Back in Mobile World Congress this February of 2019, the world was showed a new trend of technology, it is the foldable smartphone. Samsung Galaxy Fold and Huawei Mate X show the world what the modern technology is capable of. Many “Tech-enthusiasts” predicted that this kind of smartphone will be everywhere around the world.(Austin, February 2019).
However, this trend of technology does not live to its potential, due to many different factors. While being introduced as a promising technology and will be widely used, the price of these smartphones are too high to be accessible for a wide range of demographics. The Samsung Galaxy Fold has a price of $1980, and Huawei Mate X has a whooping price of $2600. While phones tend to get cheaper over time, people would only question if this phone is worth the money. Foldable Smartphone can be a gimmick if software developers cannot utilize the full potential of the products. While Samsung has promised that they will upgrade the product’s software regularly, but so far, there isn’t a prominent feature that is announced yet (Austin, 2019). Lastly, the recent reviews provide a lot of insights that this kind of phone has. The Galaxy Fold has a lot of problems, “there were bulges. There was flickering. And in more than one case, a protective layer that looked like a common disposable dust guard proved to break the screen when taken off” (Dolcourt, 2019). The phone is currently being redesigned by Samsung, and it is a costly mistake for the brand.
From my perspective, this trend has a lot of potential, yet being discovered. We would not see any distinctive feature anytime soon, and this trend will only be on the surface for a small time before giving the stage back to conventional one screen smartphones.
Reference:
https://time.com/5537741/foldable-smartphones/
https://www.cnet.com/news/galaxy-folds-hard-lesson-it-wasnt-just-the-screen-that-killed-this-foldable-phone/
In my own opinion, the foldable smartphone is only a trickly stunt for consumers. In this smartphone popularize world, there are so many choices for smartphone, what is the reason they choose a foldable smartphone that with extremely low-performance cost ratio. There is one article mentioned those reasons why the foldable smartphone is an awful idea. From the point of the screen, the foldable smartphone is not using glasses screen, but a plastic; therefore, the screen is easy to get scratch, and the screen will look weird as time goes by. The durability is also a serious problem, the foldable smartphone require complex construction to support, and some expert concludes that “the more moving parts you add, the more likely something is to break”, so there is some proof to illustrate the product is disposable. Moreover, when the phone is folded, it will be 17mm thick which equal to the thickness of putting two normal phones together; at the same time, it will be heavier for the owner to carry in the pocket. However, I consider the biggest problem of that foldable phone is the high cost, only a few people affordable for a phone at this price. Unless the producer finds out a way to build it higher quality and lower cost at the same time, otherwise it will not become part of our life.
https://www.extremetech.com/mobile/286509-5-reasons-foldable-phones-are-a-bad-idea
Even though Samsung’s Galaxy Fold is becoming available this month after a five-month delay, I find myself asking the question, “Is it really worth it?”. Aside from the high costs which were already mentioned in the blog post, the real question we need to ask is “Is the technology there yet?”. When the phones first came out they “quickly sold out on the first day” however not too long after, “tech reporters documented issues like screen breakages, flickering and, bulging” which had them keep delaying the date to re-release the fixed phones (Cnet 2019). So how good can the technology really be if Samsung went ahead and released a phone without realizing so many flaws? Besides this, people are finding the phone to have an “unconventional build” and that the “crease is certainly noticeable, and the front screen is much too small to be very useful” (Business Insider 2019). The article I read from Business Insider stated that “The Galaxy Fold is an ambitious first attempt at a new smartphone form factor for Samsung, and it’s very much just that — a first attempt” (Business Insider 2019). At this point in time I personally think it’s too early to invest in this new type of technology, especially for the price tag it carries. There’s many areas where I feel like the device can be improved and until then I think I will be sticking with the iPhone that I currently have.
Sources:
https://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-galaxy-fold-best-worst-features-price-2019-4#the-good-it-has-really-long-battery-life-3
https://www.cnet.com/news/galaxy-fold-relaunches-in-september-not-the-only-foldable-phone-coming/
I think the main question for the foldable smartphone is “who would like to pay about $2,000 for just a bigger screen of the phone?”. In fact, analysts say that foldable phone will only build about 5% of the market.
Samsung had recently fixed a problem of bulges, flickering, and a protective layer. However, it is not about the technology, but this is about how Samsung or Hawaii will attract consumers and make them to buy. People are skeptical about the foldable phone’s durability, size, necessity of that big screen.
I have never thought that phones that being sold in current market have small size of the screen. Yet, I did see some people complaining about the big screen of the phone. For instance, my friend had iphone x plus, which has the bigger screen than the normal one. Because of the bigger size of the screen, it was hard for her type something when texting. Of course, this is not a problem for everyone. However, I am still suspicious that who would like to pay about $1,000 more for just a bigger screen.
In order for them to be successful in mobile market, Samsung or Hawaii might have to look for some distinct features of foldable phone. Some are interested in foldable phone, but it will not be able to generate a big market.
Source:
https://fortune.com/2019/04/08/foldable-phones-sales-samsung-galaxy-fold-huawei/
With the impending rollout of 5G worldwide, it makes no sense to drop $2500 on a new foldable smartphone that won’t be compatible with this new network. While they may look cool, the initial versions of these phones will quickly become outdated. In addition, the US government has a ban on Huawei, meaning the company does not have access to US companies, such as google’s android platform it had previously been using. Despite rolling out their own operating system, as Chris Smith said, “Huawei will have almost an impossible task convincing android users to switch from google apps to third party alternatives.” In my opinion, the worldwide rollout of this technology is still a few years away.
Source: https://bgr.com/2019/09/09/mate-x-release-date-might-be-october-but-there-are-reasons-to-worry/