Everyone is forgetting that Apple had a foldable phone in 2014/15
Samsung taking market share from Apple in U.S. as foldable phones gain momentum
51–60 of 337 posts
Re: Samsung taking market share from Apple in U.S. as foldable phones gain momentum
#52I thought the idea of a folding phone was just a cash grab until I saw someone on the plane across the aisle from me interacting with one. It has been a while since I saw someone get so much enjoyment out of a device. The back and forth between folded and unfolded to read messages and watch movies/read a book was mesmerizing. It made me realize that this form factor could actually enhance the user experience in a mea…
I genuinely think book reading is the killer app for foldable devices. A bigger screen for a movie or TV is nice to have, but not a game changer. When you have that much screen real estate you can get a really enjoyable experience reading a novel or just easily read a textbook or research paper in a way that's simply not possible on even the largest of what you might consider a typical size phone.
Plus, you no longer need to deal with buying and maintaining a separate device like an iPad! This is why I suspect Apple is dragging its feet on the foldable category, besides letting the screen technology mature. It will probably cannibalize some sales from that market segment.
Re: Samsung taking market share from Apple in U.S. as foldable phones gain momentum
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
What Samsung did you have? Afaik their flagships don't have any nagging. And which Motorola did you get? Don't they have the same promotional nagging?
Most my phones are the low end free-to-get-you-to-sign-up models. AT&T doesn't have low end Motorolas so I bought an unlocked, guaranteed to work with AT&T, sub $300 one directly off motorola.com and took it to the AT&T store. So far it's left me alone.
Low-end Android all have the same nagging adware or if they're not nagging they're definitely selling your data way more than flagships where customer UX is a priority.
Re: Samsung taking market share from Apple in U.S. as foldable phones gain momentum
#54I've had a flip 3 and flip 5 which both had screen and hinge problems within a year. I love the form factor but just don't take it to the beach. My flip 5 inner screen is currently unusable so I'm stuck using the small square cover screen which I'm enjoying quite a bit too. I don't know if my next phone should be a flip phone or a small phone, but nothing gets as small or as good hardware as the front cover of these…
I responded in another thread about the iPhone Air that I wanted something from Apple that's smaller than my current iPhone 13 mini. There are at least two of us!
If they made a flip style iPhone that closed smaller than the mini and opened to similar size or only a bigger, I’d definitely buy it.
Re: Samsung taking market share from Apple in U.S. as foldable phones gain momentum
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most my phones are the low end free-to-get-you-to-sign-up models. AT&T doesn't have low end Motorolas so I bought an unlocked, guaranteed to work with AT&T, sub $300 one directly off motorola.com and took it to the AT&T store. So far it's left me alone.
Low-end Android all have the same nagging adware or if they're not nagging they're definitely selling your data way more than flagships where customer UX is a priority.
>they're definitely selling your data way more than flagships where customer UX is a priority.
I'd to see some evidence for this claim. It seems to be a ridiculous offhand claim to make in this era of late stage capitalism. Flagship phones owners are wealthier, their data is more valuable for customer acquisition. Why in god's name would those penny pinchers leave that kind of money on the table? It makes no sense. It's not like flagship phone owners can track whether their data is being sold any better than low end phone owners.
They might make it harder to turn data collection off in low end phones, but that says nothing of their desire to be able to sell the data of flagship phone owners.
Re: Samsung taking market share from Apple in U.S. as foldable phones gain momentum
#56I thought the idea of a folding phone was just a cash grab until I saw someone on the plane across the aisle from me interacting with one. It has been a while since I saw someone get so much enjoyment out of a device. The back and forth between folded and unfolded to read messages and watch movies/read a book was mesmerizing. It made me realize that this form factor could actually enhance the user experience in a mea…
I genuinely think book reading is the killer app for foldable devices. A bigger screen for a movie or TV is nice to have, but not a game changer. When you have that much screen real estate you can get a really enjoyable experience reading a novel or just easily read a textbook or research paper in a way that's simply not possible on even the largest of what you might consider a typical size phone. Plus, you no longer…
Exactly. Apple is adding so much to iPadOS 26 (e.g. new windowing features) that it resembles the Mac. The next foldable iPhone will be like the iPadOS prior to version 26, so that Apple can make sure iPadOS remains more powerful than iOS.
Re: Samsung taking market share from Apple in U.S. as foldable phones gain momentum
#57I thought the idea of a folding phone was just a cash grab until I saw someone on the plane across the aisle from me interacting with one. It has been a while since I saw someone get so much enjoyment out of a device. The back and forth between folded and unfolded to read messages and watch movies/read a book was mesmerizing. It made me realize that this form factor could actually enhance the user experience in a mea…
I genuinely think book reading is the killer app for foldable devices. A bigger screen for a movie or TV is nice to have, but not a game changer. When you have that much screen real estate you can get a really enjoyable experience reading a novel or just easily read a textbook or research paper in a way that's simply not possible on even the largest of what you might consider a typical size phone. Plus, you no longer…
> Plus, you no longer need to deal with buying and maintaining a separate device like an iPad!
I've found a much easier solution to this problem.
Re: Samsung taking market share from Apple in U.S. as foldable phones gain momentum
#58Flip phones are really the only phone product that actually excites me
Can you type with only one hand on a flip phone ?
Re: Samsung taking market share from Apple in U.S. as foldable phones gain momentum
#59Personally I think they're ugly. They might have some functional advantage, that I don't know. I believe they're going to be the cyber truck of mobile phones, primarily a status symbol.
Yes but it's not ugly in the look/fashion sense, it's just ugly because it doesn't match a reality where it has a purpose.
Either they have good form factor closed but they suck open or they have good form factor open but they suck closed. They could go with no external screen but it would be much more annoying to use. And I think it says something fundamental about smartphones, that Steve Jobs intuitively understood: it's a good tool when you can pull it out of your pocket and use it in seconds (preferably one-handed when possible). Having a bigger screen but that needs to be unfolded doesn't add any benefits to this primary need and ends up requiring a lot of compromises (weight/volume, compromising pocket ability) for uses cases that are infrequent and would be better served by a typical table anyway. Funnily enough, in those situations you are quite likely to have the bag to carry this solution so the foldable phone becomes moot.
To make things worse, they are ridiculously expensive, often more than what it would cost to buy both an equivalent phone and tablet, which is at the same time stupid and genius. And yes, this is precisely why they are a social status thing. You have to be quite affluent to buy something so practically stupid, you are basically burning cash.
I find folding phones interesting for what they so aptly demonstrate about life in general: no matter how hard you try, you can't have it both ways.
Re: Samsung taking market share from Apple in U.S. as foldable phones gain momentum
#60Apple are in a bind here since the bend/crease will degrade over time. Other manufacturers get a pass on this sort of stuff (just look at Pixel phones not making emergency calls for a prime example), but apple will be hit with fines and class action lawsuits.
Don't make it sound like Apple is some sort of victim of regulation who's being picked on the whole time. They will not get fines and lawsuits if they make a foldable phone with a display that degrades over time. I do think a move like this will hurt their reputation for making durable devices. They are a victim of their own success a little here.
> Don't make it sound like Apple is some sort of victim of regulation who's being picked on the whole time.
I didn’t say this. I would merely accept other companies being held to the same standard.
> They will not get fines and lawsuits if they make a foldable phone with a display that degrades over time.
This will 100% happen. When it does I will come back and post here.