Yeah I was surprised at the price, thought it would be at least $2500-$2600 for the base unit. For $2000 I might just pick one up on a lark. If nothing else I was considering an iPad mini as a sketchbook anyway.
Huh, what price were they expecting? It’s basically the same price as the Samsung fold (Z fold is $1900 and Z fold ultra is $2100) and Samsung has had many years to optimize their offering supply-chain wise, not to mention Samsung usually prices more aggressively.
Another phone also being ridiculously expensive doesn't mean people won't have issues with the price of this one. $2k+ for a phone is too much for most people.
Kind of off-topic and more a thought process question than a discussion of the iPhone, but what's the point of using a quotation, typing something that doesn't appear exactly that way on the page, and then still feeling the need to include "(emphasis mine)"? I find that note is usually more of a distraction and this feels like an especially odd case for it.
It's good etiquette to clearly state any alterations you've made to a quote. In this case, since Noox was adding emphasis that wasn't in the original source, they have added that note.
It helps make it clear to anyone that didn't previously read the original source to be able to compare that the emphasis was not last of the original.
Tangentially related: I am disappointed that the foldable phones seem to have eaten up the market for small pocket-sized phones. I want a reliable phone with modern features and a 4 inch screen. I don't want a tablet in my pocket. I don't want a tablet at all. If anything I want to spend less time on my phone. I do rely on my phone to look up transit schedules and order at restaurants with a QR code, so alas, I am stuck with a 6-inch-plus smart phone for now.
I'm typing this on an Ikko Mind One, it's pretty cool but I'm not sure I like it enough to make it my daily driver.
There's also the Bluefox NX1 and the Bluefox Aura A1, and everything from Unihertz. Any of these options will come with compromises, but they are small!
Surprised they even bothered with a foldable phone, considering how easily they wear down and break. The only real advantage you get from using one is having double, even triple the screen real estate.
At this point they're well and truly aping Samsung and Huawei...
You must have gotten lucky... or maybe I'm just unlucky. I have had the galaxy 5 fold for about two years and have replaced it twice because of the hinge. The first one was definitely from falling. The second one I have no idea, the hinge did fail though. Given the quality of the refurbishment on the second and third, I wouldn't be surprised if the hinges were oem
From what I've seen, almost none of my friends or co-workers who have folding phones have had issues with them.
Did they charge you for a repair? The only work I had to have done was getting them to replace the inner screen protector after my son smeared paint on it and it wouldn't wash off. Samsung just sent me to a repair place and did it for free.
I have insurance on it. I think I had to pay $99(us) for shipping/copay. I honestly think I'd only be on my second, if the refurbished ones were better. The first one it landed on the hinge corner(folded) on tile floor, pretty much worst case scenario.
I realize this is anecdotal, but I've had a foldable for years now and I open it all the time. Whether it's showing off a picture of my dog, watching a movie, or looking at electrical schematics, having a tablet that fits in your pocket is insanely handy.
Plus, if one screen goes kaput you still have a fully functional phone.
Yeah this feels like a very silly discussion. The products are popular. They're getting more popular. People say this stuff every time Apple releases a new product.
Same here, owned a Z Fold4, now on a Z Fold7, opened both all the time and make extensive use of split-screen or just watching media on the big screen.
The only time I use the outer screen is for doomscrolling or texting, everything else on the folding screen.
It's quite a bit cheaper than I thought it'd be. Pretty much the same as what Samsung sells the fold for.
Would need to see it in person in an apple store, but from the previews it does look beautiful. I imagine the app support would be quite a lot better than on Android foldable as well, given the track record with iPad.
Would definitely consider picking one up, if nothing else for apple pencil support.
For me my main two portable devices are my phone and my tablet. There's always going to be some novelty and value in combining the two into one device so I don't have to manage multiple devices. Having previously tried a foldable (albeit a used older model that I only kept for the summer), it's nice having a bigger screen for looking at the map, watching videos, admiring photos, and even the odd multitasking. For when I wanted to plan a trip while I was away from home, it was cool having maps and my notes app side by side, instead of having to constantly switch between apps
Folding phones will remain a compromised phone and compromised tablet experience, but to some the compromises are outweighed by the benefit of having a tablet in your pocket.
