1y ago

Report: Apple is testing foldable iPhones, having the same problems as everyone else

arstechnica.com Report: Apple is testing foldable iPhones, having the same problems as everyone else

Don't expect these clamshell-style foldables in 2024 or 2025 or maybe ever.

Report: Apple is testing foldable iPhones, having the same problems as everyone else::Don't expect these clamshell-style foldables in 2024 or 2025 or maybe ever.

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93 comments

the problems:
they’re crap
they break easily because they’re crap
they’re expensive and have a high cost of ownership because they’re crap
NOBODY FUCKING WANTS THEM
so, why is this happening?
- Personally, I love fold phones. They give me portability and a big screen which are the two things I most want in a phone
  
  Yeah I totally believe that they break easily and are way too expensive. But that applies to any cutting edge product ever. Assuming the flaws can be engineered out, the fundamental benefit of having a large screen on a small/portable phone is definitely a killer feature.
  
  I broke most of my previous phones in a variety of ways. The more expensive, the easier they broke. I can't make a phone last. I'm afraid to even look at a foldable.
- Um... I started with a Fold 2 and currently on a fold 5. Maybe YOU don't want them, but it's hardly nobody.
- Shit on Apple for a lot of things, but if they put out a foldable it’s not likely to be crap hardware. Just overpriced with an annoying OS.
  
  I get that Apple’s version would be the swankiest version, but I’m not there for it.
  Like… they’d “do it right”, but the cost combined with whatever sacrifices they’d have to make for it to be “quality”… I dunno. Let’s see what they come up with.
  
  The cost will be insane, absolutely. And the OS will be shit too. But they will most likely either release something worth buying, or nothing at all.
  
  Just like Samsung’s phones then? 😆
  
  You think Samsung hardware compares with Apple hardware? O.o
  Don’t get me wrong, they don’t tend to put out shit. But they’ve also had a track record of issues like cracking screens and exploding batteries.
  Apple tends to only put out the most polished version of something possible, assuming it ever sees the light of day. Their entire reputation is built around that point. If they release a foldable, the hardware will likely be on point.
  That’s not to say it will be perfect, it’ll still be running their overly locked down walled garden POS software. But you’re telling me if Apple released a foldable that could have Android installed you wouldn’t be interested?
  
  You must be forgetting that apple already did a folding phone years ago. It was called the iphone 6. That was the highest quality phone ive ever seen them make....
  
  Ha, yes true enough. They do fuck up, though I think we can agree “my chassis bent by a couple degrees” and “my phone blew up” are on different levels.
  Their worst fuck up imho was then throttling things when the battery was degraded without telling people. Literally just settled a class action on that too.
  
  Not the antenna that lost signal when you held the phone in your left hand on the iphone 4. That was a pretty bad one.
  But yeah, the throttling thing is terrible.
  As for the exploding phones, whilst its definitely worse, the phone was recalled and discontinued within a month of release and no phone has experienced that problem since.
  I find it interesting that people dont stop buying apple when they mess up with the single phone they release every cycle but samsung who develop multiple phones each cycle had one bad batch and thats all people remember.
  Obviously, explosions are bad. I get that. But it was dealt with and they havent messed up like that si ce. Apple have screwed up multiple times and have carried out actions that forced users to buy new phones because their old ones become unusable. Thats so anti consumer it hurts.
  
  iPhone 4 antenna "you're holding it wrong"
  iPhone 6 folding
  Wireless mouse charge port on the bottom
  Apple pencil charging on the iPad
  iPads with display bright spots due to structural adhesives underneath letting go and cables pressing up
  MacBook butterfly switches
  Garbage cable quality all around
  
  You’ll find issues with literally every hardware company out there. I’m not claiming that Apple is perfect, nor that they don’t make mistakes. I’m claiming the thing they worry about most is their image, and if they don’t think their foldable will be solid they won’t even let it see the light of day.
- I've had my fold3 for over 2 years and I absolutely love it. I don't think I can go back to a bar-phone now. Also, even if you really don't like folding phones, why fight creativity? Before this phones were getting so boring and completely lacking innovation. They still are in the non-folding market. Even if you don't like them, choice is never a bad thing.
- Hard disagree, fold 4 gang.
- I’d probably never buy one, but they are currently growing very quickly in China. They sold 1.2MM units in Q2 which is a 173% YoY growth rate.
- People keep buying them because they don't realize they are crap. We probably have another few years of this until the people with disposable money get tired of the crap phones.
  I can't imagine their resale value is very good either. The screens are plastic (they have to be to bend), which means they scratch incredibly easily. Though, I guess that is a good thing if you want to try a scratched-to-hell one that somehow got a tiny bit of dirt in the joint.
  
