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Xiaomi Reveals Dual-Folding Flexible Phone in Teaser Video

farewelwilliams said:
i dont need two hands to use my iPhone XS.
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What about if it folded out to be an iPad mini?

VulchR said:
Interesting idea in the abstract, but I wonder how long it would be before the screen degrades along the folds. In general flexing material back and forth tends to weaken it. Putting electronic on a flexible substrate has become routine in some fields, but flexing the substrate repeatedly back and forth, not so much.
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Six years ago that was an issue, with folds only counted around a thousand before circuit damage.

But Samsung recently announced that their latest folding screens were good to over a hundred thousand folds. That's enough to last years.

(multiple posters) It's cool, but I can't see the advantages...
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Comments like these remind me of back when Tim Cook stated that their 4" screen was the perfect size and there was no need for anything larger.

But after Samsung phablet sales soared, suddenly bigger iPhones appeared, and Apple's sales skyrocketed. I bet that if Apple even offered a half baked folding prototype, fans would be lining up :)
 
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kdarling said:
What about if it folded out to be an iPad mini?



Six years ago that was an issue, with folds only counted around a thousand before circuit damage.

But Samsung recently announced that their latest folding screens were good to over a hundred thousand folds. That's enough to last years.



Comments like these remind me of back when Tim Cook stated that their 4" screen was the perfect size and there was no need for anything larger.

But after Samsung phablet sales soared, suddenly bigger iPhones appeared, and Apple's sales skyrocketed. I bet that if Apple even offered a half baked folding prototype, fans would be lining up :)
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To your last point. I think it's more so that I can't see how the product adds any value right now. Cook/Jobs, whoever said that, it's marketing - I wouldn't read too much into that. I could definitely see the value in a larger screen then, but with the bendable tech being released today - the hardware and software just isn't there yet for me. Way too bulky to be a pocketable phone and the software/app situation will take a while to get right. I am sure there will be uses for the tech down the line, just not ready yet.
 
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matteuk said:
Meanwhile in the Apple news world...

https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/move-multiple-apps-ios/
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Just because there’s no news about it doesn’t mean it isn’t happening in secret.

I’m not a huge fan of LG quality (that’s been in evidence so far) but one other reason for Apple to be working with and investing so much in LG is the opportunity to really double down on secrecy.

Samsung is leaky as hell and there’s enough cause to think some of their leaks are intentional and strategic. They’re more a frenemy than an ally. LG has accepted a significant amount of investment from Apple and is more likely to toe the line for Apple.

I am writing this as someone who is about to switch over to an Android as my main phone for awhile. But I don’t for a moment believe that a company that is successfully so far ahead with the excellent Apple Watch and has produced a product as innovative and copied and popular as the AirPods is completely sitting on its thumbs. I have many frustrations with Apple, but I don’t think they’re ignoring this particular trend as there is real promise and potential for it to be the next big thing which all manufactures in this sphere desperately need in a matured and tired market.

But it’s clearly not ready to debut at the high standard to which Apple’s customers would hold such a product, so they’re not going to be demonstrating or leaking anything (if they can help it). It’s bad enough they’ve got egg on their face for showing off Air Power too soon.

As to why Xiaomi is showing this beast off, the up and coming Asian phone manufacturers need to do this to establish their reputations and get a toe into claims that “we invented this”.

Apple practically made the smart phone industry and the smart phone paradigm what it is today so they don’t need to do that...for now. At some point there’s going to be a generation of customers that won’t remember Steve Jobs and who will think Huawei invented everything and that Apple copied them. :rolleyes:
 
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Why does the device look bent when fully open? Where are the front facing cameras, speakers, mics?
 
Romeo_Nightfall said:
you are assuming that apple still is in the lead of anything ... apple is a bean counter company now. no sex left - they have no lead of anything. asia will take over the phone business, as samsung has done with the s8 - for some strange reason apple can still use their brand power to push people in inferior technology. that is no sustainable business model.

look what they have done to the mac and iphone, completely wracked devices - glued together electronic waste!

airpods are a real surprise, no idea how that happend to be honest!

homepod is a waste, no headphone jack and no bluetooth - i mean this is a device which is stationary, no movement - so why the heck i am not allowed to wire it? and why the heck it has no portability as all the other speakers, meanwhile.

i am sad, that i like macos, i dont like ios anymore which is a cheap rip off of the mac. if not for mac os i would not use a mac !!! and i only use an iphone because i have it - any foldable phone will make me leave apple - first time since long , am thrilled for a new phone - its fun !!!
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What are you talking about?
Apple has the best and fastest socs, about the best displays, camera is top tier, and their faceID tech can only be rivaled with the just released top model from Huawei.
If you are talking about bang for the buck, I would understand. But their top models are top notch ;)
 
Show me one of these when it’s an actual product that I can buy. Until then it’s vaporware like Apple’s AirPower.
 