Compared to other foldables? The software execution looks polished and well thought through. From experience, iOS developers are much more receptive to actually updating their apps to fit new form factors (famously iPad has far more applications that don't just stretch the app compared to android tablets). IP68 rating.
Compared to a normal phone? A specific thing I want to do with it is casual plein air painting. I do it today with either the 11in iPad Pro or one of those portable watercolor sets but both are fairly bulky. There's often times I end up somewhere and I'd like to paint something but I didn't really bring anything. This would be something I always have on me.
Besides that, the main thing would be content consumption - watching videos or reading on the bigger screen. Comics/manga would do extremely well in that form factor.
Sharing sentiments with @stu2b50, definitely cheaper than I thought it'd be too. I like what Apple have done here, the UI changes are definitely very Apple. The animation on the screen as you fold and unfold is a delightful touch. I'm a little iffy on all the UI being on the right side. If you hold the phone in your left hand, you'd have to stretch over to the other side. I imagine it might be adjustable but who knows.
I'm a little torn on if I want to upgrade. I've got a 15 Pro Max that still functions just fine. The battery is a little degraded though, might just end up repairing that in the end. I'm not sure how much I'd need a folding phone, I don't really do much on my phone nowadays. I also have a separate tablet for media consumption. As an American, it is my civic duty to spend money on things I don't really need, our economy relies on it :P
I think they said it can he held in any orientation, so I suspect it will support left handed holding by holding it the other way up? Although I might be wrong with the microphone/speaker for using it as an actual phone being the wrong way up if you hold it left handed…
I don’t hate the idea of this tho I’d want to feel it in my hands and play with it at a store before any final opinions. I’ll even go as far as saying it looks pretty cool. But the price point to me is an automatic hard pass. Come on… $3000+ CAD for this? If this is what they price it at, it means people are willing to pay this. I don’t know what’s worse: the blatant corporate greed or the fact that people keep accepting this type of money grab and opening their wallets just to see Instagram and YouTube bigger.
The price is pretty inline with other foldables on the market, I don’t think Apple could’ve really gone much lower here. Even rumors were expecting a price of $2500US/3500 Canadian.
What an odd form factor. It seems wider than most phones (even other foldables), but maybe it's just shorter?
I can see the value of a folding phone much more than I can see the value of an iPad. This plus a macbook seems like it would cover most people's non-artistic needs... provided Apple doesn't kneecap iOS's dual-screen functionality in order to maintain the value proposition of the iPad. Not the greatest first impressions of the sidebar UX, but maybe it will work.
I had heard things about this phone having a 'nearly invisible crease' (paraphrasing), but I don't believe it. Will wait for the JerryRigEverything teardown to make any real judgements. It also makes sense that this would come after the iPhone Air, since thickness seems to be the major hurdle for these things.
And as always, the value of new phones always kinda comes down to 'look at these new camera features!'. I wonder if there's any other frontiers for the industry to target? Obviously the other one I can think of is bring back the headphone jack with a super nice DAC, but I can't see a market for that like I can for a good camera.
They talked a lot about local AI. I think a properly executed version of this would genuinely be something people would upgrade for. Like if you can bark some procedure at your phone and trust it’ll get it right that’s super convenient. “Ask Joe when the BBQ is and add the event to my calendar.”
I’ve been testing the new Siri AI through the developer betas and it works really well so far, at least for my simple usecases. They’ve updated their first-party apps to allow Siri to dig into them for context so I’ve been able to very easily just ask Siri to do essentially what you’ve asked. My friends and I have group chats to plan gifts for each others birthdays so I asked Siri “what were some gift ideas we had for X for their birthday last year” and it managed to go through that conversation and give me a list quite easily.
I think we’ll see more casual AI usage and smaller locally-run models become more mainstream (I hope) now that Apple have pushed that into the hands of the public.
I'd be interested in getting one of these, but...$2000 for a phone is a bit much. Like I know the price is actually decent for newer tech like this. But I paid like $1800 a couple years ago for my M3 MBP. A full on actual computer. Plus, still got like 9mos to go on my payment plan for my 16 Pro (which I thought was a lot at $1300). Which serves me perfectly well. And I expect it to do so for at least 5yrs (got like 3.5yrs to go).