  They aren't crap at all, stop projecting your opinion as fact.
  At worst they're niche, but provide tangible and easily understandable benefits that you might not care about that others love. That's like me hating on the newest Samsungs camera, just because I personally don't value mobile photography.
  Your complaints about durabilitu are pretty tied these days, the technology has improved a lot and you can realistically be as careless as you can with any other cell phone. There are valid concerns , such as Samsungs issue with hairline cracking along the hinge, but you can stop parroting points addressed over the past 5 years now.
  
  you can realistically be as careless as you can with any other cell phone.
  Hahahahaha... Right, right.
  Something with a hinge can be treated the same as a bar where the glass is surrounded by plastic, say a Pixel? I don't think so.
  "Realistically", something like this will always be a compromise on durability. There's simply no way for something that bends in half to be "realistically" as durable as something that doesn't.
  Hell, I have different regular phones with massive durability differences (one is glass, titanium and ceramic, the other is all plastic), and none of them have a hinge (let alone a foldable screen). Which one of my phones is a folder as "realistically" durable as?
  Let's see the testing from the screen manufacturer defining how many folds the screen can do before a crease becomes apparent, or a pixel is lost.
  Now let's see the same test stats for a non-bending screen. Oh, yea, they don't have that kind of durability testing, because they don't have wear from bending.
  You may wanna look up what "realistically" means.
  Edit: so far 9 11 morons have shown they don't know what realistically means
  
  Had a fold 3 for almost 3 years and have had no issues at all. The screen is fine, with no scratches at all, heavy use. Dropped it multiple times. One time, i actually threw it because something made me jump whilst i was reading a map on it, and i just got a bit of a scratch on the metal frame from where it hit the tarmac.
  No concerns about durability. If you are worried about that, then you have never used one.
  Honesrly, I couldn't be happier with it. I won't be going back to non foldables any time soon. The loss of screen size would be too frustrating.
  Come back when you have used one for as long as me and anyone else who has one before spouting this nonesense about durability. Because as the other comme ter said its a tired argument. It is only made by the uninformed.
  
  And you might want to interact with the product you're bashing before you talk so much shit about it. I own a 4 year old Z Flip I bought secondhand two years ago and I love it. I work in a mechanic shop and this phone has been dropped on concrete many times, had tools dropped on top of it, had chemicals spilled near or on it, been caught in the rain, and besides all that I open and close the fold a couple dozen times a day most every day. I put the cheapest Amazon phone case I could find on it and to date, I have developed a nearly invisible hairline crack in the very center of the fold that you can only even notice when the screen is off, and one tiny crack in the corner of the front screen that doesn't fold. Whole phone is mint otherwise. It's been incredibly durable over the two years I've had it, far above and beyond what I even expected when I bought it. And being able to fold out the screen for reading or watching videos, or gaming, or comfortable texting, is excellent.
  Your point is taken in that yes a flat screen phone won't have a folding hinge that will eventually wear out. But my phone has lasted me two years, after being bought used two years after its release, and I expect an easy 3 more before I end up replacing it so long as I don't drop anything too heavy on it. I consider that a fine lifespan for a modern smartphone. I'll probably never go back to a slab phone unless I don't get a choice when the time comes for a new one.
  
  Their screen is glass under the screen protector and OLED display. So like most phones out there with a screen protector.
  As for durability, I have washed and dried my phone in the laundry and dropped my phone going 60mph out of my pocket while riding my motorcycle. Granted I have a case, but still. I'm currently using it to reply to your incorrect message.

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