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IMO it's underwhelming considering folding phones have been out for many years now and we still don't have a folding iPhone. What are the PMs doing at Apple.
by baby 1y ago
IMO it's underwhelming considering folding phones have been out for many years now and we still don't have a folding iPhone. What are the PMs doing at Apple.
- boppo1 1y agoFolders seem gimmicky to me
- baby 1y agoUntil you use one
- dmix 1y agoI tested the Samsung one in the store and that groove thing in the screen would drive me crazy
- baby 1y agoI have a google fold 9 for a year and I've never noticed it unless I look at the phone from the side. It's interesting that this is the criticism that comes up the most here where it's already been a solved issue
- NetMageSCW 1y agoYou think it’s solved - many people disagree.
- baby 1y agoWho havent used one
- pwthornton 1y agoWhat’s the main use case of this?
- overfeed 1y agoA pocketable tablet that is also your phone.
- jjtheblunt 1y agoso what do you use on yours with more dexterity than without it?
- baby 1y agowatching videos and reading PDFs (whitepapers) are the two big upgrades, being able to take selfies and see yourself is often useful also
- sniffers 1y agoThey have a nightmare of a crease. Every single one. Even slight warping causes me to recoil. No, I've used one, they are absolutely unusable for me.
- humpty-d 1y agoI'd agree if there were fewer compromises required to pull it off.
- bigyabai 1y agoiPads seem gimmicky to me. Somehow, they sell...
- lisbbb 1y agoSchools--for better or for worse, schools buy gobs of ipads.
- __loam 1y agoIt's great for watching shows on a stationary bike, reading manga, and as a drawing tablet. There's a bunch of artists that only use procreate.
- bigyabai 1y agoIt's a hard sell for curmudgeons like me with a laptop that does everything you listed and more. Maybe I'm the idiot, but you won't catch me dead paying laptop money for a neuter-computer.
- skhr0680 1y agoThis, especially nowadays that Mac OS has an ARM target, and there’s essentially (literally?) no difference between an iPad and MacBook hardware
- addaon 1y ago> there’s essentially (literally?) no difference between an iPad and MacBook hardware Form factor. Touch screen. GPS. Cellular. Circular polarization. These are all literal hardware differences between the iPad and MacBook, and every single one of them makes the iPad suitable for my use case (ForeFlight running on an iPad mounted to the yoke) where a MacBook would not be.
- bigyabai 1y agoYou can get a laptop with all those built-in, though. The only reason the Mac lacks those things is artificial market segmentation.
- ls-a 1y agoWe're already in the trifold era. Check this video to see some useful features https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vp5i0jQggK4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vp5i0jQggK4
- km3r 1y agoIm never going back to non-foldable. The ability to have a full sized phone take up half as much space in my pocket is amazing. Consistently more comfortable moving around.
- brulard 1y agoMaybe half length, not sure half space.
- qwertytyyuu 1y agoYea the zfold style is the way to go
- eloisant 1y agoPhones are already thin enough, I don't mind doubling the thickness. Length is the problem.
- ricardobeat 1y agoThat’s because most Android phones are tablet sized. We could simply have smaller phones.
- ndiddy 1y agoI think folding phones will remain a small niche unless someone figures out how to make a foldable screen that doesn't get permanently scratched by your fingernails.
- Theodores 1y agoIt is a feature, not a bug. For those that are not chronically online, a mobile phone from a decade ago has everything they need. If you only have to phone the family, WhatsApp your neighbours, get the map out, use a search engine and do your online banking, then a flagship phone is a bit over the top. If anything, the old phone is preferable since its loss would not be the end of the world. I have seen a few elderly neighbours rocking Samsung Galaxy S7s with no need to upgrade. Although the S7 isn't quite a decade old, the apps that are actually used (WhatsApp, online banking) will be working with the S7 for many years to come since there is this demographic of active users. Now, what if we could get these people to upgrade every three years with a feature that the 'elderly neighbour' would want? Eyesight isn't what it used to be in old age, so how about a nice big screen? You can't deliberately hobble the phone with poor battery life or programme it to go slow in an update because we know that isn't going to win the customer over, but a screen that gets tatty after three years? Sounds good to me.
