Samsung Display Readies Development Team for Apple Foldable Panels

[RogueWarrior65]

If I have to open my phone to use it, hard pass. If, however, I can unfold it to dynamically give me more screen real estate such as for a mapping app, that's got possibilities.

 

[k1121j]

It's amazing how much my foldable has replaced my tablet and laptop. Sure I still use my Surface Pro when I need to do desktop type work, but on the go I don't even carry it around with me unless it's a trip, and even then it stays in the hotel. Things like word processing, spreadsheets, remote management of my desktop at home and work, web browsing, etc etc., are so much more usable on that huge screen.

Perhaps foldable will be deferent. iPad was to big to lug around so i always reverted to my phone and the iPad never replaced the desktop work so it never got used. I still wont waste the money on an iPad for that reason i have a laptop and a phone and don't want a third device that duplicates what my phone already does.

 

[Wizard_of_Woz]

It does matter actually, because if its only 20 million people worldwide, Apple isn't going to fragment the iPhone line any further to satisfy people that already aren't dropping Apple because they can't wait.

Foldables are a solution in search of a problem. Always have been, and probably always will be.

I'm just going to go ahead and ignore you. You clearly just like to argue, but your rebuttals are nonsensical.

 

[bodhisattva]

I say it will be called the “Apple Turnover”

But that’s just me

My vote is the "iBend" and the "iBend wide" ... I can see the catchy intro video with the dancers falling into difficult yoga poses!

 

[Harry Haller]

This device will kill the iPad. So I can see Apple not releasing this foldable iPhone to be honest. Apple makes more money selling you an iPhone + iPad, rather than 1 device that does both.

Exactly. It would kill the iPad Mini.
Just like Apple makes more money selling you an iPad and a MacBook instead of a touchscreen MacBook.
Perfectly understandable on Apple’s part.

 

[bodhisattva]

There's one good reason ... unit sales. Rather than selling a phone, tablet and laptop, they'd sell just a single device.

Second reason is compromise. Anytime a device tries to do too much, to be too much, there's always a downside, always compromise.

I personally prefer having separate devices for separate use cases.

Exactly why I still read digital books on a Kindle lol. I'm a mobile dev who has double-digit numbers of mobile devices, laptops, desktops, tablets... and colleagues/friends see me reading on a Kindle and ask why. My response is always "best tool for the job" regardless of how many tools I have.

 

[spinedoc77]

Well, the first foldable phone, the Royole Flex Pai, came out in 2018, at which time Apple had several years of larger sized phones.

I don't pretend to know what the future holds, but right now, despite your enthusiasm, foldable phones only represent about 2% of the smartphone market (per article on Android Central). So either there is a huge market to exploit, or there are a tiny minority who like foldable devices.

Phablets have been around since at least 2010 with the Note series, Apple didn't really follow suit until maybe 2014 with the 4.7" iPhone 6, although the 6s plus at 5.5" in 2015 stands out more as this slightly larger than the Note 1. Now large phones are endemic and easily dominate smartphone sales. The Note series didn't break any sales records either back then.

Personally I think the "large screen" phone will be a huge market, I just don't think the "foldable" paradigm will necessarily be what breaks the smartphone market. But it will be some sort of expanding phone. Consumers love larger and larger screens as they get more and more addicted... um I mean as they enjoy their phones more, and the realities of having too large of a screen are already catching up to us with how large phones have become. Maybe it will be rollable screens, or maybe something which hasn't been invented yet, or maybe it will all be supplanted by headsets.

 

[HackMacDaddy]

Bingo!

What problem does the 3500$ Vision Pro solve?

 

[JapanApple]

There will be foldable and typical versions sold. The older version will be cheaper

 

[Boil]

...Apple's foldable products, including panels with 20.25-inch dimensions...

Waiting for an Apple Watch that unfolds to an iPhone that unfolds to an iPad mini that unfolds to an iPad that unfolds to a MacBook that unfolds to an iMac...

 

[AeroEd]

Haha now all of a sudden foldables are good haha u 🐑

 

[svish]

Eagerly waiting for Apple to launch its first foldable. Will sure be costly.

 

[JDHiro]

That‘s until you have to move a round a lot or travel by train/plane. If I could get rid of at least one of these I‘d do it.

I fly for work on a regular basis, and I still wouldn't use this.

 

[Tozovac]

I think some of you are putting too much weight on the crease and Apple being stopped by it. You want a foldable? -> it has to have a (barely visible) crease. Of course a minimal one, but remember the notch was huge while Android had tiny punch holes.

Look in the past: You want a better camera? -> here‘s an ever growing bump.
You want better battery life? -> here are giant phones.
You want a nicer color? -> here‘s a black one but it scratches if you just look at it.

Apple has always accepted „compromises“ like these. But who knows, maybe they‘ll shock us and release a rollable haha

But all of your examples are designed in from the start. Black iPhone…if you don’t drop it and baby it it’ll stay looking new. I can’t see Apple ever being ok with even a slight inconsistency in a crease over time.

 

[ninethirty]

I'm just going to go ahead and ignore you. You clearly just like to argue, but your rebuttals are nonsensical.

I'm sorry that you found the % of foldable sold to be so minor that Apple wouldn't chase this fad for reasons.

 

[ninethirty]

What problem does the 3500$ Vision Pro solve?

Were we talking about the $3500 Vision Pro?

 

[HackMacDaddy]

Were we talking about the $3500 Vision Pro?

Your argument was Apple isn't releasing foldables because they don't solve a problem and not enough people need it. But still they are releasing the heavy and expensive VR/AR headset which in my eyes is even less of a problem solver and even less people need it. I can imagine foldables being used by people literally everywhere, but I can't imagine someone taking out his Vision Pro with the batery and cables etc on a train/bus/plane. At least for a couple more years this would be a very awkward thing.

Sales:

Samsung sold nearly 12 million foldable smartphones in 2022​

Canalys still projects that the market for foldables will only keep growing, to the tune of about 30 million unit shipped in 2023.

VS:

Apple Reportedly Expects To Sell Fewer Than 400,000 Vision Pro Headsets Next Year Due To Production Snags​

 

[JapanApple]

I'm sorry that you found the % of foldable sold to be so minor that Apple wouldn't chase this fad for reasons.

Well what you say is true. Apple doesn’t get into a marketshare unless the time is right. They’ve been investigating us for a few years now. It seems like it’s coming soon it’s inevitable. How the people are gonna accept the first generation is another story that we need to see and wait

 

[ninethirty]

Your argument was Apple isn't releasing foldables because they don't solve a problem and not enough people need it. But still they are releasing the heavy and expensive VR/AR headset which in my eyes is even less of a problem solver and even less people need it. I can imagine foldables being used by people literally everywhere, but I can't imagine someone taking out his Vision Pro with the batery and cables etc on a train/bus/plane. At least for a couple more years this would be a very awkward thing.

Sales:

Samsung sold nearly 12 million foldable smartphones in 2022​

Canalys still projects that the market for foldables will only keep growing, to the tune of about 30 million unit shipped in 2023.

VS:

Apple Reportedly Expects To Sell Fewer Than 400,000 Vision Pro Headsets Next Year Due To Production Snags​

Right, but I'm not Apple, and I'm not talking about the Vision Pro. I'm talking about foldable phones and they they are a solution in search of a problem.

Let's try to stay on topic.