iPhone’s lack of two key features — generative AI and a foldable design — could cause a significant decline in shipments in 2024. TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says without these advances, the iPhone will fall behind amid a “new paradigm in high-end mobile phone design.”
Kuo cites supply chain sources to back up his predictions. However, there are numerous reasons to doubt his opinion.
There’s plenty of proof that Apple has had a folding iPhone on the drawing board for years. But the company held off until flexible displays are past the prototype phase. The latest foldables from Samsung show that the technology has finally matured to the point where an iPhone Fold could become a mass-market success.
This surely hasn’t escaped Apple’s attention, which is why a folding iPhone is probably coming in 2023.
The just-announced Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 is one of the first handsets with an under-screen camera. It’s cutting edge but the camera is so obvious it demonstrates why the tech is not ready to go mainstream.
If you’ve been paying attention to cutting-edge smartphones, you probably noticed a trend — foldable screens. And while folding phones might seem gimmicky, I think they present the perfect solution to a market-inflicted problem.
Unfortunately, while Apple is reportedly working on folding iPhone prototypes, the latest report suggests it we might wait nearly three more years for Cupertino’s first crack at such a device.
That’s way too long when the Android market is pressing forward fast. Please, Apple, don’t make us wait for a folding iPhone.
Apple could release its first folding iPhone in the next couple of years, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says.
In a new research note to clients, seen by Cult of Mac, Kuo writes that “if Apple can solve the foldable mobile device’s key technology and mass production issues in 2021, then [it] may launch the 7.5 [to] 8-inch foldable iPhone in 2023.”
LG Display is reportedly working on a foldable panel for a future iPhone, Digitimes reports.
The report, which cites industry sources, says that the company is working on a prototype with Apple. However, it is not clear whether LG would be mass-manufacturing the screens for Apple were such a product to come to market.
Apple could have decided on the look of the first folding iPhone. Previously, the company was thought to be considering two options, but the winner is a “flip phone” design, according to a trusted Apple prognosticator.
The same source also has a hint that the folding iPhone might cost less than rival flexible phones. But it supposedly will not arrive before 2023 (and could come even later).
Samsung’s next big keynote is just over a week away but the biggest surprise has already been spoiled.
Hands-on video of a leaked model of Samsung’s next folding-display smartphone, the Galaxy Z Flip, surfaced on the Twitter this weekend showcasing many of the phones features. Tons of details of the phone had already leaked online but now we can finally see the clamshell design in action.
Check out how long the display is:
Today was supposed to be the debut of an expensive new version of the Motorola Razr with a folding screen. But it didn’t happen.
Earlier this year, handsets from Samsung and Huawei with flexible displays were delayed because of design problems. Motorola, by contrast, says it pushed back the launch of the redesigned Razr to give it more time to meet high demand.
Plenty of smartphone manufacturers have taken shots at Apple in their marketing materials. Then again, not every company is owned by the brother of late Colombian Medellín Cartel founder Pablo Escobar. In fact, only one is.
With his eye on Apple, Escobar’s brother has launched the Escobar Fold 1, a new $349 folding Android phone. And “Apple Boy Steve” features prominently in its marketing materials.
Samsung might be facing another Galaxy Fold display fiasco less than 24 hours before the device is set to launch in the U.S.
After canceling the Fold’s original April 26 launch date, Samsung spent months redesigning certain parts of the display to be more durable. According to at least one reviewer of the device though, it appears that Galaxy Fold display could still be very fragile.
Samsung’s demonstration on the dangers of letting one’s reach exceed one’s grasp is almost over. The Galaxy Fold, the first mass-market phone with a foldable display, will reach US customers’ hands on Friday, many months after first scheduled.
Despite well-publicized problems, this company is already hard at work on a more affordable version. And rivals, including Apple, are also considering flexible screen handsets.
Samsung’s Galaxy Fold ran into a bunch of problems, but it seems many iPhone owners remain interested in seeing what Apple could do with the foldable form factor.
