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this post was submitted on 30 Sep 2024
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There have been plenty of fads over the lifespan of the smartphone market. E.g. curved edge screens. I think curved screens are another and Apple is right to ignore it. There's too many compromises required for a foldable and not much benefit to be worth it.
My personal theory for the curved edges is, that samsung just wanted to prevent cheap off brand replacement screens.
Mine is that they wanted it to stand out, compared to all the other phones with flat screens at the time, especially with all the design clones.
You would look at it and go "oh that phone looks funny, must be a Samsung".
This is what it was when they introduced it. I used to work for an Android OEM at the time and the product people really wanted to get their hands on curved screens for the same reason. Eventually they got Samsung to sell them some but it wasn't as curved as the ones Samsung used on their devices to keep differentiation. It still cost twice what flat screens which ate a significant chunk of the profit margin.
I think part of the reason was to look good in stores. If you have a non curved and curved phone next to each other playing the demo video, the curved looks waaay more futurostic.
The curved edges were the precursor tech to having a foldable screen. No matter what is said about the Apple vs. Samsung debate, Samsung is still the one responsible for the praises on Apple's screens. They have tried with other manufacturers and providers but can't escape the fact that Samsung is still the major leader on displays as they dump a shit ton of money on R&D on all LED screen technologies, specially manufacturing at scale. If you want high end screens, you just go with Samsung, period. The alternatives are constantly playing catch up with them and they are actually experimenting and trying to come up with new and original stuff. LG and Sharp are also really good, but their screens aren't as premium as Apple wants them to be, though they are more affordable.
Foldable at least has theoretical benefit, curved screens on a phone are fucking terrible
What I don’t understand is why nobody makes a foldable phone where it’s just two flat screens with an invisible bezel along one edge so they fit seamlessly together when fully opened.
It’s not like there’s a use case where you operate the phone half unfolded and require both halves of the screen to be seamlessly connected.
If the flexing feature wasn’t a gimmick and there was an actual use case for a foldable pocket iPad, someone would have released a phone like the Kyocera Echo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyocera_Echo to commercial success.
not invisible, but the Surface Duo line was pretty much that.
Microsoft had a dual screen foldable like that, then stopped supporting it
Is "invisible bezel with actual screen below" possible?
I'm sure there are a half-dozen ways you could at least fake it. Like if the bezel can be made clear and they overlap somewhat.
Since it’s not been brought to market, I’ll assume there isn’t a way with its money’s worth. At most you have the Microsoft thing with a thin hinge.
I mean, it's a really slick gimmick. I think having a bendy screen is cooler than two screens even if it's more expensive/difficult to manufacture and doesn't provide any real benefit.
Exactly. And it wouldn’t have to be double wide since some components could be pushed to the other size. I’m fine with it just being like two apps open and not even one big one. Multitasking.
I guess what we really need is a phone case that has hinges and we can just buy two phones!
Interesting idea. Bezels have been made pretty thin and there have been curved display edges, but I don’t know if anyone’s ever tried a one-side zero-bezel design that you could hinge together. Bezels in the other sides are fine, but could we create a flush edge with no gap to click two screens against each other?
The first time anything got caught in the gap, it would probably shatter the screens. I do like it better than the crease though
I was actually thinking of hinging it the other way, having the screens fold to the outside.
I have a foldable phone that also has a very slightly curved front screen (Honor Magic V2). It's perfect. You can barely see the curve, no weird reflections, it just feels very good in the hand, there are no sharp edges at all. Feels very smooth and nice to hold and use.
Hey! What did you just say about the Nexus 4?