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Take a piece of plastic (or metal) and fold it and un-fold it repeatedly.
Count how many times before it snaps.
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Samsung Rumored to Debut First Foldable Smartphone This Year
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Solution looking for a problem.
Take a piece of plastic (or metal) and fold it and un-fold it repeatedly.
Count how many times before it snaps.
That's what they said about the Galaxy Note!
Why would I change the truth? The fact you actually took the time to gather all those quotes from that many different threads, speaks more of you and how much that phrase triggers you. Lol. My posts have obviously impacted you and anyone who liked your post, in such a bone crushing dominant way. Fact.
Early versions of flat display technologies existed in the 60's, but it took nearly 50 years more for them to replace CRTs almost everywhere. Controlled fusion is still vaporware. Bendable displays are youngsters by comparison. All these things will happen in time; hopefully, with enough patience that the end result will be durable and good quality.
Except for the impossibility of having it really thin, I like the idea of a roll-up screen better (rolling through a slot in a rigid cylinder casing). That at least has limited and controlled bending, although having some sort of arms come out to give it a bit of rigidity in deployed position could be tricky; maybe flexible strips that turn 90 degrees when all the way out.
Either way, durable bendable active surfaces, reasonably free of optical or touch sensor distortions at the bending area...good luck getting all that to come together; I expect some visual or other tradeoff, if one wants it durable and mostly functional. Better to wait for a pocket-size Star Trek replicator, that could just temporarily generate whatever ancillary gadgetry one wanted, and disintegrate it when no longer needed.
We all know Samsung will be the “first” to do it. For their bragging rights.
If apple does it, they will perfect it, and do it right....but not anytime soon.
If apple does it, they will perfect it, and do it right....but not anytime soon.
If there is a conventionally sized second display on the outside, like shown on the picture, then foldings might be more limited. People would use the outer display for the quick stuff, messaging on the go, taking pictures etc, and unfold the big display only for games, movies etc. Still, I would definitely be worrying about the durability.
I had to luagh at the locked down OS part, since we all know Samsung adds lot of useless crap to their phones resulting in a brand new product being beaten often by a 2 year old iPhone. Thanks but no thanks. Apple will see a foldable iPhone only of it sees that there is usability for it.
Yup. Typical - They have to be first to half a55 something. The usual gimmicky things.
If Apple even thinks about it, we won’t see it for a while.
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Couldn’t agree more. I don’t see any real uses for this.
Why not make screens more efficient. Micro LED, better battery tech, camera upgrades.... there are plenty of things to perfect before thinking of folding phones.
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Wow that was catty!!!
Someone sounds hurt.
Only good thing Scamsung does is their OLED. Everything else is gimmicky junk. Wonder why sales are tanking????
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The note is nothing special. Sorry. It’s a S9+ with a stylus.
Samsung’s sales are tanking. I’m already seeing commercials for B1G1 on the Note 9 or half off a lease.
Samsung needs to focus more on huwaei whom is killing their sales.
A bendable touch screen and a flip phone are two different things
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Its rumored to cost $2k
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Its not useless if you know how to use it. And ios is locked down. That's one reason it stays optimized. Think dude. And i don't see why yall brag about having less features. If apple did it, then all of the sudden it matters
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Won’t that be AR glasses? You don’t get any bigger than a screen which encapsulates your entire field of vision.
Hmm, but you are comparing fold to bendable here, not fold to bend, or foldable to bendable. That definition does not really tell what bend means, and how it differs from fold.
Also:
Cambridge Dictionary: "fold: to bend something, especially paper or cloth, so that one part of it lies on the other part, or to be able to be bent in this way"
Oxford Dictionary: "fold: Bend (something flexible and relatively flat) over on itself so that one part of it covers another"
So it seems folding is a special case of bending, and the phone situation might just fit the above. I think overall the difference may be rather hard to pin down, actually, and often the usage depends more on tradition than on what is actually happening. E.g., when you bend one half of a wire onto the other, then it is bending, but do the same to a metal sheet of the same thickness, then it is folding. Bending often has a connotation of permanent deformation, which folding does not - even though you will never perfectly restore a folded piece of paper...
