A handful of companies, best know for copying Apple’e iPhone, are trying to differentiate themselves with so-called foldable phones. Companies including Motorola and Samsung have released new foldable smartphones over the course of the last few weeks and they’re exhibiting major durability issues.
Over the weekend, YouTuber JerryRigEverything tested the durability of the Galaxy Z Flip’s display, which is made of a bendable “Ultra Thin Glass” for the first time rather than the plastic material used for the Galaxy Fold.
The testing suggests that the display of the Galaxy Z Flip scratches like plastic and isn’t resistant to scratching or other damage. A fingernail on the display was able to make a permanent dent, which is concerning for a smartphone that costs $1,380.
MacDailyNews Take: Oops.
Received my Samsung Galaxy Z Flip just now. Opened the box. Removed the protective/instruction film. Flipped the phone as you would do since it’s a flip phone and this happened. I heard the crack as well. 😰 cold weather?#SamsungGalaxy #ZFlip #samsung pic.twitter.com/j8KLL2vm8d
— Mondoir (@mondoir) February 14, 2020
When Apple does a foldable iPhone, then folding phones will have been done right.
Apple wasn’t first with fingerprint recognition, they were the first to do it right with Touch ID. Apple wasn’t first with facial recognition, they were the first to do it right with Face ID. Apple wasn’t first with contactless payments, they were the first to do it right with Apple Pay. — MacDailyNews, February 27, 2019
If and when Apple debuts a foldable iPhone, they’ll be showing the world how it should be done and what to copy going forward. As usual. — MacDailyNews, February 27, 2019
As with fingerprint and facial recognition, when Apple debuts a foldable iPhone, then foldable smartphones will have been done right. — MacDailyNews, January 17, 2019
We’ll see a mess of weird attempts before Apple shows how it’s to be done, as usual. — MacDailyNews, January 23, 2019
This whole foldable phone idea is flawed from the start
Super funny demo: The somnambulant voice juxtaposed to the extreme destruction of the phone.
Forget about the physics for a moment and dump the images of failures like those in this article…are you saying you wouldn’t want your current iPhone to be comfortably mobile and then to expand (dump the mental constriction of “fold”) to the approximate size of an iPad when you want/are able?
If so, what’s wrong with me for not understanding? I’m left to deduce the current absurd attempts are tarnishing people’s minds and when a successful solution arrives, people are going to wonder why it took so long and how great they are.
Samsung should be utterly embarrassed and the project director, engineers and designers on their experiment should be fired, with pay retraction, if possible.
Ir I were Samsung, I’d wait to copy Apple saving me embarrassment.
This goes without saying, but if Apple had released a foldable phone as flawed as any of the current (or recent) offerings, the huge public outcry would have been followed by immediate call for massive lawsuits against Apple and articles predicting the demise of Apple as a company. Instead, Samsung releases a second stinker of a folding phone alone with several other manufacturers and people buy them, somehow thinking that “things will be different this time.”
I would like an extendable display, but I do not think that folding is the answer. Perhaps a coiled display that unrolls as you extend the phone housing? Perhaps projected rather than actual? Perhaps associated with retinal projection rather than an actual display? Who knows? But going back to the 1990s is not the answer. Displays do not fold well, as least not yet…
Love to see other companies to R&D work for Apple.
Apple does R&D in the lab, before selling to customers… Google, other OEMs do R&D after selling to customers, using customers as testers… thats the reason when Apple does it – it becomes standard even if it is late.
Out of curiosity, how important is having a foldable phone to people. I had a flip phone at one point, don’t think I need one again.