Samsung Says Its Foldable Shipments Increased Four-Fold In 2021 (theverge.com) 56
In a recent blog post, Samsung said it sold four times more foldable devices in 2021 than 2020. The Verge reports: It attributes this success to the arrival of the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3 [...]. Samsung says sales for these two devices in their first month alone exceeded "total accumulative sales of Samsung foldable devices in 2020." These are promising metrics for the slow ascension of foldable phones, though you should bear in mind that Samsung isn't sharing hard sales data. Instead, it pointed to the fact that its increases were greater than predictions made by third-party analysts, who suggested that total shipments from all manufacturers for foldable devices would hit 9 million in 2021.
If Samsung thinks this figure is useful enough to cite -- and with the company thought to account for around 88 percent of the total foldable markets -- we can guess that its sales were in the high single-digit millions or pushing into the low tens of millions. These numbers are expected to increase tenfold by 2023 [...]. Samsung also says that its decision to push forward early with foldable devices has paid off in terms of converting customers. It says that "compared to the Galaxy Note 20, Samsung has seen a 150 percent increase in consumers who switched smartphone brands for the Galaxy Z Flip 3." If you want to attract new money, it helps to offer something unique.
If Samsung thinks this figure is useful enough to cite -- and with the company thought to account for around 88 percent of the total foldable markets -- we can guess that its sales were in the high single-digit millions or pushing into the low tens of millions. These numbers are expected to increase tenfold by 2023 [...]. Samsung also says that its decision to push forward early with foldable devices has paid off in terms of converting customers. It says that "compared to the Galaxy Note 20, Samsung has seen a 150 percent increase in consumers who switched smartphone brands for the Galaxy Z Flip 3." If you want to attract new money, it helps to offer something unique.
I remember ... (Score:5, Funny)
when Nokia folded.
But I'm pretty sure . . . (Score:2)
. . . that you're only supposed to fold these phones once, not four times! :_)
hawk
They broke it? (Score:2)
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The Galaxy Z Fold 3 is the current model. The third generation has fixed most of the issues and is generally regarded as a good phone. Personally I think the Oppo Find N is a better folding phone, and am pleased that there is some competition and continued improvement.
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Congratulations Samsung! (Score:4, Funny)
For selling 6 more folding phones than last year!
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Been Quiet (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: Been Quiet (Score:2)
My friend has one. He loves it. Great for watching videos on YouTube. I don't think he has had complaints except buying a nice case to protect that baby.
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Guess it all depends on your use case. I almost never watch YouTube videos on my smartphone. Why bother when I have my TV, laptop, and desktop, all with far bigger screens for consuming content and can also do so while multi-tasking easier. But each person has their own personal use case they prefer.
One of the strangest aspect of modern life is that we have all these nice big options, and people watch stuff on their smartphones.
My smartphone is a fine little toy, but size matters. My home workstation is dual screen 27 and 42 inches.
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Wow... one of the comments I have seen from the puppets that is actually decent.
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Certainly is strange. I've got dual 24" 4K monitors on the desktop, 56" 4K TV, and a 15" laptop. Why wouldn't I watch on those instead of my little smartphone screen? I get it if you're on the go but nearly all of the time when I watch a video it's when I'm home. I see my niece and nephew ask to watch stuff on their parents phones when they could just put it on their TV. Just seems so strange when a better medium is right there, readily accessible.
Out of curiosity - do you create stuff? One of the things I deal with with work and creating is having and needing a lot of real estate. I've seen a lot of people who create things, software, video and other imagery really need a lot of windows open. I can open a lot of stuff on my big monitor.
So many people, who mainly consume, can deal with the phones. Me, no to much.
And if I'm out and about, I'll even tend to just tether a laptop to the phone. And for relaxation time, it's nice to have the big scre
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This. A large market is just consumers which basically leaves the greybeards, hardcore gamers, and people who creators to really be more "computer people".
This is especially true in other countries and in the latest generations of Americans if not most western countries. We grew up with desktops, so we prefer them and likely even chose careers focusing on their usage.
Interesting enough we are seeing a growing segment of content creators in the mobile domain. TikTok would be a good example. The Chinese versi
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This. A large market is just consumers which basically leaves the greybeards, hardcore gamers, and people who creators to really be more "computer people".
This is especially true in other countries and in the latest generations of Americans if not most western countries. We grew up with desktops, so we prefer them and likely even chose careers focusing on their usage.
I remember a few years back when it was predicted that there would be no more desktops. A Smartphone's camera was just as good as a Digital SLR, and everything would be done on Phones, or if needed, tablets.
I suppose for young people just discovering the digital world through a smartphone, or older folk who were previously fearful of computers, but were sucked in by the ease with which you can get on the internet it made sense. Then again, neither thought of people actually creating those apps. Although
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Although if challenged, they'd claim their phone could do anything a desktop could. Without actually knowing.
Exactly. They are rather ignorant.
As for meltdown videos, that's completely my Chinese girlfriend. I have never seen bipolarity to such a degree and she has little desire to control it. Most of it is more OCD. Frankly, I think there is a high number of them from the single child generation in China, especially among girls. Their parents basically will do anything for them and they are only now really starting to struggle with the difficulties of a normal working life. In western cultures, we really cannot p
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Although if challenged, they'd claim their phone could do anything a desktop could. Without actually knowing.
Exactly. They are rather ignorant.
