The Arrival of the Foldable Smartphone: Samsung Launches Galaxy Fold, While Apple Continues to Test

On February 20, Samsung unveiled its luxury foldable smartphone at its Unpacked Event in San Francisco, California.

Samsung’s new luxury smartphone, the Galaxy Fold, functions as both a smartphone with a 4.6 inch display and a tablet with a 7.3 inch display when it opens up. Priced at $1980, the device is intended for upscale customers who recognize the benefits of having one device as compared to carrying both a smartphone and tablet. The device works with a hidden hinge with gears under the display, creating a seamless look. The Galaxy Fold comes in four colors: black, silver, green, and blue.

Samsung has created apps that work with the new dual display fold via a feature called App Continuity to enable the apps to stay open even if the device is open or closed. Samsung worked closely with Google on this feature, testing out Google Maps features. This ostensibly is the best feature of this foldable smartphone model thus far.

The Galaxy Fold has a 7-nanometer processor, 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, along with a 4,380mAh battery, which consists of two batteries on either side of the hinge. The device has a total of six cameras - three on the back, two on the inside, and one on the front. These cameras enable the user to take photos regardless of how the device is folded. The Galaxy Fold comes in two versions, one with LTE and one for 5G. Samsung intends to ship the device with its own iteration on Apple’s popular AirPods, called the Galaxy Buds. The new device will be available for purchase April 26.

Early Launch Not Yet Consumer Ready

Samsung’s launch demonstrates technical savviness, but also a lack of consumer awareness. Priced at a starting price of $1,980 and going up from there, the new Galaxy Fold is beyond the reach of the average consumer. It becomes more of a luxury item for early adopters. While there is a lot of consumer interest in foldable smartphones, the Galaxy Fold price point is not yet affordable for a majority of consumers. In addition, the device is not fully tested either. In some respects, you are spending a lot to gain access to a beta version of the product. Some concerns noted by tech journalists who attended the event, include:

• the inner display of the device never seems to fold out to be perfectly flat
• issues with folding completely and laying flat entirely
• small size of the smartphone screen at 4.6 inches
• poor user interface with 3-app multitasking

The small size of the smartphone screen at 4.6 inches seems to indicate that the device is intended primarily for tablet use where the user could receive notifications and do basic searches using the smartphone screen, but then would open up to the table for any serious computing efforts.

The Galaxy Fold enables the user to use three apps simultaneously. However, the user interface needs significant improvement and the apps are not appropriately scaled for optimal viewing. It’s clear that the device needs fine tuning and refinement in all these areas. For less than the cost of a new Galaxy Fold, consumers can buy a high quality iPhone and iPad that work perfectly or a Google Pixel and Samsung tablet. While it is marketed to consumers, the Galaxy Fold fails to meet expectations because the product is not ready for the mass market, from usability and design to customer experience and pricing. Perhaps Samsung needed to demonstrate its technical capabilities via the new device, but marketing to consumers so early on without sufficient refinement, creates unrealistic expectations and disappointment as the product is just not yet ready.

Hot on the Heels of Samsung’s Announcement, Huawei Shares Its Own Foldable Smartphone

Not to be outdone, Chinese smartphone manufacturer Huawei launched its own foldable smartphone, the Huawei Mate X, four days later on February 24th at the Mobile World Congress. The Mate X uses Huawei’s "Falcon Wing" design with a stretchable hinge that allows the smartphone to open out from a 6.6-inch OLED smartphone to an 8-inch OLED tablet. The new foldable smartphone is thus larger than Samsung’s Galaxy Fold.

Huawei’s Mate X folds in the opposite direction of Samsung's Galaxy Fold. The "Falcon wing" at the side houses the camera and also enables the Mate X display to be notch free. The Mate X uses a Leica camera system with four cameras that include a 40-megapixel wide-angle lens, a 16-megapixel ultra wide angle lens, an 8 megapixel telephoto lens and a fourth camera yet to be activated. The Mate X also focuses on multitasking, is equipped with a 5G modem and has a fingerprint sensor integrated into the power switch for biometric authentication. Huawei has announced that the new foldable smartphone also has a 55W SuperCharge feature to charge the included 4,500mAh battery up to 85 percent in just 30 minutes.

While Samsung shocked the market with its model starting at $1,980, Huawei’s Mate X costs even more, coming in at $2,600. Huawei’s foldable smartphone is expected to hit the market in the summer by June or July. Huawei’s new foldable smartphone however may not be available in the United States given the company’s existing conflicts with the U.S. government. Huawei has been suspected of supporting surveillance efforts and espionage by the Chinese government. Its CFO Meng Wanzhou is being extradited to the United States from Canada. Other countries have followed suit, including Japan and England, with discussions in Germany and other parts of Europe whether to allow the Chinese tech giant to gain access to telecommunication networks or not.