I think definitions do not really help much here with the phones (though if I had to choose, I would go with fold, as the phone is closer to sheet-shaped). Doing this to phones is too new, neither term has a traditional association with the process.
You are saying Samsung is the trail blazer and Apple has become a copy cat. That’s becoming truer and truer every generation of new phone.
[doublepost=1536124618][/doublepost]Competion from Honda with Ford had done so much good for car buyers. Apple users can benefit from a similar free market competition.
Hey, i got nothing bad to say. It hasn’t even come out yet. Even if a smartphone/tablet with a foldable screen doesn’t catch on, inovation is always a good thing. I love seeing new tech.
There are so many reasons this is such a bad idea, but with all the negatives there is always one positive.... No notch!
I’ve used it. And most of the customization so to speak is useless. iOS comes customized to work and to be fast. Android has ten thousand settings to get the phone to where you need it. But hey, to each own.
The screenshots in the MacRumors OP are cribbed from this original Samsung promotional concept video released way back in September 2013:
Classy!
9to5Mac has written an astute analysis of the timing of this announcement, rather than just regurgitating it whole on behalf of Samsung.
Classy!
9to5Mac has written an astute analysis of the timing of this announcement, rather than just regurgitating it whole on behalf of Samsung.
"Samsung will unveil details of a foldable smartphone later this year, the CEO of its mobile division told CNBC, amid rumors that such a device was in the works.
DJ Koh said that “it’s time to deliver” on a foldable device after consumer surveys carried out by Samsung showed that there is a market for that kind of handset."
DJ Koh said that “it’s time to deliver” on a foldable device after consumer surveys carried out by Samsung showed that there is a market for that kind of handset."
"However, what’s perhaps as notable as what Koh said is what he didn’t say.
He didn’t say that the foldable phone would go on sale this year. He didn’t even say that it would have a working product this year, only that the company would ‘unveil details’ – a phrase which could mean nothing more than showing renders and revealing some specs.
My guess is that if Samsung was able to make a more concrete announcement, it would. So I’m expecting to see a prototype device at best.
Which raises the question of why Samsung would choose September to announce that it may show details in November of a product which almost certainly won’t go on sale until next year (if then).
There’s a pretty obvious answer. Samsung doesn’t currently have anything that even competes with last year’s flagship iPhone, let alone the new models set to be launched next week.
Its flagship Galaxy S9, a minor update on last year’s S8, has not sold well. Sales were said to be the lowest for a flagship Samsung smartphone since the S3. The company admitted that sales were disappointing as it was required to explain a 34% drop in profits for Samsung Mobile.
Apple’s 2018 iPhone line-up is looking incredibly strong. The direct replacement for the iPhone X is expected to be $100 cheaper. It’s expected to offer a very similar-looking LCD model that is likely to prove extremely appealing to those wanting access to a new iPhone at the company’s more traditional starting-point of around $700. And the larger model iPhone XS is likely to offer the most expensive model yet, helping to offset lower revenues from the LCD model.
Samsung currently has no way to compete with this. What it can do is try to persuade would-be iPhone upgraders to hold off in the hope of a more exciting alternative. A folding smartphone, if Samsung really can deliver on the promise, would be the first dramatic change we’ve seen to the smartphone form factor for some years. But right now, a desperate promise of a product which doesn’t yet exist, and which was first promised five years ago, appears to be Samsung’s only response."
He didn’t say that the foldable phone would go on sale this year. He didn’t even say that it would have a working product this year, only that the company would ‘unveil details’ – a phrase which could mean nothing more than showing renders and revealing some specs.
My guess is that if Samsung was able to make a more concrete announcement, it would. So I’m expecting to see a prototype device at best.
Which raises the question of why Samsung would choose September to announce that it may show details in November of a product which almost certainly won’t go on sale until next year (if then).
There’s a pretty obvious answer. Samsung doesn’t currently have anything that even competes with last year’s flagship iPhone, let alone the new models set to be launched next week.
Its flagship Galaxy S9, a minor update on last year’s S8, has not sold well. Sales were said to be the lowest for a flagship Samsung smartphone since the S3. The company admitted that sales were disappointing as it was required to explain a 34% drop in profits for Samsung Mobile.
