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Comment by FirmwareBurner | Hacker News Reader

Huawei: "Here's a compact phone that unfolds into a large tablet just like in sci-fi movies, so you can multitask and consume content."

Samsung and Apple: "Here's the exact same phone as last 3 generations with just a chip update and a price increase. Did we mention it has more AI now whether you want it or not?"

See what the ban on Huawei accomplished? Complacency and stagnation due to lack of competition among western aligned companies. I foresee this is what will happen in the EV sector as well.

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Samsung was the first out with foldable phones 5-6 years ago I think?

I don't think it's complacency I think the existing form factor is just overwhelmingly popular and good enough for most people.

the first commercially available one was https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royole_FlexPai (chinese startup) and the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huawei_Mate_X released almost concurrently with the samsung

Yeah. The Galaxy Fold was genuinely innovative, and surprisingly practical. Huawei did an early folding phone too.. before the sanctions.

Chinese companies do far more innovative stuff than they're given credit for by Americans, but putting one more fold and an even sillier price tag on their premium phone than the competition isn't it

Huawei also doesn’t have to worry about manufacturing a quarter billion+ phones. It’s easy to throw the latest unproven tech at a low volume device.

What stops the larger manufacturers to run a smaller production like the one in the article?

Sure their process is set up for larger volumes but if they wanted they could do smaller, experimental ones (which of course would be more expensive as is this device).

They could if they wanted, they just rather stick to their high volume, high margin approach instead of truly innovating

And they have to build support into the operating system and try to convince third parties to support it. Third parties will not support a low volume device - see the Vision Pro.

Why spend engineering resources on something that doesn’t have a market? Everything you say yes to means you’re saying no to something else.

What you're omitting from your reply is how popular this device will actually become; the fact that people still buy the chip update/price increase phone is a strong datapoint that they don't actually want gimmicky features like folding screens.

Sales numbers disagree that people are buying those.

It was never meant for everyone. I guess the original audiences were those need ultra mobile devices with extra large screens and do not care much about the price.

It looks you might have reversed the result and the cause. The ban was there simply because US peers could not compete already, rather than the ban led to less competition. Mobile devices are really just a relatively small chunk of Huawei's business.

> See what the ban on Huawei accomplished

Without the Huawei ban, Huawei may have taken 70% market share and killed most local competitors now, same as BYD

I'm on the side of China but I have to say it's good for american industries

the one you should really question is the chip sanction

>Without the Huawei ban, Huawei may have taken 70% market share and killed most local competitors now, same as BYD

I don't see the problem. What about the free market? What about the consumer? Why should geopolitics be used to hold back progress just protect the bottom line of two lazy companies?

i don't want a foldable phone anymore than i want AI in it

https://youtu.be/H2RhIdf0MXo

Oof, even in that carefully curated video, in a couple shots the fold creases are visible.

Maybe it's just me but a screen with bumps and/or dips is distracting as hell.

As someone who’s tried the high end Chinese phones and really appreciate that they’re innovating and trying new things, I’ve come to the conclusion that Apple and iOS is simply a more stable and reliable platform and better ecosystem (better quality apps, hands down). And the end of the day, I need a device that simply works.

The largest problem with Apple is not that they are “behind” feature wise, but their pathetic battery power - I’d pay a lot more for a phone that lasted a day or two on a charge. Maybe add memory options to that wish list.

I find my iPhone gives a pretty reliable day unless I'm using it really heavily. The removable magnetic battery is pretty useful for a bit more oomph without cables being all over the place.

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