A Brief History of Foldable Smartphones

Foldable smartphones have piqued interest for a considerable time now, with hype increasing in the past few years as images and concept ideas have surfaced on the Internet. Manufacturers have poured millions of dollars into research and development with patented hinges such as Chinese tech company TCL’s “Dragon Hinge” that took many years to develop.

The DragonHinge is the name of the hinge that helps bridge the two screens together to create a foldable phone. It is paired with flexible AMOLED displays created by CSOT, a sister company of TCL. TCL notably has not yet launched its smartphone for consumers, citing the need to make the device accessible to consumers at an affordable price range.

Samsung has been working on foldable smartphones since 2011. Numerous other companies have also been working on their own prototypes and launch-ready models including Huawei, Xiaomi and Oppo and more. Likely candidates include Acer, Asus and LG. One of the earliest models to be released was the Royole Flexpai in January of this year at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which received lukewarm support due to product errors but did enjoy the recognition of being the world’s “first foldable smartphone.”

Given the popularity of the foldable smartphone at the Mobile World Congress and the hype surrounding the launch of Samsung’s new product, it is clear that foldable have gained popular appeal. It will be interesting to see what new versions come to market and how well the software integrates with these new designs. Few products have garnered as much attention as the foldable smartphone has in recent months.

As always, Apple is not in a rush to launch a foldable smartphone product. The company is known for creating some of the world’s best products over time and careful testing, emphasizing quality over speed. Apple has filed patents previously for foldable smartphones. This does not confirm however that the company is building foldable smartphones in the near future.

Are foldable smartphones here to stay? It is not yet clear whether the foldable smartphone will gain mass market appeal and thus define the smartphone and tablet industry in the years to come or if it is just a short-term fad that will fade away. We will have to wait and see!

How the iPhone Reinvented Business

From Apps to Music, Apple's iPhone Transformed How We Do Business and How We Communicate

“Every once in a while, a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything...Today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone.”

— Steve Jobs, Apple Inc.

On June 29th this year, Apple celebrated the 10th year of the iPhone. In just 10 years, the iPhone has radically altered the world. When Steve Jobs announced the launch of the iPhone at MacWorld in 2007, he called it revolutionary, saying that it would 'reinvent the phone' and would change everything. While there was a lot of hype surrounding its launch, the effect that the iPhone would have on business and communications, was surprisingly underestimated.

Before the iPhone, you had to carry a camera to take photos, use your laptop or desktop computer to write anything longer than a paragraph in an email with ease and call a cab by energetically waving your arms in front of traffic. After the launch of the iPhone, you could do all of that and much more on one single device. The iPhone offered intelligent and personalized options for you.

At the iPhone product launch in Jan 2007, Steve Jobs explained how revolutionary the new smartphone was.

“This is a day I’ve been looking forward to for two and a half years. Every once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything. In 1984, Apple introduced the Macintosh and changed the computer industry. In 2001, the company introduced the iPod and changed the entire music industry.

Well, today we’re introducing three revolutionary products of this class. The first one is a widescreen iPod with touch controls. The second is a revolutionary mobile phone. The third is a breakthrough Internet communications device. But these are not three separate devices. This is one device. And we are calling it iPhone. Today Apple is going to reinvent the phone.”

— Steve Jobs, Apple CEO and co-founder

A Bonafide Game Changer

The iPhone has turned out to truly be a game-changer for how hundreds of millions of people communicate all over the world. It has opened the door to accelerated learning and swift communication, transforming industries and become the platform from which so many new revolutionary companies (Airbnb, Instagram, Snapchat and Uber to name a few) have launched. It also has laid waste to other industries and demanded that both hardware and software companies deliver at a higher level for the consumer.

Apple's iPhone transformed the way we communicate on a daily basis. It ignited the rise of mobility and smartphone usage, while creating a personalized experience for every iPhone user. This remarkable consumer electronics device has had a massive impact upon mobility, computing, design, entertainment and the tech industry as a whole over the last decade. Let's take a closer look.

Personalized User Experience

The iPhone revolutionized how we communicate by offering a single device that enabled you to make phone calls, listen to music, search the Internet, check your email, take and send photos and videos, get directions and more - all on one device. Singlehandedly, it eliminated the need for standalone music players, GPS devices, cameras, notepads and carrying your laptop with you. It simplified things that you do on a daily basis in one device in a personalized way, where you could decide what was relevant and what was not.