- epolanski 1y ago> the apps that are actually used (WhatsApp, online banking) will be working with the S7 for many years to come I have several apps that no longer work on my otherwise good phone bought in 2018 because I can no longer update the OS that they require.
- jsheard 1y agoI think they'd rather sell you an iPhone and an iPad Mini rather than one device that does both, just like they'd rather sell you an iPad Air/Pro and a MacBook with basically the same internals, rather than a convertible macOS tablet.
- baby 1y agoI basically stopped using my ipad pro since I bought the pixel folding pro
- yoyohello13 1y agoThe PMs are probably thinking folding phones are dumb…because they are.
- ls-a 1y agoSomeone else commented that the reason the iPhone Air is so thin is the result of Apple building a folding phone (they have to be thin). I agree. The iPhone Air basically looked like a low hanging fruit while they're still at it. Apple is known to take its time so that makes sense
- swiftcoder 1y agoDo any of the folding phones actually work well? I still haven't seen one in the wild (admittedly, I'm not living in a tech Mecca these days)
- baby 1y agoThe google folding pro works really well
- dboreham 1y agoI've had the past three generations of Samsung folding phone (4,5,6). My use-case is for travel, where I want to read books, and the very occasional time when I want to do some design work outside the office -- draw a diagram that sort of thing. A third rare use case is where a web site is buggy or limited in functionality for mobile browsers. In all these cases the unfolded screen allows me to do the thing I need to do without carrying a second device (tablet, eReader). Another marginal use-case is to show another person a photograph. The fold out screen is much easier to see and I think has better color rendition too. For these use-cases I find the folding phone very worthwhile. But...the benefit that trumps all that is that the phone itself is smaller (narrower) than the typical flagship phones these days. It fits in my pocket and my hand reaches across it. I'd never go back to a non-folding phone for this reason alone, even if I never unfolded it. In fact I almost never do unfold it, except when traveling. fwiw it wasn't until the Fold6 that the "cover screen" typing experience was ok. I understand that the Fold7 is a bit wider and so probably better, but I can't justify the expense to upgrade so will sit out until the Fold8.
- carstenhag 1y agoTried the Fold on a Google event and it was really nice. I would get one, but I don't want to spend so much money.
- gdbsjjdn 1y agoThe vertical fold ones might be better. I had the newest Samsung Flip (horizontal folding) and the screen died twice. Both times from a small rupture on the seam. The tech at the phone place said it happens constantly, and it costs hundreds of dollars to replace out of warranty.
- bayindirh 1y ago> What are the PMs doing at Apple. Probably trying to find better screen materials, and addressing reliability issues. I used Palm devices with resistive touch screens. It was good, but when you go glass, there's no turning back. I would never buy a phone with folding screens protected by plastic. I want a dependable slab. Not a gimmicky gadget which can die any moment. I got my fix for dying flex cables with Casiopeia PDAs. Never again.
- baby 1y agomy girlfriend broke her iphone screen twice in two weeks, the second time we didn't bother repairing the screen and now she has a broken screen which looks really ugly. I've dropped my google pixel fold 9 countless time and the screen is still intact and flawless. So not sure what you're talking about.
- 2muchcoffeeman 1y agoI’ve dropped my iPhone 15 more times than any phone I’ve ever had. Still fine. I don’t know how I got away with it. Am I representative? Dunno.
- erikpukinskis 1y agoFolding phones are ~1.5% of the market. Apple cancelled their mini line which was 3% of sales. It’s not a big enough slice for them to want to chase.
- epolanski 1y agoFolding phones are a niche because they are very expensive to be honest.
- arcticbull 1y agoI have a folding android and it’s very meh. Wouldn’t get one again. It was also free with a prepaid phone plan so I doubt cost is really the factor.
- epolanski 1y agoGood foldables are way above the $ 1000 mark.
- TeMPOraL 1y agoI recently got one of these (Galaxy Z7 Fold) and I can't imagine ever going back to a regular phone. The big screen is what makes the phone finally begin to resemble actual productivity tool.
