“At long last, the first folding phone from Samsung is nearly a reality. At its developers conference keynote yesterday, the phone maker showed off its new Infinity Flex display along with a proof-of-concept prototype of what will soon become the world’s first folding Galaxy phone,” Michael Simon writes for Macworld. “It’s likely to be a very expensive niche product when it launches in 2019, but one thing is clear: phones are moving beyond rounded rectangles.”
“Like it was with phablets, every major Android phone maker will soon have their own version of the folding phone, and before long the smartphones at your local Verizon or T-Mobile store will look quite different than they do now,” Simon writes. “Except the iPhone that is. With no indication that Apple will be changing its design for the 2019-2020 season, Apple is once again going to be sitting on the sidelines for the start of another revolutionary shift.”
“Assuming folding phones become a thing—and I believe they will, Samsung’s chunky prototype notwithstanding — everyone’s is going to be looking to Apple to show them all how’s it’s done,” Simon writes. “And one day they will. It just won’t be anytime soon.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: As we’ve seen with OLED, Apple won’t do it until they can do it right and they can get companies to scale up to make enough displays to be used in the world’s best-selling smartphone, the iPhone.
SEE ALSO:
Can foldable phones help Samsung copy Apple? – November 7, 2018
Apple granted a second patent for a folding iPhone with flexible hinge – October 16, 2018
Apple gets 49 new U.S. patents including a foldable iPhone and an iPhone design invented by Steve Jobs – September 4, 2018
BoA Merrill Lynch: Apple is prepping a ‘foldable’ iPhone; U.S. and China trade tensions not an issue for Apple – March 23, 2018
Apple seeks patent for a foldable iPhone – November 28, 2017
Apple teams up with LG Display for foldable iPhone due to concerns over tech leaks to Samsung – October 11, 2017
Apple, LG Display discuss OLED display deal for 2019 – September 7, 2017
LG Display to supply OLED panels to Apple – July 31, 2017
Apple to invest $2.70 billion in LG Display’s OLED production – July 28, 2017
Apple and LG Display plan to derail Samsung’s OLED expansion plans – July 25, 2017
LG Display to invest $3.56 billion in flexible OLED plant – May 30, 2017
Apple patent details foldable iPhone – January 26, 2017
Apple granted U.S. patent for bendable or foldable iPhone using advanced carbon nanotube structures – November 1, 2016
Will the next-gen iPhone be a flip phone? Apple is granted another patent for new flexible handset design – November 22, 2016
1-Samsungs chunky prototype.. … well he should have paid more attention.. the actual device was camouflaged in a casing.
So no one realy knows what it looks like or how chunky it will be.
2- Every android naker will have on in 2019 ? How do u know ?
3-what will be the price? For them to dominate all carriers stors and for leaving Apple in the dust…
Too much negative tone re Apple in the article based on no facts and lots of personal speculation.
I’m sorry no matter what material a folding phone is made from it will never last – open and close enough times and it will break – it is not a hinge…
Samsung claims durability of hundreds of thousand of folds, so that may no longer be an issue.
“hundreds of thousands folds”, so it mean the screen won’t last for more than 2 years then.
Apple has patents on a foldable display, which of course doesn’t mean they’ll do it. They test the intersection of technology and use case and when and if the two combine, then we’ll see a product.
Unfortunately, folding your own iPhone voids the warranty.
A bit strange that they so repeatedly allied the folding phone product (in terms of Apple) to losing the notch. It might be an indirect solution though only by having wider bezels surely even if deemed less important in a folding phone due to the relative doubling of the screen size I presume unless you activate it before unfolding which could be fiddly in use. But that seems to be a backward move anyway. Personally I would have thought that solutions other than a folding phone would appear for notch removal before Apple actually produces its version of such a product and whatever it is would apply to that as well. Already we are seeing holes rather than the notch and one presumes that this taken to the point of near invisibility might well be in the works along with further reducing component size to fit within a narrow bezel.
I personally don’t care for the folding smartphone concept no matter who makes it. One thing is for certain, is that if Apple were to make one, it would be super-expensive for consumers to buy. There are a number of individuals who claim a folding smartphone will be such wonderful innovation just because it can fold out. It might be great tech for big tablets but hardly necessary for the size of a smartphone. The fold certainly makes a smartphone quite thick and I believe most consumers think the standard smartphone is thick enough. I’m trying to envision a scenario which makes a folding smartphone useful over the current flat slab design and I can’t imagine one.
I’m sure there will be some people who want one just because it’s different and they’ll get attention. However, I don’t see a folding smartphone as being practical, at all. Unless every piece of tech in it is improved, I’m sure the battery and the display will end up being the weak links in a folding smartphone. I don’t want any folding smartphone that’s going to be more prone to damage or wear than a current smartphone. Good for the company that makes a folding smartphone for consumers but I’m sticking with the traditional slab.
Unfolding a Scum phone eight times would take too long, hence to answer, hence its impracticability.