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If screen tech can eventually get to something like this, with quality and battery life comparable to current phones, it could mean a revolution in news apps for consumers who want a newspaper-type experience but with the features that are common on browsers and phones.
 

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The whole industry is trying to deliver LARGER mobile screens. Besides just making existing form factors even bigger & heavier (ala 20" MB, 24" MB, 30" MB, 8" iPhone, 10" iPhone, 15" iPhone, etc), the 4 ways seem to be:
  1. Fold
  2. Roll
  3. Projection
  4. Virtual (such as the screens in Vpro)
As this idea is already illustrating, as you add more folds/roll sizes, you are adding weight & thickness.

#3 really only works well in relatively dark environments.

#4 keeps size & weight fixed but can scale screen from iPhone size now to cinema-size screens. Bonus: complete privacy and physically fits in anywhere... such as a cramped airplane seat row.

Pick a favorite but the industry seems determined to deliver larger, mobile screens. And by "larger", I don't have any concept that they would stop at- say- an iPhone screen times 2. 3X would be right on those heels (as implied by this rumor)... and 4X right behind 3X.

I use a cellular iPad Mini to double as my phone (buds + VOIP app). This works perfectly fine for me. IMO: ALL apps are better on that much larger (than iPhone MAX) screen. The ONE great advantage of iPhone vs. iPad Mini doubling as phone too- again IMO- is pocketability.

As implied by the Huawei, a trifold just like that offers the traditional phone brick form factor when closed but appears perhaps bigger than Mini with opened up. To me, that would be VERY appealing. I suspect others will feel much more enthusiasm for folds/rolls once Apple rolls out one themselves. Else, much like how the collective felt about phablet phones before Apple embraced Phablets, this concept will take a beating until then.
100% agree! I would eliminate my iPad 13 Air. I used my iPhone when traveling to watch movies, this beats that experience. I still want to be able to hold my phone in 1 hand when eg answering calls, quick glance at notifications, quick replies and such.
 
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Just like razor blades... if one is good, two must be better, then three, and now we have FIVE-blade razors. How long will it be before a 13" iPad can fold down several times into iPhone format? Ridiculous, but if that's what consumers want...

As cool as foldables may seem my biggest concern is screen durability and the crease which would definitely trigger my OCD tendencies. Honestly, I would be happy with improving and enhancing continuity.
 
Nice. Making a slow transition to Samsung. The new S25 Ultra is very good. For my use case, only thing better on the iPhone is that handy camera button on the 16 Pro.
 
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Samsung has been making foldable smartphones since 2019, but we have yet to see a foldable iPhone from Apple. Rumors suggest that Apple's first folding iPhone could come out in 2026 or 2027, but by then, Samsung will be even further ahead

I wonder if this is a bit like saying around the year 2005

Samsung has been making touch screen phones since the 90s, but we have yet to see a phone from Apple. Rumors suggest that Apple's first Phone could come out in 2007, but by then, Samsung will be even further ahead”

Samsung does what it always does: it copies the leader diligently (first Palm, then Sony Ericsson, then blackberry, then Apple) and tries to one-up them with small hardware based tweaks that don’t fundamentally change the product. “Now it is bigger!”, “now it has Oled”, “now it folds”.

Is a bigger phone an oled screen or the ability to carry a bigger device in your pocket handy? Sure.
But it’s not being ahead.

Being ahead is having software and hardware functionality in your device that others didn’t think of and have to scramble to remake. Like blackberry had with the full keyboard and the messaging hacks that allowed for BBM. Like the iPhone being multitouch first from the ground up. Sure, Samsung slapped a touchscreen on phones way earlier. But they weren’t ahead because they never imagined different capabilities because of that touchscreen: they treated it like hardware buttons. Their foldables are cool, maybe useful. But they do nothing their other phones don’t do. And that’s why they’re not ahead. Some company (be it apple or another player, google or some Chinese brand) will make something new and interesting with the foldable display at some time. And you can bet Samsung will copy it within six months and release a completely unoptimised version and then pretend they invented the category all along.
I
 
Nothing makes me feel older than foldable technology. Honestly - I just put my lovely big iPad in a stylish bag and call it a day.
 
I've yet to meet someone in the wild, who uses a foldable phone. And I've not heard an owner online talk about loving it or how well it puts up with long use scenarios. I'm sure there a viable product somewhere amongst all the BS. But I've yet to see or experience it. Having a device that folds from an iPhone size to an iPad Pro size seems like a device that is not very stable, and prone to damage and malfunction. I'm fine if proven wrong, but refuse to jump up and down for something that seems to have no current tech solution.
 
I don't care how "far behind" Apple is when it comes to foldable phones. I'd rather they take the time to get it right and solve the crease garbage that plagues foldables and makes them substantially less durable. Let Samsung and the rest blunder their way through this fad and then watch as Apple does what it always does and shows the rest of the world how to do it properly.
Just like the flop that is the $4,000 appole vision pro that is now scrambling to make gaming controllers with Sony to compete with meta quest 😂😂
 
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I don’t want to leave the Apple ecosystem but I’m very tempted to swap my iPhone for a Galaxy Z fold. I’ve tried it a few times and absolutely love the way you can seamlessly switch from a phone to a tablet in one device. I really hope Apple has a folding iPhone in development.
 
Samsung does what it always does: it copies the leader diligently (first Palm, then Sony Ericsson, then blackberry, then Apple) and tries to one-up them with small hardware based tweaks that don’t fundamentally change the product. “Now it is bigger!”, “now it has Oled”, “now it folds”.
TIL that a foldable screen is a "small hardware-based tweak".
 
They could work on a quad-fold phone, and I could care less. I played with fold phones, and I hate the crease. Also, my co-worker has one, and he’s had to have it replaced a few times because the screen eventually stops working after folding and unfolding so many times.
 
I still don't know why anyone would want one of these.
Because at its best, the technology is having something that size of a standard smart phone that can expand into a tablet when you want or need a larger screen.

Want to watch a video? Edit a spreadsheet? Tablet size would be 1000x better than a phone. Send a text? Phone size for a convenient keyboard. And you only have to carry one device around.
 
They’re just going to keep adding layers until you have a 6 inch bulge sticking out your pocket, aren’t they? I know that sounds dirtier than I meant it haha.

Wait, are we talking about the camera tumors on the back of iPhones or what?
 
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