People have questioned the need for a folding phone, myself included. I saw a TV ad recently about Samsung phone that did have a really interesting use. Two people were using it for realtime language translation. One side of the screen in one language and the other side in the other language. That is pretty cool.
Seems gimmicky. I wonder how many people really do that.
A better gimmick would be to have two people, both wearing AirPods Pro, standing in front of each other and talking in their native languages, but each hearing the other person speaking in their native languages (I'm trusting folks to parse the pronoun ambiguity).
I agree! That's a great use for travelers.
For reference, there are smartphones and earbuds now that offer translated 2-way live "conversation mode". I would imagine it won't be many more years before it becomes an expected and assumed feature in all smartphones, even budget models.
I love my Flip5. Feels much more durable than the Flip4 and it fits nicely in a front pocket. My only complaint after 2+ years of having a Galaxy Flip is that app support for the cover screen hasn't really improved. The form factor really ruined slab phones for me. I use a 13 Pro Max for work and it's still going strong, but will it last until Apple launches their own flip model?
iPhone Slim could be a test of a super thin design to eventually be used on the flip.
What if half of the phone is half as thick because it’s only the screen, earpiece, proximity sensor and faceID?
A phone twice as thick as the iPhone 15 is too thick. Thin it out like the iPad and thin half even more and you have something more comfortable in Your pocket when folded.
The battery would only be in half. It would explain why Apple just isn’t making a boring folding phone.
iPhone Slim could be a test of a super thin design to eventually be used on the flip.
What if half of the phone is half as thick because it’s only the screen, earpiece, proximity sensor and faceID?
A phone twice as thick as the iPhone 15 is too thick. Thin it out like the iPad and thin half even more and you have something more comfortable in Your pocket when folded.
The battery would only be in half. It would explain why Apple just isn’t making a boring folding phone.
The current iPhone 15 Pro is 5.81 in (height) x 2.82" (width) x .31" (depth). Would this foldable iPhone folded to something like 6.1 in (height) x 3 in (width) x 0.4 in (depth) be acceptable? That seems realistic and not really very thick. less than a 1/10 of an inch thicker than the current iPhone.
I didn't look up any numbers, but that's what I'm imagining.
Now, I've completely pulled the concept out of my behind, but Apple seems to think of things no one considers and it's painfully obvious AFTER they do it.
Would anyone care if their phone had asymmetrical thickness when unfolded if it meant it was super thin when folded (compared to the competition)?
I didn't look up any numbers, but that's what I'm imagining.
Now, I've completely pulled the concept out of my behind, but Apple seems to think of things no one considers and it's painfully obvious AFTER they do it.
Would anyone care if their phone had asymmetrical thickness when unfolded if it meant it was super thin when folded (compared to the competition)?
Those dimensions are proven to work for a current foldable, just barely larger than a non-folding iPhone is now, so Apple at least has a reference target size users would find acceptable.
iPhone Slim could be a test of a super thin design to eventually be used on the flip.
What if half of the phone is half as thick because it’s only the screen, earpiece, proximity sensor and faceID?
A phone twice as thick as the iPhone 15 is too thick. Thin it out like the iPad and thin half even more and you have something more comfortable in Your pocket when folded.
The battery would only be in half. It would explain why Apple just isn’t making a boring folding phone.
The mildly interesting part of this would be that the phone would open from the top, opposite all flip phones that ever existed. Reason is, the thick part is the part that the cameras would reside within and that should be the top. So Apple would claim some innovation in being the opposite of everything that came before. I could imagine the presentation already.
The current slab iPhones with FaceID have the advantage of being able to pull it out of your pocket and having the entire screen immediately available for use. If Apple is able to provide a way to do this with a folding iPhone it would certainly deserve a look.
Perhaps Apple can come up with a way to have the folding iPhone unfold automatically using a redundant FaceID sensor or TouchID sensor on the outside. This could allow users to choose between TouchID or FaceID, or require both for access to certain features.
I’m pretty neutral about folding phones as long as there are no durability issues with the folding versions. I believe Apple could easily come up with some interesting use cases that would benefit from the reduced size of the phone when it’s in the folded state. I’m not really concerned about pocketability but people who carry their phone in a purse or in a holster may really appreciate the reduced length.
I do think Apple will have to provide an outside the fold display of some sort. Building in a outside display that mimics some of the non-sensor dependent functionality provided by an Apple Watch Ultra, perhaps in a slightly larger format and with a Digital Crown that is flush with the outside edge of the phone could be interesting. When the phone is unfolded the Digital Crown could be used for scrolling and selection in apps like Safari, Calendar, Mail, Messages, etc., on the iPhone. This sort of navigation would make the iPhone much more usable for one-handed operation.
So Apple has gone from Steve Jobs’s “I don’t ask people what they want because they don’t know what they want.” (which worked extremely well for years) to “We try to do better what others are doing already, even with limited interest.”
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For reference, there are smartphones and earbuds now that offer translated 2-way live "conversation mode". I would imagine it won't be many more years before it becomes an expected and assumed feature in all smartphones, even budget models.
Would this foldable iPhone folded to something like 6.1 in (height) x 3 in (width) x 0.4 in (depth) be acceptable? That seems realistic and not really very thick. less than a 1/10 of an inch thicker than the current iPhone.
Now, I've completely pulled the concept out of my behind, but Apple seems to think of things no one considers and it's painfully obvious AFTER they do it.
Would anyone care if their phone had asymmetrical thickness when unfolded if it meant it was super thin when folded (compared to the competition)?