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Samsung taking market share from Apple in U.S. as foldable phones gain momentum

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Re: Samsung taking market share from Apple in U.S. as foldable phones gain momentum

#91

Post by bhelkey »

Night_Thastus wrote: post #71

I'll be totally honest, I do not get the appeal of foldable phones, at least with the designs I've seen so far. I guess you can unfold it to get a bigger 2-part screen? That's about it? I'd imagine that having it be un-foldable compromises the battery life, overall thickness (when folded) and weight to at least some extent - plus it costs way more. Is the additional screen real-estate really worth that?

> it be un-foldable compromises the battery life, overall thickness (when folded) and weight to at least some extent

Not as much as you would think.

The Galaxy Fold 7 has a 6.5" outer screen (as compared to 6.3" screen in the iPhone 16 pro), is 8.9mm thick when folded (8.25mm in the iPhone 16 pro), has a 4400mAh battery (3,582 mAh in the iPhone 16 pro), and weighs 215g (199 grams for the iPhone 16 pro).

> plus it costs way more

The big downsides are price of $1999 launch price as compared to $999 launch price for the iphone 16 pro and durability. For durability, the foldable screens seem to be very soft making it easy to damage, say with a thumbnail.

Re: Samsung taking market share from Apple in U.S. as foldable phones gain momentum

#92

Post by canucker2016 »

fakedang wrote: post #70
rcarr wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I felt this way at one point and vocally proclaimed as such on here. My Fold 5 developed a bubble under the screen protector after about 18 months. I sent it into Samsung through the website to get it repaired. Whoever "repaired" it, just seemed to slice the screen protector down the middle with an knife so it had a big ugly line down the center. Predictably, it was full of bubbles again within a week. I'm not even b…

There's a video out there of a bunch of guys flipping Samsung phones all day long. It starts failing after about 6k flips. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MPPLhYDnkFA&t=1s&pp=2AEBkAIB

FTV, main issues from the fold test:

  A forced reboot error first occurred between 6,000 and 10,000 folds, and the same error repeatedly appeared at roughly every 10,000 folds afterward (e.g., around 16,000, 26,000, etc.).

  Around 46,000 folds, creaking noises started coming from the hinge.

  At 75,000 folds, an unknown black liquid came out of the hinge, but it has not appeared again.

  At 175,000 folds, all speakers (earpiece, top, and bottom) stopped working.

  The hinge has become smoother. Free-stop still works, but elasticity seems to be lost.
The reboots at 10K intervals seems like a software problem fixable by an update.

The speakers failing at 175K folds seems like the major failing point. I suppose bluetooth would probably still be working so you could still limp through day-to-day activities.

Re: Samsung taking market share from Apple in U.S. as foldable phones gain momentum

#93

Post by dpc050505 »

exac wrote: post #83
jsbisviewtiful wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had never seen one in the wild until I made a new friend recently, who has one of the foldable Samsung devices. My initial impression was that it is clunky, way too thick/large for comfortable pocket storage+running and it looks cheap for how much it cost... and last week my friend said he got his first ever dead pixel of any of his devices on the foldable phone. Take that opinion and info as you will.

I know less than ten people with foldable phones, but without fail they all claim that the screen is durable, but I have yet to see any foldable phone without a cracked screen after a few years.

A lot of people crack their normal smartphone screens too. Every mall's got a guy making a living off of fixing them.

Re: Samsung taking market share from Apple in U.S. as foldable phones gain momentum

#95

Post by OkayPhysicist »

canucker2016 wrote: post #92
fakedang wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a video out there of a bunch of guys flipping Samsung phones all day long. It starts failing after about 6k flips. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MPPLhYDnkFA&t=1s&pp=2AEBkAIB

FTV, main issues from the fold test: A forced reboot error first occurred between 6,000 and 10,000 folds, and the same error repeatedly appeared at roughly every 10,000 folds afterward (e.g., around 16,000, 26,000, etc.). Around 46,000 folds, creaking noises started coming from the hinge. At 75,000 folds, an unknown black liquid came out of the hinge, but it has not appeared again. At 175,000 folds, all speakers (ear…

To be fair, 175K folds is like folding it once every 5 minutes for every waking hour of the day for two and a half years.

Re: Samsung taking market share from Apple in U.S. as foldable phones gain momentum

#96

Post by leptons »

jsbisviewtiful wrote: post #62
dkobia wrote: post #46

I 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 had never seen one in the wild until I made a new friend recently, who has one of the foldable Samsung devices. My initial impression was that it is clunky, way too thick/large for comfortable pocket storage+running and it looks cheap for how much it cost... and last week my friend said he got his first ever dead pixel of any of his devices on the foldable phone. Take that opinion and info as you will.

I've had 2 Samsung fold phones, no dead pixels. They have been perfect, and very much not "clunky". "looks cheap"? How? It's probably the most well built phone I've ever had, and I've had all the brands, even an iPhone that didn't work well (remember "you're holding it wrong"?).

Re: Samsung taking market share from Apple in U.S. as foldable phones gain momentum

#97

Post by __s »

Night_Thastus wrote: post #71

I'll be totally honest, I do not get the appeal of foldable phones, at least with the designs I've seen so far. I guess you can unfold it to get a bigger 2-part screen? That's about it? I'd imagine that having it be un-foldable compromises the battery life, overall thickness (when folded) and weight to at least some extent - plus it costs way more. Is the additional screen real-estate really worth that?

Checkout Huawei Mate XT: 2 folds

It could be an SNL skit

Re: Samsung taking market share from Apple in U.S. as foldable phones gain momentum

#98

Post by delecti »

hulitu wrote: post #58
high_na_euv wrote: post #8

Flip phones are really the only phone product that actually excites me

Can you type with only one hand on a flip phone ?

Do you actually mean "flip"? Because when open, with the screen opened upwards, they have roughly the same dimensions as any modern slab phone. Then it'd come down to whether your hand is big enough to type one-handed on that formfactor (a few women, some men).

If you mean "fold", then probably only while closed, subject to the same hand-size limits. While open, with the screen opened to the left, like a book, they're quite a bit wider than even the largest human hand could reasonably type on.

Re: Samsung taking market share from Apple in U.S. as foldable phones gain momentum

#99

Post by izacus »

Zigurd wrote: post #39
thebruce87m wrote: post #17

Apple 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.

Apple sometimes manages to wait out bad ideas: they never gave into the bad idea of touchscreen "convertible" laptops, just conceding the touch bar which is now extinct.

That's a most generous reading of the touchbar fiasco I've ever seen (and I've heard a lot of Apple fans speak).

Re: Samsung taking market share from Apple in U.S. as foldable phones gain momentum

#100

Post by e-khadem »

leobg wrote: post #61
ZeroCool2u wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

What about book reading requires a large screen? I find my phone much more comfortable to hold than a book. It fits my hand. You only read one sentence at a time anyway. I rather scroll, keeping the current sentence in the middle of the screen than jump around with my eyes in an open book, and having to turn pages, or keeping them flat. Am I missing something? (Real question. I read a lot!)

I get a lot less eye fatigue when I use a bigger screen at a larger distance.
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