase.
Equally hard to argue that the first couple of generations won’t be unwieldy, grossly flawed and be stuffed in a drawer within a couple of months. Maybe even a month. I shudder to think what the early software/software compatibility will be like, never mind the underlying OS.
Unless you can monetise buying one via reviews/clicks/ads or you’re absolutely stinking rich to excess, you’d have to be an utter loon to buy the early iterations as a personal purchase.
Good points. I’m not really want to wanting to be an early adopter for ‘everything tech’, However, I was an early adopter for the Apple Watch and the AirPods, both proved to be great products (Other than the expanding battery with the first Gen watch). But a foldable display is not something from the competition that I would want to own yet, not until it’s more ‘field tested’ by consumers that have the chance to test the durability and reliability over the course of time. I do think foldable displays are not going to be ‘short-lived’, but only expand and grow from here depending what changes are made over the years.
I agree that trying things out is necessary and good. And the idea of a tri-fold where two of the three screens fold against one another leaving you with a regular phone when folded is probably the way to go.
There’s a market for everything, but I’m not sure what prices will have to come down to for foldable phones to become mainstream. A lot less of course. And of course, there are a lot of other factors too, like how well they work.
Actually, this would interest me more than a folding phone/tablet.
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I agree the dual fold will help with aspect ratios. But I don’t think having a bigger screen will help with thinness, since tablets now aren’t significantly thinner than phones. Also with folding twice, it will be that much thicker when folded. But I agree, I appreciate companies taking risks and trying something new.
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I am pretty confident that we will see a folding display phone from Apple. I’m also confident that its price will be higher than it should be. I think it’s very likely that Apple is working on a folding iPhone design.
Folding and flexible displays are just too much of a useful innovation to be ignored. Apple will make the experience uniquely Apple, like they do with their phones, which is almost certainly a good thing. But $2000? Not me. I’ll wait a year for the price to drop once the technology becomes cheaper, which is sure to happen. Folding displays will be seen in more and more devices, and rapidly too.
One thing I’d like to see tested is the durability of the folding displays. Of course Samsung did their tests with the Galaxy Fold I’m sure, but that won’t always be the same as real-world use in the long term.
Folding and flexible displays are just too much of a useful innovation to be ignored. Apple will make the experience uniquely Apple, like they do with their phones, which is almost certainly a good thing. But $2000? Not me. I’ll wait a year for the price to drop once the technology becomes cheaper, which is sure to happen. Folding displays will be seen in more and more devices, and rapidly too.
One thing I’d like to see tested is the durability of the folding displays. Of course Samsung did their tests with the Galaxy Fold I’m sure, but that won’t always be the same as real-world use in the long term.
Yeah, or even, in my opinion, the phone manufacturers have gone after the wrong sort of foldable - I'm not sure smartphone into tablet is the right way to go, I think I'd prefer smaller phone into full-size smartphone. Just can't think of a situation where I need to use my phone and it would be beneficial to pull out a tablet instead. Apart from in situations where I could literally just pull out an actual tablet instead.
You might be interested in the rumored new flip/foldable phone coming from Motorola.
https://www.engadget.com/2019/02/27/motorola-confirms-its-foldable-phone-is-coming/
Sure, let me help you... it's super-convenient to hold the phone in one hand to text or use the phone. But if you're reading the newspaper or viewing photos, a larger screen area is pretty much always better.
You probably can't get iPhone screen turning into full-size iPad screen, but an iPhone screen that gets twice as big is still great, especially with my older eyeballs. Or, for example, if I put it on a holder in my car for navigation, a double-sized screen would be great.
I saw this ‘Flip phone’ from Motorola, and it really does look interesting. And I think this is the type of technology the market needs to see that creates a differential of what we’re typically seeing on annual basis that phones are generally the same year-after-year. I’m curious to have hands-on with that device once it is available. Good for Motorola creating diversity. And it supposed to be reminiscent of the ‘Razr’ that was a _very_ popular phone back in 2003/2004.