The iPhone turned your cell phone into so much more than just a way of making phone calls. You had information at your fingertips 24/7 anywhere you were. This prompt access informed your decisions and kept you connected wherever you were. The iPhone's ease of use paved the way for:

• Individual access and empowerment

• Touch interactivity

• Using an on-screen keyboard on the smartphone itself

• Fast adoption of software

• Fast adoption of cloud computing

• Fast adoption of social networking

Since the iPhone was easy to use unlike other smartphones available at the time, consumers immediately expected better quality in other products as well. Every smartphone company had to immediately adapt or die. Motorola, Palm and Windows Mobile lost sales immediately and even companies like Blackberry that had thrived on sales of their smartphone devices with tiny QWERTY keyboards to business executives, suffered a significant decline over time.

While the iPhone and subsequent smartphones did not start social media, they popularized its use, especially apps like What's App, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, Snapchat and more. By the end of March this year, over 1.94 billion users checked into Facebook at least once a month.

More people spend time on their smartphones too, with as high as 73.8 hours/month per user in June 2016, according to comScore. Heavy mobile usage also has helped spur the growth of tech companies who benefit both from engagement and advertising. In 2007, there was only one tech company in the top five list of most valuable stock market companies. Today, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet (Google) and Facebook dominate earnings. Both Alphabet and Facebook get a lot of advertising revenue from mobile ads, with over 49% of Facebook's revenue in Q1 of 2017 from online advertising, just as the popular social media site reached over two billion users. This has also decimated established and traditional news companies that have not been able to compete as effectively on their own as advertisers switch to mobile ad spending with Alphabet and Facebook.

That activity has been a catalyst for the growing dominance of tech-industry titans. Alphabet Inc.'s Google and Facebook Inc. now get the bulk of their advertising revenue from mobile ads. Together with Apple, Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com Inc., they are the five most valuable companies on the stock market today.

Ignited Rise of Mobility and Use of Smartphones

Given how cumbersome existing smartphone devices were pre-iPhone, it was easy to understand why consumers failed to adopt them. They were not easy to use nor were they well designed. With the arrival of the iPhone, the stylus and add-on keyboard was eliminated and instead the whole device was touch-sensitive. The world of cell phones was changed forever and consumers now expected thinner phones, better quality screens, touch interaction and multiple functionality.

Businesses adopted iPhone usage rapidly, recognizing that their employees were already using iPhones. The iPhone dramatically changed the way people communicate, learn, play and work. With an iPhone in hand, an employee could work from home or be on site with a client and still have access to company data and be connected. The iPhone popularized the use of apps, web tools and mobility. In many companies, both the owners and CEOs wanted iPhones after seeing their employees using them. Businesses were thus forced to adapt, but quickly benefited from increased information flow and providing data in the field for their employees, using popular apps and web tools from Microsoft Office to Salesforce, IBM and SAP.

Prior to the launch of the iPhone, PC sales averaged 400 million a year. However as the iPhone's popularity spread, other smartphones also were developed and launched to provide information, productivity tools, communication and entertainment options. The PC market has continued to decline over the years, while tablets and smartphone usage has gone upwards. Many PC companies went out of business subsequently and the industry consolidated around major players such as HP, Lenovo, Dell, Acer and Apple. The iPhone's popularity and adoption made it easier to launch the iPad subsequently.

Telecom companies such as AT&T and Verizon also had to adapt, as consumers stepped away from traditional landlines and adopted smartphones. All of these companies now offer both information and entertainment options as well as data services. They have also aligned themselves with smartphone companies to keep consumers engaged. The payphone also has disappeared from most public spaces in the United States as smartphone usage has gone up. In the first year of the launch of the iPhone, wireless service revenue among the top U.S. carriers grew 5.9% in 2008, according to Fidelity Investments.

Catapulted Use of Apps and Launched a Billion Dollar New App Industry

Just a few days prior to the iPhone becoming available for purchase in July 2007, Steve Jobs announced that the new smartphone would support third-party applications through the Internet. This decision by Apple was tremendous, as it led to the development of a developer-led ecosystem and the birth of the app industry.

Prior to the iPhone, apps were classified as Web 2.0 tools and not in common use. With the launch of the App Store via an update to iTunes in July 2008, Apple introduced a new way to shop for information and entertainment with apps built by third-party developers. The App Store became a billion-dollar enterprise rapidly, supporting the creativity and works of app developers worldwide. Other platforms like Google and Microsoft had to adapt fast and build their own app stores as their consumers now wanted access to the same apps on their smartphone devices.