- arcticbull 1y agoWhat makes a good foldable better than say a $700 RAZR?
- Miraste 1y agoThey're tablet sized screens folding to phone size, instead of phone size folding to half phone size.
- 1y ago
- Miraste 1y agoThey're in the right. Folding phones are great, and I've used one for years, but the technology hasn't reached Apple levels. Get rid of the crease, make the screen less scratchable, and make them waterproof, and then it could go in an iPhone.
- nylonstrung 1y agoMarques Brownlee said they have prototypes for a folding phone and will likely release one
- runako 1y agoIn all seriousness, is there a folding phone that doesn't have a crease in the screen while unfolded? The one I have used felt like using a real phone through a layer of vinyl, definitely not a pleasant experience.
- TeMPOraL 1y agoThe crease is something you barely even notice 5 minutes into using one.
- busymom0 1y agoI know they have been out for a while but I have yet to see a single one in person. They just don't make much of the market.
- meindnoch 1y agoAside from the obvious mechanical issues, the screen quality compromises, et cetera, folding phones are just dorky. Apple wants their products to be anything but dorky. There will never be a folding iPhone, simple as.
- noarchy 1y agoWatch the leaks over the next year or so. There have been rumours of a foldable coming as soon as next year.
- rafaelmn 1y agoApple watch is like the definition of dorky looking - so much for that theory. Also flip phones aren't dorky and have a 2000s vibe - but they don't fit Apple "you can have any color as long as it's black" approach to design. In some ways I can't even fault them - fragmenting your device shapes/experiences to chase a niche look is not good business. But this is exactly what's pushing me out of Apple ecosystem - it's so locked down that if you don't want to fit into their narrow product lines you have no other options. There are no third party watch makers using apple watch hardware and software. No other phone makers with access to iPhone internals and iOS. Nobody can hack a PC OS onto an iPad or build a 2in1 MacOS device. I feel like this is the last gen of Apple tech I'm in on - I just find there are so many devices that are compelling to me personally but don't fit into the walled garden. Plus Google seems light-year ahead on delivering a smart assistant.
- bigyabai 1y agoDon't know why you're downvoted. My boyfriend wears the Apple Watch Ultra in public and looks like a complete dork. He's got a pretty big wrist, too! I left the ecosystem after Catalina, and my experience with macOS at work has horrified me enough to stay well away. Nowadays I'm happily using NixOS on the desktop, laptop and homeserver. My biggest gripe is that I didn't switch sooner, probably could have saved a decent amount of cash eschewing the Apple tax, SaaS fees and macOS migration hamster-wheel.
- RyanOD 1y agoI'm going to respectfully disagree with the Apple Watch being labeled "dorky". I think they look pretty nice - and I don't own one. I wear a Timex Ironman.
- caycep 1y agoI dunno, I always felt folding phones added unnecessary complexity and moving parts. The slab phone seems closer to a platonic ideal and from a user/engineering perspective, has less compromises
- baby 1y agohonestly most criticism I see on folding phone could basically be solved by just trying one, it's so useful when you need a larger screen
- pdntspa 1y agoWhy do we need a folding phone?
- baby 1y agobecause we want larger screens
- pdntspa 1y agowhat? why? they're already bigger than one hand -- way too big! Get a computer
- baby 1y agoWhy get a computer if you just want to read or watch videos?
- 0x457 1y agoIt caters to a very specific target group: voice calls[1] and looking at a lot of information at once[2]. [1]: Mediocre folded experience doesn't bother them [2]: Think calendars and whatever else middle managers look at
- bayesianbot 1y agoI would never have bought one before but nowadays it could actually be useful. You could have Codex or Claude Code in your pocket, and every ~15min check the work and write a new prompt. Tablets are too big (for me) to constantly carry around for this, and phones annoyingly small for that use.
- rickdeckard 1y ago> IMO it's underwhelming considering folding phones have been out for many years now and we still don't have a folding iPhone. What are the PMs doing at Apple. They're buying another year of very-high margin phones I guess...