Given that there's no compelling use case for a foldable phone, and that the primary screen experience is degraded in the process, I'd be surprised if Apple actually released a folding phone.
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No Foldable iPhone Expected Until 2023 at the Earliest, But 2024 More Likely
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I see the value in a folding iPad. It makes tablets far more portable and – if Apple's able to minimize the crease effect – there's very little downside. In terms of a folding iPhone though, I don't think we'd gain very much. I've seen estimates of the average person looking at their phones hundreds of times a day. Unfolding each time adds up to a LOT of friction.
I think they will fold iPads eventually... It does look cool and futuristic. But I'm not sure I'm buying it coming on iPhones.
I think they will fold iPads eventually... It does look cool and futuristic. But I'm not sure I'm buying it coming on iPhones.
I highly doubt they will go port less any time soon. Either way, I simply said that I would rather have USB-C over a folding phone. That doesn’t mean that I expect them to do either.
As I type on my Magic Keyboard case using my M1 iPad Pro 12.9”, the idea of a folding iPad makes sense at first blush. But then when you dig a little deeper and think about the bigger user experience and ecosystem, a folding iPad doesn’t make as much sense. For example, how do you make a keyboard case like the Magic Keyboard work, if the starting point is a folded iPad? It would need to be two separate devices in that case, or some really complex folding mechanism for the case.
I suppose the answer is that a folding iPad would be able to be both the keyboard and screen at the same time, using an on-screen keyboard (with haptic feedback to help mimic key feel) on the lower landscape section of the screen and the angled portrait part of the screen being the display area. But then you’re not making the iPad bigger, since you would only be using half the screen for visuals.
Boy. By Then The Samsung Z3 will have an awesome Camera. Like 108 MP
Right now it does not.
Thats what keeps me tied to the S21 Ultra and SOON!! S22 ULTRA! WITH S PEN!
Right now it does not.
Thats what keeps me tied to the S21 Ultra and SOON!! S22 ULTRA! WITH S PEN!
Not the same thing. One is small enough to fit in my pocket and the alternative is 2 devices, one of which is not as pocketable. That being said, I would not consider a foldable right now because of the crease and lack of durability. But given how much more durable they have become over the past 3 years, I have hope that it will be much better in another few years.
I don’t see how it would possibly be worse than a touch screen Mac. iPadOS is probably already capable of running on a flipped open screen size and there should be no significant changes from an iPad mini aside from the folding screen.
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I do have an iPad. But if I was given the option to have iPadOS in a pocketable device only when I need it that would be much more useful. If you don’t know, the z flip already has a glass screen instead of plastic, albeit very thin and not as durable as normal glass displays. Future iterations will become better.
How is a pair of smart glasses that more practical? It would hardly be just as ergonomic or practical for what we usually do on a phone.
The problem for me isn't the twice the thickness, it's the price and battery life.
You don’t have to hold up a pair of glasses the same way you hold up a phone, say for AR experiences.
Personally, I 100% think folding phones are a waste of time as they compromise on both the phone and the "tablet" experience. Yes I get that it's one device instead of two...in the same way as you don't need to carry a camera now because you have one in your phone...and you don't need a XXX because you have one in your phone. But every layer of "functionality" that gets added in to the "you don't need to carry a XXX now" pool just decreases the quality of each individual part. Sometimes convenience shouldn't be the only measure....in my opinion at least...
With that said...I have never gone apes**t about any piece of technology, whether Apple or otherwise, it's literally just a tool to get a job done...I am not that emotionally invested in it. I also know at least a few of my friends who are the same...so I think you are exaggerating to say that everybody will be going crazy for this type of tech! You may well be over the moon...for me...I will continue to buy the "standard" iPhone for as long as I can. At the point where Apple stop making them, well then I have a choice to make whether to stay with the brand and buy something I really don't want, or to move to another brand and have the device category that I want...and honestly, at that point, I will probably jump ship.
Being all Apple makes my life easier in some respects in terms of compatibility, but I am not married to the brand at all. There are other brands out there that offer a similar level of build quality, and I will seriously look into one of those when Apple stop making the current form factor. And if - by that time - only these foldable things exist...well...hopefully that will take long enough that I will be old enough that I won't even need a smartphone!