There were app stores before Apple's own App Store but they were not well designed and installing apps was problematic. With the App Store, you could quickly discover, purchase and install an app. It was easy to also uninstall an app at any time.

Apple insisted on high quality standards for all apps submitted to their App Store, ensuring both the integrity of their own brand as well as any apps coming through it. This in turn, built trust and helped in the rapid growth of the App Store. The App Store split revenue between Apple and developers and offered a new marketplace, building an entire new industry. By January 22, 2011, Apple had over 10 billion app downloads.

Now enterprising developers could reach consumers directly through apps they had designed and developed. Today the App Store has everything from fitness to games, information, shopping, entertainment and dating with a plethora of choices for every category. Bigger companies also benefit by being able to offer personalized service to their customers in a streamlined way. For example, an airline carrier can quickly provide flight check-in and information through their own app while restaurants can offer online ordering and banks are able to provide quick deposits without even going to an ATM.

Changes brought about by the launch of the App Store include:

• transformation of software distribution and usage

• new app economy

• accelerated learning

• launch of apps that revolutionized industries

Spawned Industry-Changing Apps

Apps like Airbnb, Uber, Instagram and Snapchat were built upon the popularity of the iPhone (that in turn, popularized smartphone usage) and revolutionized industries from rentals and real estate to transportation, photo sharing and messaging.

For example, Uber's entire business model is built upon having a smartphone. Both the driver and the passenger need a smartphone to use their app and book a ride.

Increased the Speed of Communication

Fast forward to today, and we have 10-year-old app developers! New generations are growing up in a post-iPhone and app world, where it is a seamless part of their lives. This has accelerated learning by young kids and adults as well. In fact, some third-world countries in Africa have made the leap to smartphone usage without going through the traditional telecommunications infrastructure setup common among more developed nations.

Accelerated the Use of Apps Elsewhere

The iPhone accelerated the use of apps everywhere, from your iPad to now your TV and car. Using a touch interface and on-screen keyboard has become familiar to consumers and this trend is only going up.

Popularized Use of Accelerometers, Orientation Sensors and Gorgeous Graphics

The first iPhone's built in accelerometer offered motion capabilities. Current models include gyroscope and compass as well that help create amazing effects. This has been adopted in many apps and also in gaming.

The gaming industry has also changed dramatically. Pre-iPhone, most games were limited to consoles. While console use is still popular, gaming apps are in high demand with touch-based gameplay. For example, Niantic's augmented reality-angled Pokémon Go alone has been downloaded over 750 million times while Nintendo's super popular Mario franchise had 500 million sales over its lifetime. Super Mario is now available in the App Store.

At the WWDC in June this year, Apple also shared its AR Kit for immersive app experiences.

Transformed the Music, Film and Video Industries

The iPhone made it easy to listen to music on the same device that you made phone calls from, checked your email, surfed the web and organized your day. It built upon the popularity of the iPod and made it easier to buy a single song instead of a whole album and also get recommendations for other music you might like.

With gorgeous graphics, the iPhone made it easier to watch movies on the go, providing a platform for video delivery. This in turn forced movie and television studios to expand distribution so that anyone could purchase, download and stream movies to their mobile devices. The iPhone also helped existing companies like YouTube (now part of Google), Netflix and Hulu reach more people and become powerhouses themselves.

Reinvented Map Usage and Camera Access

Prior to the iPhone, Garmin was the de facto favorite for maps. They enjoyed high sales and usage despite a price point of $700 and up in 2005. However, with the arrival of the iPhone, consumers could get directions right on their phone and navigate using this touch-friendly device. Garmin and other GPS providers were forced to branch out into other markets like wearables to survive as sales plummeted. Other smartphones (Android for example) have also developed enhanced mapping capabilities with voiceover options as well.

The iPhone and other smartphones have simultaneously made photo sharing more accessible and relevant, while dramatically altering the camera industry. Eastman Kodak went out of business while even digital cameras sales dropped 80% from 2009 to 2016. Interestingly enough, today photos are not printed as much but mostly posted, shared and tweeted. This in turn, impacted the rise of Snap Inc., the messaging app that had a $20 billion IPO.

Changing Apple Itself

One of the biggest and most transformative changes that the iPhone has had is on Apple itself, that has gone from being known as a computer company to just Apple Inc. While the iPhone remains one of its bestselling products with record profits and 1.3 billion iPhones sold per year, Apple has now built an entire ecosystem of related products and its supporting App store.

The iPhone truly changed the world and may be the world's most influential consumer electronics device ever. It changed the way people interact and even see the world. This year, marking its 10th anniversary, Apple is expected to launch an updated version of its iPhone in September or early fall. We're eager to see what comes next!