How will they protect the display from not taking damage from all the bending. there must be a lot of mechanical stress on the display over time?
 
sunapple said:
Two folds.. That would be cooler like how the phones in Westworld work:

tumblr_oh20kqgSZC1qjsc4fo1_500.gif
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That's not possible as you would need a double fold to account for wrapping around the thickness of the other two sections. You can't do sharp folds either. Notice all these prototypes fold back on themselves instead of closing like a book. That's because it puts less pressure on the screen.
 
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Pim said:
View attachment 817023
Glad to see Apple isn't the only one with rotation issues
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The software does look a little janky here but I think the concept of foldable screens is great. Going to be the next big breakthrough. I feel like the last two were iPhone and then iPad and since then it's just been iteration.
 
Lazy said:
No, but they’ll wait a couple of years to see what works and what doesn’t, and figure out what they can do to improve on the concept before releasing their own.

Or not release one at all if it turns out to be more of a gimmick than something useful.
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I agree. That's usually how Apple seems to approach these things.

But then you have the narrative from people on here who say companies are always stealing ideas from Apple.

So which one is it:
1) Apple steals other companies ideas but (sometimes) makes them better.
>or<
2) Other companies are just aping whatever Apple does.
 
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Excellent idea, my concern is the lifespan. All that folding and unfolding must least to fatigue of the material, unless it's transparent aluminum or something special. I'd love one though!
 
Heineken said:
iPad Pro is fine. This one has actual durability issues.

P.S. Nice try.
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Jury is still out (and will be out for a while) on the durability of the new iPad Pro. So I would give it a little time before gloating.

Don't be like the stanford band ...

 
This looks incredible. Is that real, it's not CGI right? It's by FAR the best design I've seen so far, looks to be quite thin when folded as well.
 
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BigBoy2018 said:
I agree. That's usually how Apple seems to approach these things.

But then you have the narrative from people on here who say companies are always stealing ideas from Apple.

So which one is it:
1) Apple steals other companies ideas but (sometimes) makes them better.
>or<
2) Other companies are just aping whatever Apple does.
Click to expand...

It usually go like this:

When a idea comes up and Apple has not yet implement this, people on here will dismiss as gimmick. (like OLED screen, like wireless charging).

Then Apple comes up with exactly same stuff, they will say Apple always not the first one to do, but always the one to make it actually good.

Then when Apple comes up with exactly same implemention, they they will say, they don’t care about competition. (Like wireless charging?)
 
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downpour said:
That's not possible as you would need a double fold to account for wrapping around the thickness of the other two sections. You can't do sharp folds either. Notice all these prototypes fold back on themselves instead of closing like a book. That's because it puts less pressure on the screen.
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Which is why the folding phones are so thick, got it. Mainstream succes could be over five years away.

But at least Apple can continue their thinness challenge with these new type of devices.
 
This is cool and all, but I don’t see why it’d be useful or why I’d need it.
 
chatin said:
Apple should be all over this technology but will most likely not have the cojones.
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They'll be all over it in 2027, if everyone else has already done it and ironed any bugs out, as always... Apple have only just gotten to OLED (which still burns in).
 
Relentless Power said:
Highly unrelated, nor amusing. A foldable display seems to be more of the upcoming era for tech. Smart phones and tablets have somewhat peaked, thus allowing for a greater transition to something else that might lead the way for consumers to find a median for having a smaller transforming into a larger display when they want it. One way or the other, I foresee Apple adapting this technology in the future.
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I agree with you.....I do see Apple adopting this technology in the not so distant future.

I am also amazed at how many here on MR have in past remarked how useless this technology was when Samsung and other companies released videos such as the one in thread post.
When POC products were released years ago with this very same format and hardware...most here on MR said Apple would never follow in this path...

Now that it is rumored that Apple has indeed gone down the folding display path......I don't see the same people responding the same as they have in the past.
 
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