4 ms·

wasn't samsung's foldable tech stolen as well? makes sense considering how fast huawei was able to get it.

by swang 7y ago

bazooka_penguin 7y ago
Iirc there were reports that a Samsung manufacturing partner stole their oled tech in China. There wasnt any follow up stories on for whom it was stolen. Although I have a feeling if the Xiaomi folding oled screens were really stolen Samsung would accuse them and stir up a storm. That Xiaomi phone got mainstream press coverage in the west, it wasnt just some small thing made only for China and importable via aliexpress
djsumdog 7y ago
I dunno. The Huawei foldable looked considerably different as far as the tech, and it fold the other direction. I think it's going to have even worse issues than the Samsung if it ever actually gets released.
- tooltalk 7y ago
  It was the foldable display OLED, not the folding mechanism that was stolen IIRC. Also note it was widely speculated that Huawei's display supplier, BOE, was behind the theft.
eBombzor 7y ago
Seems almost too fast? Reports of the leak were published in November last year [1]. It doesn't say when the leaks took place so unless they were leaked at least year before would it even be possible to construct a foldable phone in that short of a time frame (Feb when Mate X was showcased)? [1] https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/30/tech/samsung-china-tech-theft/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/30/tech/samsung-china-tech-theft...
threeseed 7y ago
I posted this a while back about why Samsung rushed the release of their foldable phone: 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-.. 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.
- solarkraft 7y ago
  I remember reading this post. What has changed since then is the on-track-ness of everyone =)
solarkraft 7y ago
Different tech. Huawei's folding displays were made by BOE.
- seanmcdirmid 7y ago
  They were made by BOE who stole stole/copied the tech from Samsung. https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/Samsung-supplier-indicted-in-leak-of-OLED-tech-to-China https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/Samsung-supplier-...
  - est 7y ago
    If BOE stole from Samsung, then what did Toptec steal? > They are accused of passing on Samsung technologies related to curved-edge smartphone panels that use organic light-emitting diodes, or OLED, to four companies. If you want to play the finger pointing game at least play it straight.

wasn't samsung's foldable tech stolen as well? makes sense considering how fast huawei was able to get it.

by swang 7y ago

wasn't samsung's foldable tech stolen as well? makes sense considering how fast huawei was able to get it.

Iirc there were reports that a Samsung manufacturing partner stole their oled tech in China. There wasnt any follow up stories on for whom it was stolen. Although I have a feeling if the Xiaomi folding oled screens were really stolen Samsung would accuse them and stir up a storm. That Xiaomi phone got mainstream press coverage in the west, it wasnt just some small thing made only for China and importable via aliexpress

djsumdog 7y ago

I dunno. The Huawei foldable looked considerably different as far as the tech, and it fold the other direction. I think it's going to have even worse issues than the Samsung if it ever actually gets released.

tooltalk 7y ago
It was the foldable display OLED, not the folding mechanism that was stolen IIRC. Also note it was widely speculated that Huawei's display supplier, BOE, was behind the theft.

eBombzor 7y ago

Seems almost too fast? Reports of the leak were published in November last year [1]. It doesn't say when the leaks took place so unless they were leaked at least year before would it even be possible to construct a foldable phone in that short of a time frame (Feb when Mate X was showcased)? [1] https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/30/tech/samsung-china-tech-theft/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/30/tech/samsung-china-tech-theft...

threeseed 7y ago

I posted this a while back about why Samsung rushed the release of their foldable phone: 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-.. 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.

solarkraft 7y ago
I remember reading this post. What has changed since then is the on-track-ness of everyone =)

solarkraft 7y ago

Different tech. Huawei's folding displays were made by BOE.

seanmcdirmid 7y ago
They were made by BOE who stole stole/copied the tech from Samsung. https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/Samsung-supplier-indicted-in-leak-of-OLED-tech-to-China https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/Samsung-supplier-...
- est 7y ago
  If BOE stole from Samsung, then what did Toptec steal? > They are accused of passing on Samsung technologies related to curved-edge smartphone panels that use organic light-emitting diodes, or OLED, to four companies. If you want to play the finger pointing game at least play it straight.