The MacRumors Show: Michael Fisher Talks iPhone Ultra

[Sami13496]

Have you actually watched the MacRumors Show episode at the top of this thread? MrMobile and Dan both praise Samsung's latest foldables and point out the insignificance of the crease. Both of them have access to a lot more phones than the rest of us, yet neither describes foldables as gimmicky and eagerly await the foldable iPhone. Dan even called the Fold8 pretty near perfect in his separate video review.

It may be difficult for you to accept but foldables are only going to grow in popularity with Apple jumping on the train. You can't seem to get beyond the crease but go look at the photos in post #6 of this thread, you can't even make out the crease. The horrible crease you like to remind everyone of has grown fainter over eight successive generations. If the crease stops you from buying a foldable then so be it, but there's no denying that demand will be high for the foldable iPhone considering the Fold8 has broken sales records. 2026 will go down as the year of the foldable.

Lastly, none of the foldables I've owned ever felt cheap. They all felt very solid and well-built, with gorgeous screens. The foldable iPhone's inner display is rumored to be less than an inch larger (diagonally) than a 17 Pro Max, but the iPad Mini-like proportions offer vastly more screen area over a 17 Pro Max.

With all due respect, Mr Mobile is a gadget nerd who doesn’t evaluate technology based on how useful it actually is, but rather on how entertaining he finds it. He gets excited about all kinds of contraptions that move, swivel, open, and fold. That’s why he’s the last person I would listen to if I wanted to understand whether a solution is genuinely useful or just a gimmick.

 

[NeonNights]

With all due respect, Mr Mobile is a gadget nerd who doesn’t evaluate technology based on how useful it actually is, but rather on how entertaining he finds it. He gets excited about all kinds of contraptions that move, swivel, open, and fold. That’s why he’s the last person I would listen to if I wanted to understand whether a solution is genuinely useful or just a gimmick.

Fair enough, but even Dan of MacRumors is pretty impressed by the latest foldables. Foldables haven't always been great and I shared the common concerns and criticisms when they first came out, but today's foldables are nothing like the early models from 2019 and Samsung (and others) have worked hard to address each of the initial shortcomings (thickness, weight, durability, crease, cost). Slab phone designs have hit a wall and all the innovation is happening in the foldable space.

The Fold7 and Fold8 are just as thin and weigh less than the latest iPhone Pro Max. At this point, cost is the last true barrier for most folks and that hopefully gets better with scale and more market penetration. A foldable will still carry a premium but the gap will shrink in time. Slab phones aren't going anywhere so that will still be an option.

 

[d-klumpp]

I enjoyed this episode with the guest Android expert. He was effective, and I appreciated hearing the Android "take" on Apple stuff. I'll probably never seek out Android info myself, but I admit it's nice to hear an Android compare-and-contrast within their own ecosystem(s) and vs Apple. Thank you Dan and Hartley!

 

[sjsharksfan12]

I like when you have guests on. Hopefully now that the news is starting to come in you might have more guests on in the future.

 

[johnsawyercjs]

I got a Fold 8 and returned it after a week. Short phones cut off too much content vertically. Even for content consumption, they're not ideal. I didn't find it superior for anything other than taking up less space in my pocket.

Did you ever try it unfolded? You get more vertical space that way.

 

[johnsawyercjs]

I don't know if I need Samsung to make the TriFold any thinner. The profile is barely enough as it is to get a grip and unfold it. The TriFold isn't as svelte as the Fold 7 or Fold 8 of course, but the overall thickness is very close to my previous Fold 6.

The TriFold is already impressively thin for what it is, and feels dense and solid. Any thinner and it may feel flimsy. For the TriFold 2, I welcome some weight reduction and the return of S Pen support -- but that may be wishful thinking. And I'd like a 1TB option.

Yeah, I hope the goal of phone designers isn't to try to make them the thickness of a credit card.