To those that value the convenience of the foldable phone/tablet...more power to you! I just prefer to have the best quality of each category. That's why I do still carry around my DSLR when I am going anywhere that I think I will want to take pictures. Of course, there have been times when I have just been out and about and taken a few snaps with my phone. But for anything that I know I want pics of, the DSLR comes with me. And the photos then get transferred to my Mac for editing. To be honest, aside from a couple of banking apps, I have very little on my phone in the way of apps. It is used for web browsing occasionally when I am out, for checking emails and for making calls...that's it!
So in a situation like mine, what benefit would a foldable device give me?
Honestly...don't know...don't care...won't be here then! The answer to your question is probably "anything you want...just dream it and it will happen"...as we will all be pod people existing solely in the
If there ever is an AR experience worth experiencing!
I wear glasses, so glasses with notifications, phone calls, reading texts and emails -- that excites me. Kind of like an Apple Watch on your face. That I'd buy. Especially if it could do on demand magnification or telescoping!
That also means either voice or some kind of projected input into the air or onto a surface for text and other things. Neither of which are very practical for most productivity uses and hardly more practical than even current foldables.
Nothing, since it sounds like you don’t have much use for an iPad in your current workflow anyways. Something like this is more geared toward people who are carrying both an iPhone and an iPad mini at the moment, or those who would buy an iPad mini if it could do phone calls and be pocketable.
The only thing that foldables compromise on is the screen material, which will improve with time and hopefully close to normal phones by the time the categories matures. Besides that, it’s basically a mini tablet that can make calls and fits in pocket, which is very useful to a lot of people.
Most people are using their phones for content consumption, and AR glasses effectively give you a field of view as wide as your eyes can see. I wouldn’t be too worried about the impracticality of performing productivity tasks.
It would be like what the Apple Watch is to the iphone, in that the watch doesn’t replace the phone, but there are certain tasks that are more convenient to carry out from your wrist, like notifications and Apple Pay. That it’s not possible to compose an email from my watch doesn’t stop me from reading an email from it.
My guess is that it can still be useful for scenarios that largely involve consuming content with little interaction needed (say following turn by turn instructions from a maps app, or some form of live translation app), or some sort of hand gestures activated (eg: using the Kinect sensor that forms Face ID).
I am also thinking about how Apple is seeding our environment with airtags, and wonder if this is their way of adding context to our surroundings. So I could look into a crowded mall and see my friend outlined with an arrow or balloon overhead to show me where he is. Or I could use it to quickly locate where my car is in a parking lot. My phone / glasses can’t know where physical objects are, but they can sense airtags, which would have (ideally) been renamed to the object they are attached to.
App clips and that custom Apple QR code may also be Apple’s way of brining apps to AR glasses. Maybe have the glasses scan a QR code in a restaurant, app clip brings up menu, I authenticate using “sign in with Apple”, and can then interact with the app without having to download the app itself.
Just a few thoughts off the top of my head. Apple has likely already started seeding the ground since years back, and it helps to think about how existing Apple features and technologies may one day make sense in an AR world.
I agree with most of your points, but i don’t think AR can replace phones for even consumption needs unless there is a radical new input method. For video watching it’s fine, but if you used AR devices like the HoloLens or VR devices, you will know how finicky it is to do the simplest tasks like web browsing or typing just about anything. It’s useful for some more specialized scenarios like the Apple Watch is for exercise and notifications but consumers would find it extremely frustrating to use it for a lot of what we currently use phones for. I’m sure Apple can come up with something better, but I doubt it can come close to being a practical replacement for smartphones in the near future.
My theory is that the iPhone may actually end up being replaced by a trio of wearables - Apple Watch, AirPods and AR glasses. In the short run however, the glasses will likely be marketed as an iPhone accessory, since that’s what will probably enough processing power.
This video does a fairly good job of breaking it down, IMO.
I actually do have an iPad...a 13" iPad Pro which I use for graphics work. Seems like there is not a huge difference between and iPhone Max and an iPad Mini though in terms of screen size...6.7" vs. 7.9"! Would that extra 1.2" really makes the difference?