According to a new UBS survey of customers, iPhone owners show a “generally higher” level of interest in foldable handsets than other groups.
The CEO of Samsung Electronics personally took responsibility for the Galaxy Fold debacle. However, he promises his company is fixing the problems that delayed the launch of its first folding-screen handset, and still intends to release it.
Motorola is about to attempt a big comeback into the smartphone market and folding displays could be the key to making the company relevant again.
Leaked images of an alleged Motorola Razr have surfaced online revealing significant changes made to one of the most popular phones ever. While we can’t verify whether or not the image above is authentic, we have to admit, it actually looks pretty amazing.
The Samsung Galaxy Fold is the first mass-market phone with a foldable screen, something a future iPhone might someday have as well.
Reviews of this handset are starting to come in and they have a theme: the reviewers really like the device, despite it being terribly flawed.
Caviar, the Russian company behind some of the craziest iPhone mods we’ve ever seen, has come out with its first folding iPhone concept design video today and as you’d expect, it’s absolutely wild.
Not satisfied with just one fold out display, Caviar’s ‘iPhone Z’ concept proposes having a display that folds twice. The end result is an iPhone that folds out to the same size as an iPad Pro, only its even more useful.
Prepare to be blown away:
Samsung’s new Galaxy Fold smartphone has a serious problem with its folding display.
Multiple early reviewers are reporting that the display has broken after just one or two days of use. It appears that the hinge on some units is defective, causing the screen to be unusable.
Check out these tweets of the carnage:
Every Android smartphone maker has a concept folding smartphone that turns into a tablet, but what if manufacturers used folding screens to make our smartphones smaller?
That’s exactly what Sharp has proposed with its first folding smartphone concept that turns a regular-looking smartphone into a clamshell phone kind of like the popular Motorola Razr.
Check it out in action:
Xiaomi is the latest smartphone maker to tease its upcoming folding smartphone with a short new video that shows its double folding display in action.
While Samsung’s Galaxy Fold and Huawei’s Mate X each have one folding section, the Xiaomi’s Mi Fold goes from tablet to phone mode by folding down two sides of the screen. This leaves you with a nearly edgeless phone display that’s a bit wider.
Watch it in action:
Ready to prove the haters wrong, Samsung published a new video today showing off the folding capabilities of its new folding phone, the Galaxy Fold.
Samsung created some small robots that fold the Fold open and closed thousands of times in a day to see how durable its flexible display truly is. The displays still haven’t been fondled by members of the press yet, so this is the closest thing we’ve seen to a durability test on the futuristic phone.
Watch the Fold bend over backwards again and again and again:
Forget what you think you know about glass. Rather than being an utterly rigid material, Corning is close to producing a type of glass flexible enough to go in a future folding iPhone.
This material will be inherently superior to the plastic screens going into handsets like the Samsung Galaxy Fold.
The co-founder of Apple, and its original tech guru, can’t wait to get his hands on a folding iPhone. The first generation of folding devices from Samsung, Huawei, and others have met with skepticism from some quarters, but not Steve Wozniak.
He thinks Apple should get a handset with a folding display on the market soon.
At this week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, phone-makers are demonstrating their folding phones. These range from the laughable (Samsung) to the desirable (Huawei), but none of them is really plausible. Why? Because nobody is going to buy a folding phone. Not now, and not in the future. At best they will be a niche product, like ruggedized laptops are now, for example.
No. The folding phone will probably never happen. But what about foldable tablets?
When jaws dropped at the $1,980 price of Samsung’s first folding phone, Huawei said “Hold my beer.” The Chinese company just took the wraps of its own flexible handset that will go for a mind-blowing €2,299 (roughly $2,600).
Of course, the Mate X is loaded with truly cutting-edge features, especially a 6.6-inch screen that opens to 8 inches. There’s also 5G.
If nothing else, these two models should cut down on the criticism of the price of the iPhone XS Max, which looks relatively cheap at a mere $1,099.