I do have a friend who has a foldable Samsung. He says he's had no problems with it for the last couple of years or so. But he'll never get another because of how expensive it was. Think it was also as much as my MBP.
I think it's just an optical illusion, but some of the shots of a single hand holding the phone look ridiculous. Like they took a normal phone/hand and stretched them both out. Maybe they found a long-fingered hand model?
It actually looks pretty nice. I’ll check it out in the store. I love how they used the sqrt(2) aspect ratio just like with paper so it has the same ratio when folded in half.
While the quality of the device looks really good, I was thinking that the root 2 aspect ratio makes the folded up mode (the way it looks when you're not using it as a tablet) essentially a 4:3 smartphone, which looks kind of uncanny. I'm so used to smartphones being widescreen that it makes it look kinda chunky.
Noox | 12 hours ago
Unbelievable.
stu2b50 | 12 hours ago
Yeah I was surprised at the price, thought it would be at least $2500-$2600 for the base unit. For $2000 I might just pick one up on a lark. If nothing else I was considering an iPad mini as a sketchbook anyway.
Gazook89 | 12 hours ago
I’m not sure that parent comment was suggesting that $2000 was lower than expected.
OBLIVIATER | 8 hours ago
Sometimes you forget how many software engineers are on this site until comments like that 😅
stu2b50 | 11 hours ago
Huh, what price were they expecting? It’s basically the same price as the Samsung fold (Z fold is $1900 and Z fold ultra is $2100) and Samsung has had many years to optimize their offering supply-chain wise, not to mention Samsung usually prices more aggressively.
sunset | 24 minutes ago
Another phone also being ridiculously expensive doesn't mean people won't have issues with the price of this one. $2k+ for a phone is too much for most people.
Paul85 | 8 hours ago
$3000 Canadian dollars!
json | 8 hours ago
NZ$4200 but this all basically matches currency conversion + gst etc + rounding up to nice numbers.
updawg | 2 hours ago
Kind of off-topic and more a thought process question than a discussion of the iPhone, but what's the point of using a quotation, typing something that doesn't appear exactly that way on the page, and then still feeling the need to include "(emphasis mine)"? I find that note is usually more of a distraction and this feels like an especially odd case for it.
PigeonDubois | an hour ago
It's good etiquette to clearly state any alterations you've made to a quote. In this case, since Noox was adding emphasis that wasn't in the original source, they have added that note.
It helps make it clear to anyone that didn't previously read the original source to be able to compare that the emphasis was not last of the original.
alden | 11 hours ago
Tangentially related: I am disappointed that the foldable phones seem to have eaten up the market for small pocket-sized phones. I want a reliable phone with modern features and a 4 inch screen. I don't want a tablet in my pocket. I don't want a tablet at all. If anything I want to spend less time on my phone. I do rely on my phone to look up transit schedules and order at restaurants with a QR code, so alas, I am stuck with a 6-inch-plus smart phone for now.
PigeonDubois | 8 hours ago
I really (probably naively) hoped that apple would release a me iphone mini this year. It's been five years now.
elcuello | 2 hours ago
Yeah no phone company wants that and don’t give a fuck about you or your wellbeing
cutmetal | 3 hours ago
I'm typing this on an Ikko Mind One, it's pretty cool but I'm not sure I like it enough to make it my daily driver.
There's also the Bluefox NX1 and the Bluefox Aura A1, and everything from Unihertz. Any of these options will come with compromises, but they are small!
Bullmaestro | 12 hours ago
Surprised they even bothered with a foldable phone, considering how easily they wear down and break. The only real advantage you get from using one is having double, even triple the screen real estate.
At this point they're well and truly aping Samsung and Huawei...
JXM | 11 hours ago
I’ve owned a few and used them caseless for extended periods of time…never had one break on me. They’re really not that fragile.
carnage431 | 11 hours ago
You must have gotten lucky... or maybe I'm just unlucky. I have had the galaxy 5 fold for about two years and have replaced it twice because of the hinge. The first one was definitely from falling. The second one I have no idea, the hinge did fail though. Given the quality of the refurbishment on the second and third, I wouldn't be surprised if the hinges were oem
JXM | 10 hours ago
Maybe you're unlucky? (/s)
From what I've seen, almost none of my friends or co-workers who have folding phones have had issues with them.
