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Shoot the messenger. That should take care of the problem. /s I'm puzzled as to how Samsung thought that this phone was ready for prime time. Was it being push

Shoot the messenger. That should take care of the problem. /s I'm puzzled as to how Samsung thought that this phone was ready for prime time. Was it being pushed top-down and no underling dared to speak up?

jbigelow76 7y ago
"First foldable phone to market, take that Huawei!" probably sums up the entirety of the decision making process regarding whether to release or not.
threeseed 7y ago
The story going around is this: a) Samsung spent a ton of money and research in building foldable OLED screens. b) This technology is allegedly stolen by a supplier and sold to BOE Display: https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/Samsung-supplier-indicted-in-leak-of-OLED-tech-to-China https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/Samsung-supplier-... c) Huawei uses the foldable BOE Display technology in its Mate X smartphone and is on track to be the first to release it. d) Samsung panics as it learns that the technology it built might be released by a competitor earlier than them and consumers might think of them as less of an innovator. May sound silly but the Chinese companies have been getting a lot of traction recently e.g. P30 Pro. e) In addition Samsung goes into lock down as it fears there might be more leaks to other companies. f) Combination of d) and e) means that there is less real world testing of the device than for other phones. And hence how we got to this point.
- icelancer 7y ago
  Interesting. >>d) Samsung panics as it learns that the technology it built might be released by a competitor earlier than them and consumers might think of them as less of an innovator. May sound silly but the Chinese companies have been getting a lot of traction recently e.g. P30 Pro. Doesn't sound silly at all. I have a Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S and it's an amazingly good phone for the price (replaced my Google Pixel 2, which I liked enough). I'll absolutely buy a Chinese phone to replace this phone when it's time in a few years, or at least look into it. Other people constantly ask about the phone (has a striking reflective ceramic back) and haven't heard of Chinese phones, but are considering alternatives in droves due to the insane prices of flagships by Apple and Samsung.
  - yarg 7y ago
    You can save a decent amount of money buying phones from brands that don't pay for their own R&D.
    - lostmsu 7y ago
      Why do they still sell on US soil? If they'd violated some patent, couldn't the original author get them banned?
      - ergo14 7y ago
        They could have just licensed the patents?
      - james_in_the_uk 7y ago
        Patent litigation is complex and expensive. Also, often a lot of innovations are still patent pending due to the time it takes to get them registered.
        lostmsu 7y ago
        Can't you send some preliminary request based on pending patent? Also, Huawei and Xiaomu have been getting stronger in US market for years now. Expensive? We are talking about $1T company here. I can't imagine they are unable to afford litigation in their core business space. Basically, until somebody shows they violated some patent(s), these claimes about stolen tech are just a smere campaign. I don't understand why Huawei won't sue for it.
      - tooltalk 7y ago
        I guess that's why there aren't too many Chinese made phones sold in the US.
    - NotPaidToPost 7y ago
      Huawei is one of the largest R&D spenders in the world. Perhaps time to stop regurgitating nonsense?
- hnnmzh 7y ago
  Re f), It's probably a culture thing. Samsung used to churn out >200 phone models per year. Want long term support and thorough testing? Non-existent. Re b), It's commonly accepted by a lot of people in China, Taiwan that it's Samsung's tactics to maintain market domination. If you believe the anecdotes, like this one https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/4fnp86/why_does_htc_avoid_amoled/d2axkmj?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/4fnp86/why_does_ht... Samsung cut the oled supply to Huawei when it threatened Samsung's mobile phone market share, the same reason why Samsung screwed HTC before.
- megaremote 7y ago
  The technology is bendable screens, that have been around in testing labs for years. LG released a folding tv last year.

jbigelow76 7y ago

"First foldable phone to market, take that Huawei!" probably sums up the entirety of the decision making process regarding whether to release or not.

threeseed 7y ago

The story going around is this: a) Samsung spent a ton of money and research in building foldable OLED screens. b) This technology is allegedly stolen by a supplier and sold to BOE Display: https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/Samsung-supplier-indicted-in-leak-of-OLED-tech-to-China https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/Samsung-supplier-... c) Huawei uses the foldable BOE Display technology in its Mate X smartphone and is on track to be the first to release it. d) Samsung panics as it learns that the technology it built might be released by a competitor earlier than them and consumers might think of them as less of an innovator. May sound silly but the Chinese companies have been getting a lot of traction recently e.g. P30 Pro. e) In addition Samsung goes into lock down as it fears there might be more leaks to other companies. f) Combination of d) and e) means that there is less real world testing of the device than for other phones. And hence how we got to this point.

icelancer 7y ago
Interesting. >>d) Samsung panics as it learns that the technology it built might be released by a competitor earlier than them and consumers might think of them as less of an innovator. May sound silly but the Chinese companies have been getting a lot of traction recently e.g. P30 Pro. Doesn't sound silly at all. I have a Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S and it's an amazingly good phone for the price (replaced my Google Pixel 2, which I liked enough). I'll absolutely buy a Chinese phone to replace this phone when it's time in a few years, or at least look into it. Other people constantly ask about the phone (has a striking reflective ceramic back) and haven't heard of Chinese phones, but are considering alternatives in droves due to the insane prices of flagships by Apple and Samsung.
- yarg 7y ago
  You can save a decent amount of money buying phones from brands that don't pay for their own R&D.
  - lostmsu 7y ago
    Why do they still sell on US soil? If they'd violated some patent, couldn't the original author get them banned?
    - ergo14 7y ago
      They could have just licensed the patents?
    - james_in_the_uk 7y ago
      Patent litigation is complex and expensive. Also, often a lot of innovations are still patent pending due to the time it takes to get them registered.
      - lostmsu 7y ago
        Can't you send some preliminary request based on pending patent? Also, Huawei and Xiaomu have been getting stronger in US market for years now. Expensive? We are talking about $1T company here. I can't imagine they are unable to afford litigation in their core business space. Basically, until somebody shows they violated some patent(s), these claimes about stolen tech are just a smere campaign. I don't understand why Huawei won't sue for it.
    - tooltalk 7y ago
      I guess that's why there aren't too many Chinese made phones sold in the US.
  - NotPaidToPost 7y ago
    Huawei is one of the largest R&D spenders in the world. Perhaps time to stop regurgitating nonsense?
hnnmzh 7y ago
Re f), It's probably a culture thing. Samsung used to churn out >200 phone models per year. Want long term support and thorough testing? Non-existent. Re b), It's commonly accepted by a lot of people in China, Taiwan that it's Samsung's tactics to maintain market domination. If you believe the anecdotes, like this one https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/4fnp86/why_does_htc_avoid_amoled/d2axkmj?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/4fnp86/why_does_ht... Samsung cut the oled supply to Huawei when it threatened Samsung's mobile phone market share, the same reason why Samsung screwed HTC before.
megaremote 7y ago
The technology is bendable screens, that have been around in testing labs for years. LG released a folding tv last year.