Apple’s 2018 iPhone line-up is looking incredibly strong. The direct replacement for the iPhone X is expected to be $100 cheaper. It’s expected to offer a very similar-looking LCD model that is likely to prove extremely appealing to those wanting access to a new iPhone at the company’s more traditional starting-point of around $700. And the larger model iPhone XS is likely to offer the most expensive model yet, helping to offset lower revenues from the LCD model.
Samsung currently has no way to compete with this. What it can do is try to persuade would-be iPhone upgraders to hold off in the hope of a more exciting alternative. A folding smartphone, if Samsung really can deliver on the promise, would be the first dramatic change we’ve seen to the smartphone form factor for some years. But right now, a desperate promise of a product which doesn’t yet exist, and which was first promised five years ago, appears to be Samsung’s only response."
The screenshots in the MacRumors OP are cribbed from this original Samsung promotional concept video released way back in September 2013:
Classy!
9to5Mac has written an astute analysis of the timing of this announcement, rather than just regurgitating it whole on behalf of Samsung.
"Samsung will unveil details of a foldable smartphone later this year, the CEO of its mobile division told CNBC, amid rumors that such a device was in the works.
DJ Koh said that “it’s time to deliver” on a foldable device after consumer surveys carried out by Samsung showed that there is a market for that kind of handset."
"However, what’s perhaps as notable as what Koh said is what he didn’t say.
He didn’t say that the foldable phone would go on sale this year. He didn’t even say that it would have a working product this year, only that the company would ‘unveil details’ – a phrase which could mean nothing more than showing renders and revealing some specs.
My guess is that if Samsung was able to make a more concrete announcement, it would. So I’m expecting to see a prototype device at best.
Which raises the question of why Samsung would choose September to announce that it may show details in November of a product which almost certainly won’t go on sale until next year (if then).
There’s a pretty obvious answer. Samsung doesn’t currently have anything that even competes with last year’s flagship iPhone, let alone the new models set to be launched next week.
Its flagship Galaxy S9, a minor update on last year’s S8, has not sold well. Sales were said to be the lowest for a flagship Samsung smartphone since the S3. The company admitted that sales were disappointing as it was required to explain a 34% drop in profits for Samsung Mobile.
Apple’s 2018 iPhone line-up is looking incredibly strong. The direct replacement for the iPhone X is expected to be $100 cheaper. It’s expected to offer a very similar-looking LCD model that is likely to prove extremely appealing to those wanting access to a new iPhone at the company’s more traditional starting-point of around $700. And the larger model iPhone XS is likely to offer the most expensive model yet, helping to offset lower revenues from the LCD model.
Samsung currently has no way to compete with this. What it can do is try to persuade would-be iPhone upgraders to hold off in the hope of a more exciting alternative. A folding smartphone, if Samsung really can deliver on the promise, would be the first dramatic change we’ve seen to the smartphone form factor for some years. But right now, a desperate promise of a product which doesn’t yet exist, and which was first promised five years ago, appears to be Samsung’s only response."
Bone crushingly bad flagship sales with the same announcement of vaporware for 5 years. Dominating.
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1. You still can't install apps on YOUR device from anywhere but the App Store
2. You still can't downgrade YOUR device OS when Apple decide to slow your device down
3. You still can't load music or videos on YOUR own device without iTunes.
Totally locked down and closed sourced.
I use a Mac. That's what Apple does right. The iPhone and iPad and Watch and TV are locked down and self respecting tech person should not use them. Only grandmas.
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Why would Apple ever release that? Why sell one product when you can sell two?
I’m trying to figure out the point. I guess if I carried a purse you could basically pack a small tablet device that was also your phone. But it’s still unwieldy as a phone. If you’re using a headset anyway, why bother with folding?
Folding a “normal” sized phone in half gives a huge pocket brick.
The technology is certainly cool but it seems like a solution in search of a problem and I can’t imagine it won’t be more damage prone than a normal screen.
Folding a “normal” sized phone in half gives a huge pocket brick.
The technology is certainly cool but it seems like a solution in search of a problem and I can’t imagine it won’t be more damage prone than a normal screen.