It might be for real this time. According to a Chinese tipster with a solid track record, especially when it comes to Samsung-related leaks, the company...
If this is true, I’m surprised they are dying out before the book style folding phones which are insanely expensive and have a much less practical and more niche use case (how many people really need a phone that can turn into a tablet?).
how many people really need a phone that can turn into a tablet?
Turns out, quite a few, especially if you do a lot of business and whatnot. A relative of mine has a folding phone and they appreciate having a much larger screen for reading PDFs, spreadsheets, etc. on the go. It also means they don’t need to bring a large tablet everywhere, so they can get a 13" tablet (instead of a smaller size) just for home use and not need to worry about bringing it around on trips and such
Also of note, this is just Samsung jumping out of the game, but other companies like Motorola, Xiaomi, or similar could take the market of flip phones. For Samsung, their big fold phones are more profitable, but in contrast, those are less profitable for Motorola and Xiaomi (whose small fold phones have been much more popular compares to their bigger options)
I think both big screen and little guy folding phones have their place.
Also of note, this is just Samsung jumping out of the game, but other companies like Motorola, Xiaomi, or similar could take the market of flip phones.
From the article:
Secondly, if you haven’t paid enough attention, you might have missed that there aren’t many clamshell-style foldables available in Western Markets. Oppo, Xiaomi, vivo and Honor have either discontinued the sales of flip foldables in Europe and the US or have never sold one outside of China in the first place. This leaves Samsung and Motorola as the only smartphone makers with flip foldables in their portfolio.
It sounds like there isn’t enough demand for another company (other than Motorola, which by default owns the US market) to try to replace Samsung. As much as people mock Samsung for copying Apple, they are still the leader in the Android space. If they pivot away from flip style foldables it sends a signal to the rest of the industry that it’s a dead category.
I’m not from the U.S. so I have no idea how flippy guys are doing over there, but in Asian markets they are quite popular and probably won’t die out anytime soon.
But yes, Samsung being a market leader, although it doesn’t mean it’s completely dead, it does show bad signs. Like how headphone jacks were removed, as although they remain in some budget devices as well as in Sony’s Xperia line, the feature becomes niche and less mainstream.
I believe Xiaomi has already stopped making new Mix Fold devices (the big screen ones) while their Mix Flip series is still quite popular, at least enough to not get killed as a product line.
For Motorola, their big screen fold devices were not very well received, as they were not competitive hardware-wise, while their small screen devices are considered one of the best in the category
If this is true, I’m surprised they are dying out before the book style folding phones which are insanely expensive and have a much less practical and more niche use case (how many people really need a phone that can turn into a tablet?).
Turns out, quite a few, especially if you do a lot of business and whatnot. A relative of mine has a folding phone and they appreciate having a much larger screen for reading PDFs, spreadsheets, etc. on the go. It also means they don’t need to bring a large tablet everywhere, so they can get a 13" tablet (instead of a smaller size) just for home use and not need to worry about bringing it around on trips and such
Also of note, this is just Samsung jumping out of the game, but other companies like Motorola, Xiaomi, or similar could take the market of flip phones. For Samsung, their big fold phones are more profitable, but in contrast, those are less profitable for Motorola and Xiaomi (whose small fold phones have been much more popular compares to their bigger options)
I think both big screen and little guy folding phones have their place.
From the article:
It sounds like there isn’t enough demand for another company (other than Motorola, which by default owns the US market) to try to replace Samsung. As much as people mock Samsung for copying Apple, they are still the leader in the Android space. If they pivot away from flip style foldables it sends a signal to the rest of the industry that it’s a dead category.
I’m not from the U.S. so I have no idea how flippy guys are doing over there, but in Asian markets they are quite popular and probably won’t die out anytime soon.
But yes, Samsung being a market leader, although it doesn’t mean it’s completely dead, it does show bad signs. Like how headphone jacks were removed, as although they remain in some budget devices as well as in Sony’s Xperia line, the feature becomes niche and less mainstream.
I believe Xiaomi has already stopped making new Mix Fold devices (the big screen ones) while their Mix Flip series is still quite popular, at least enough to not get killed as a product line.
For Motorola, their big screen fold devices were not very well received, as they were not competitive hardware-wise, while their small screen devices are considered one of the best in the category