And I can't say I agree that the only compromise is the screen material. You either end up with a thicker device when folded or a thinner (and therefore weaker) device when unfolded. I would say that is a fairly noticeable compromise!!
I'm not saying there are no use cases for it, and if we were talking about a 6" phone that unfolded to a 13" iPad...then perhaps it would be a different conversation. But as it stands it seems like you are ending up with something that would replace an iPhone + iPad Mini combo...but not much else. And honestly, how many people carry a Max phone and a Mini iPad at the same time? Genuine question...
Hmmm...I guess it makes it more portable in two dimensions, but less in the third, and it doesn't save any weight. Of course, if each section/half is thinner then the third dimension could be kept small, maybe even as small (thin) as a phone, but then you would have half the thickness when opened out. And if it were possible to make a tablet half as thick as they are now, while still maintaining enough internal volume and - more importantly - strength, do you think that Apple would not have already done it? Which means that it seems most likely that the "tablet" format (unfolded) will be similar dimensions to an existing tablet, and will then fold down to half the length (or width) but double the thickness and the same weight. Not sure I really count that as a benefit!
Sure, it would be pocketable in a sense, but double the thickness! And as for the screen form factor...if you have a 16:9 phone then you end up with a 16:18 tablet...yuck! Or if you have a 16:9 tablet then you end up with a 16:4.5 phone...equally if not more disgusting! I suppose you could go 16:12 / 16:6...but you are compromising the experience either way...and on both sides of the device.
Now...if we had a three way fold (so equivalent to 3 iPhones side by side) then 16:9 phone would become 27:16 tablet which is not that far from a 16:9 ratio for the tablet part as well...THAT would be much more interesting...but now three times as thick, or 1/3rd as thick (and therefore three times more flimsy) as a tablet. So compromises everywhere as far as I see it!
Maybe one day the material physics will be worked out to enable it, but I can't see it at the moment...we already had fluxgate with tablets as thick as they are! Can you imagine trying to get one to 1/3rd of the thickness and bend like crazy!!
Maybe not immediately, I don’t expect all of this to be perfect in the first generation that’s rumored to come out within the next 18 months or so, but I see more room for improvement in AR experiences than I do a folding phone.
No matter what you do, a folding phone is still just gonna be… a folding phone.
There’s no way to make a folding phone thinner than the current candy bar style phones we have right now, at the moment there’s no way to make it out of the same robust materials we can make a regular candy bar phone with, A folding phone will definitely be heavier, battery life isn’t fantastic, and when it comes to software, there’s nothing a folding phone can give you that an iPhone and an iPad separately don’t.
It’s very limited in scope in my opinion, people really need to think bigger.
As Henry Ford once said, and I’m paraphrasing cause I don’t feel like looking up the actual quote, “if I asked people what they wanted, they would tell me a faster horse.”
I think the same thing goes for phones and tablets. If you ask people what they want, they’ll tell you “a phone with a bigger screen that can unfold into a tablet.”
The iPad mini in 8.3 inch is only 1.6 inch longer diagonally than a 6.7 inch iPhone, but has almost twice (about 1.8x) the physical screen size since the aspect ratios are very different. The main difference though would be if we were able to run iPadOS with all the multitasking features and iPad version of apps. I don‘t know if there are a lot of people with both an iPad mini and a Max iPhone, but there are a lot of people who carry a smaller iPhone and an iPad mini at the same time. I think a sizable number of people would accept the thickness/weight trade off for getting the functionality of both in the same device.
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Henry Ford most probably never said that.
Apple’s biggest successes like the iPhone and iPad has been built on existing technology but vastly improving on the UX. Even the first generation of these products will have the most important aspect nailed down. The phones and tablets of today are pretty much the same devices as the first iPhones and iPads, but with a little more advanced software and hardware. There are no existing technology in its current iteration in the AR space that is remotely capable of becoming a phone replacement, either in input method or display technology. I’m not saying something much more advanced won’t come around in 10 years’ time, but anything that’s released in the next 2-3 years will not result in a paradigm shift that will displace the smartphone like the iPhone did to candy bar phones and Blackberries.