Did they charge you for a repair? The only work I had to have done was getting them to replace the inner screen protector after my son smeared paint on it and it wouldn't wash off. Samsung just sent me to a repair place and did it for free.
carnage431 | 6 hours ago
I have insurance on it. I think I had to pay $99(us) for shipping/copay. I honestly think I'd only be on my second, if the refurbished ones were better. The first one it landed on the hinge corner(folded) on tile floor, pretty much worst case scenario.
moonwalker | 12 hours ago
Yeah it feels like a failed category of product already. I've heard people who have them don't even unfold them that much
solgrove | 9 hours ago
I realize this is anecdotal, but I've had a foldable for years now and I open it all the time. Whether it's showing off a picture of my dog, watching a movie, or looking at electrical schematics, having a tablet that fits in your pocket is insanely handy.
Plus, if one screen goes kaput you still have a fully functional phone.
updawg | 2 hours ago
Yeah this feels like a very silly discussion. The products are popular. They're getting more popular. People say this stuff every time Apple releases a new product.
arqalite | an hour ago
Same here, owned a Z Fold4, now on a Z Fold7, opened both all the time and make extensive use of split-screen or just watching media on the big screen.
The only time I use the outer screen is for doomscrolling or texting, everything else on the folding screen.
stu2b50 | 12 hours ago
It's quite a bit cheaper than I thought it'd be. Pretty much the same as what Samsung sells the fold for.
Would need to see it in person in an apple store, but from the previews it does look beautiful. I imagine the app support would be quite a lot better than on Android foldable as well, given the track record with iPad.
Would definitely consider picking one up, if nothing else for apple pencil support.
Rocket_Man | 9 hours ago
Can you expand on what you like about it? I don't really see it offering much more for that extra 1k.
artvandelay | 9 hours ago
For me my main two portable devices are my phone and my tablet. There's always going to be some novelty and value in combining the two into one device so I don't have to manage multiple devices. Having previously tried a foldable (albeit a used older model that I only kept for the summer), it's nice having a bigger screen for looking at the map, watching videos, admiring photos, and even the odd multitasking. For when I wanted to plan a trip while I was away from home, it was cool having maps and my notes app side by side, instead of having to constantly switch between apps
Folding phones will remain a compromised phone and compromised tablet experience, but to some the compromises are outweighed by the benefit of having a tablet in your pocket.
stu2b50 | 9 hours ago
Compared to other foldables? The software execution looks polished and well thought through. From experience, iOS developers are much more receptive to actually updating their apps to fit new form factors (famously iPad has far more applications that don't just stretch the app compared to android tablets). IP68 rating.
Compared to a normal phone? A specific thing I want to do with it is casual plein air painting. I do it today with either the 11in iPad Pro or one of those portable watercolor sets but both are fairly bulky. There's often times I end up somewhere and I'd like to paint something but I didn't really bring anything. This would be something I always have on me.
Besides that, the main thing would be content consumption - watching videos or reading on the bigger screen. Comics/manga would do extremely well in that form factor.
artvandelay | 11 hours ago
Sharing sentiments with @stu2b50, definitely cheaper than I thought it'd be too. I like what Apple have done here, the UI changes are definitely very Apple. The animation on the screen as you fold and unfold is a delightful touch. I'm a little iffy on all the UI being on the right side. If you hold the phone in your left hand, you'd have to stretch over to the other side. I imagine it might be adjustable but who knows.
I'm a little torn on if I want to upgrade. I've got a 15 Pro Max that still functions just fine. The battery is a little degraded though, might just end up repairing that in the end. I'm not sure how much I'd need a folding phone, I don't really do much on my phone nowadays. I also have a separate tablet for media consumption. As an American, it is my civic duty to spend money on things I don't really need, our economy relies on it :P
Chiasmic | 2 hours ago
I think they said it can he held in any orientation, so I suspect it will support left handed holding by holding it the other way up? Although I might be wrong with the microphone/speaker for using it as an actual phone being the wrong way up if you hold it left handed…
Paul85 | 8 hours ago
I don’t hate the idea of this tho I’d want to feel it in my hands and play with it at a store before any final opinions. I’ll even go as far as saying it looks pretty cool. But the price point to me is an automatic hard pass. Come on… $3000+ CAD for this? If this is what they price it at, it means people are willing to pay this. I don’t know what’s worse: the blatant corporate greed or the fact that people keep accepting this type of money grab and opening their wallets just to see Instagram and YouTube bigger.
artvandelay | 8 hours ago
The price is pretty inline with other foldables on the market, I don’t think Apple could’ve really gone much lower here. Even rumors were expecting a price of $2500US/3500 Canadian.
granfdad | 9 hours ago
What an odd form factor. It seems wider than most phones (even other foldables), but maybe it's just shorter?