At the time I really liked how compact it was. On the other hand the interface was terrible in my opinion, the four way switch clumsy at best and the overall quality was just not there.
But yeah, it looked good for its time.
It had its disadvantages, especially because of its thinness, but it was an amazing phone for the time. Functionally it couldn’t compare to a touchscreen smartphone of course, but the form factor is still compelling to me after all these years. I’m very eager to see if they’ll be able to pull off a rebooted version that captures the essence of the original while incorporating all the functions of modern smartphones.
I have a hard time believing a foldable display won't get distressed over time down the crease.
I also would be reluctant to have display touching display (little pieces of grit could cause scratching in that case).
It's interesting looking, sure, but I'm not sure the implementation wouldn't end up looking like a janky 10 year old toyota after a while.
I also would be reluctant to have display touching display (little pieces of grit could cause scratching in that case).
It's interesting looking, sure, but I'm not sure the implementation wouldn't end up looking like a janky 10 year old toyota after a while.
I honestly don’t see foldable phones as something that’ll take off. They tend to have very narrow screens and then once unfolded the screen is huge and almost becomes an iPad mini type size.
That’s just my opinion and I’m happy to be proven wrong, but that seems like the reaction from the Samsung devices we’ve seen so far.
That’s just my opinion and I’m happy to be proven wrong, but that seems like the reaction from the Samsung devices we’ve seen so far.
Firstly, There’s nothing contingent Apple will make a foldable iPhone, even if they had a previous patent. That’s not the future, Apples focus is on the Apple Watch and AR glasses at this point. There’s literally _zero_ evidence of Apple moving forward with a foldable display.
Second, The headphone jack was a feature Apple removed, that’s not really a relevant comparison, just because they removed the Jack, doesn’t indicate they’re making a folding smart phone. A folding smart phone offers some unique features, but does it really appeal to a demographic for a price point that will probably exceed well above $1500? Probably not. A a folding smart phone is not the future, there are other tangents Apple is focusing on clearly.
Firstly, about the headphone jack I was highlghting how Samsung and co first joked about the idea pandering to the crowd, but now they too are removing that feature from their phones. I was balancing things out you see (apple and its fans laughing at samsung for going big and then following, samsung and its fans laughing at apple for removing headphone jack).
Secondly, I’m confident apple are making these things. We will see.
Thirdly, i just wanted to write this to annoy you with the numbering of arguments. ?
To be honest, I really don’t understand what you’re saying here at all, but it seems exaggerated.
That said, The difference between Apple and Samsung, do you know what it is? Let me tell you, when Apple removed the headphone jack, they did it for the sake of what they believed was the future for the smart phone without it, Samsung couldn’t make a consistent decision of why they removed the headphone jack and then returned it. Apple saw the future that the headphone jack would be unnecessary, and the AirPods have taken place of that in it’s own success.
I am having the same problem as you, I feel you didn’t understand my intial post, so I followed it up but you are going off on a tangent making it an apple vs samsung thing which I was trying to avoid in the first place by balancing either company’s gaffes out from the past.
All you need to know is that I feel any phone company will follow a trend and apple will be no different. As the past has shown Applr were joking how THEIR new phone could be used with one hand during the early samsung note days, but when they sold like hot cakes we got the big iphones.
You’re merely projecting assumptions, and if you followed Apple at all lately in the news, then you’d know the future is AR glasses, not a foldable display. Can Apple implement a foldable display? Sure. Are they going to release a foldable display in the future? I highly doubt it. It doesn’t solve any problems and it doesn’t answer any questions, it’s a device that is superfluous. There’s barely a market right now for a foldable display at the price even Samsung has . Can you imagine what Apple would charge for a folding display? It wouldn’t be affordable or obtainable, given smart phones already are plateauing at $1000 where it’s not attractive.
A foldable display is _not_ going to please the shareholders, what will is devices like the Apple Watch being the future of health features, AR glasses, AirPods, those products are crushing the market.