I can see the value of a folding phone much more than I can see the value of an iPad. This plus a macbook seems like it would cover most people's non-artistic needs... provided Apple doesn't kneecap iOS's dual-screen functionality in order to maintain the value proposition of the iPad. Not the greatest first impressions of the sidebar UX, but maybe it will work.
I had heard things about this phone having a 'nearly invisible crease' (paraphrasing), but I don't believe it. Will wait for the JerryRigEverything teardown to make any real judgements. It also makes sense that this would come after the iPhone Air, since thickness seems to be the major hurdle for these things.
And as always, the value of new phones always kinda comes down to 'look at these new camera features!'. I wonder if there's any other frontiers for the industry to target? Obviously the other one I can think of is bring back the headphone jack with a super nice DAC, but I can't see a market for that like I can for a good camera.
teaearlgraycold | 9 hours ago
They talked a lot about local AI. I think a properly executed version of this would genuinely be something people would upgrade for. Like if you can bark some procedure at your phone and trust it’ll get it right that’s super convenient. “Ask Joe when the BBQ is and add the event to my calendar.”
artvandelay | 9 hours ago
I’ve been testing the new Siri AI through the developer betas and it works really well so far, at least for my simple usecases. They’ve updated their first-party apps to allow Siri to dig into them for context so I’ve been able to very easily just ask Siri to do essentially what you’ve asked. My friends and I have group chats to plan gifts for each others birthdays so I asked Siri “what were some gift ideas we had for X for their birthday last year” and it managed to go through that conversation and give me a list quite easily.
I think we’ll see more casual AI usage and smaller locally-run models become more mainstream (I hope) now that Apple have pushed that into the hands of the public.
JCPhoenix | 8 hours ago
I'd be interested in getting one of these, but...$2000 for a phone is a bit much. Like I know the price is actually decent for newer tech like this. But I paid like $1800 a couple years ago for my M3 MBP. A full on actual computer. Plus, still got like 9mos to go on my payment plan for my 16 Pro (which I thought was a lot at $1300). Which serves me perfectly well. And I expect it to do so for at least 5yrs (got like 3.5yrs to go).
I do have a friend who has a foldable Samsung. He says he's had no problems with it for the last couple of years or so. But he'll never get another because of how expensive it was. Think it was also as much as my MBP.
Sycamore | 11 hours ago
I don't understand how anyone could comfortably hold this. I for sure cannot comfortably hold a phone this size.
scarecrw | 11 hours ago
I think it's just an optical illusion, but some of the shots of a single hand holding the phone look ridiculous. Like they took a normal phone/hand and stretched them both out. Maybe they found a long-fingered hand model?
Sycamore | 10 hours ago
Exactly! I didn't see any photos of the phone in the hand, except for one and the fingers looked absurdly long..
teaearlgraycold | 10 hours ago
It actually looks pretty nice. I’ll check it out in the store. I love how they used the sqrt(2) aspect ratio just like with paper so it has the same ratio when folded in half.
EmperorPenguin | 4 hours ago
While the quality of the device looks really good, I was thinking that the root 2 aspect ratio makes the folded up mode (the way it looks when you're not using it as a tablet) essentially a 4:3 smartphone, which looks kind of uncanny. I'm so used to smartphones being widescreen that it makes it look kinda chunky.
unkz | 10 hours ago
Pencil support! I would have bought pretty much any new phone that supported the pencil.
papasquat | 10 hours ago
Nice, I can't wait for all the breathless reviews and comments online implying that Apple invented folding phones.
granfdad | 9 hours ago
Do people actually still do this? I feel as though I see vastly more Apple hate than Apple fanboyism nowadays.