As for meltdown videos, that's completely my Chinese girlfriend. I have never seen bipolarity to such a degree and she has little desire to control it. Most of it is more OCD. Frankly, I think there is a high number of them from the single child generation in China, especially among girls. Their parents basically will do anything for them and they are only now really starting to struggle with the difficulties of a normal working life. In western cultures, we really cannot put up with that shit but my life h
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"Leftover women" is like a cultural problem. It's kind of another side-effect of this one child-policy with majority of them being the first generation of the policy. I have met some of these girls. They are very attractive. One in particular was dating a younger man but his family was basically forcing it to end because she was much older and more successful. This is like the weird mind-fuck of a thing going on here. A woman's family want's that woman to be successful and educated because that's the only o
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This has radically liberalized the workforce in sense of more women in all types of fields (e.g. the Chinese female astronaut right now in space). However, it still traditionally expects men to be more successful in their work, so while one family is pushing their daughter both to be successful in work and to start a family, other families with male offspring cannot accept the outcome because the woman is successful...
Interesting to hear a perspective from a different culture. Here in the west, many of the successful women have in a way become ersatz men, and as such, are not terribly attractive to men. Unfortunately, a narrative has sprung up that men are intimidated by "strong independent, and successful women" This is not true.
I've worked under three different women in my career. We got along great. I was not remotely intimidated. I was also not physically attracted to them. They were masculinized even though physica
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Interesting to hear a perspective from a different culture. Here in the west, many of the successful women have in a way become ersatz men, and as such, are not terribly attractive to men. Unfortunately, a narrative has sprung up that men are intimidated by "strong independent, and successful women" This is not true.
I personally can accept this expression of being feminine. I know at least one girl like this here but in general the amount of skin care Chinese women have embraced is crazy, with even many of the younger Chinese men wearing mask. People in general here care more about their looks and that's been hard for me to adjust as a person who was taught "beauty is only skin deep". Right, it's less and less true in western cultures. I could totally be a homemaker with a wife who is more professionally successful.
I h
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There is a whole generation growing up rather computer inept. I am in China and the trend basically skips computers, so only people who have a specific job relating to usage of a computer would really understand it better.
My [Chinese] girlfriend can barely use my PC and seems somewhat terrified of it. She has a fund to buy herself an apple laptop from her grand parents and the last time I asked her about it, she basically got pissed and asked why she would want one because she hates computers. I asked her t
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There is a whole generation growing up rather computer inept. I am in China and the trend basically skips computers, so only people who have a specific job relating to usage of a computer would really understand it better.
My [Chinese] girlfriend can barely use my PC and seems somewhat terrified of it. She has a fund to buy herself an apple laptop from her grand parents and the last time I asked her about it, she basically got pissed and asked why she would want one because she hates computers. I asked her to help me buy a media streaming device and she broke into tears because I kept pushing her for helping me understand the Chinese write-ups on the device where she basically only conceded to help me pick the device with the best color/design.
I wonder. There is a phobia with a lot of people where they extrapolate the bad things that can happen, like identity theft, and it gets conflated to happening to everyone. I know my SO approaches everything on the internet as someone trying to do her harm. She does use a tablet though. And of course her smartphone.
Most people here never learn to type and are shocked to see anyone with decent typing skills. China is working more to correct this with more STEM education but I haven't seen them focus as much yet on typing skills. This is why some mobile based typers are achieving rather absurd speeds that can beat out some average typing rates from not only their own country but even western ones.
I've seen some of those mobile typers. It's quite impressive. I fear they might get some ligament damage from "texting thumb" though. https://thrive.kaiserpermanent... [kaiserpermanente.org]
I'm a touch typist, so f
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I don't think it's a phobia. Seems more like a level of embraced ignorance. A complacency towards technology that it does what they want and there is no need to understand more. As a teacher this really worries me because it leads to thinking what happens in a machine is magical but that's exactly what they want as consumers. The same is true of most all consumption, not just the software and devices we use to access it.
Even typists can get arthritis. I mean clearly we will eventually have better ways to in
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Which that use case varies largely on market. In China, having a mobile phone is basically a requirement with QR codes and cashless transactions. However, most Chinese do not have very sophisticated general computers and especially laptops. If they have a desktop it's generally quite subpar to such a degree, I wouldn't be surprised if many users have faster mobile phone chips than any other machine they have in their home.
This radically changes the market with many watching movies and playing games on thei
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"Great for watching videos on YouTube." - how come? Most videos aren't close to square and the limiting factor is the length of the display. There are plenty of regular phones that have longer displays than that folding display.
This is the big issue with that form factor, it's no better (might be slightly worse) than regular largish phones. It's really good for anything else that might fill the screen, like for example writing this reply or reading random documents without having to scroll as much. Or using
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Haven't really heard anything about them since they first launched. Seems strangely quiet. Have developers supported them? Are they making apps that actually take advantage of the setup or are the devices not as useful because developers aren't embracing them? Seemed to always be the problem with Android tablets, that developers didn't embrace them so you were left running expanded screen versions of smartphone apps, which was a less than great experience and the reason they never caught on the way the iPad did.
While looking for a new phone recently, I looked at the foldables. I could always detect the fold.
Ick - No thanks. I think the problem is that as the millennials start to experience presbyopia (that's not a dig at them, just what happens) they need a larger screen. But a big phone like the iPhone 13 Pro Max like I got is about as big as is practical.
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I used to be not that into big phones. My best friend was all about carrying a small tablet if it could. Now I've been a Pro Max owner the past couple years and love it. I'd be down with a bit bigger. But I also don't want the double thickness from a folding phone and I don't want it if the apps aren't optimized for it.
Ah yeah, my wife got me an iPhone Pro Max for Christmas. It's about as big as I want to handle. But I'm loving it.
Re: Been Quiet (Score:2)
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They certainly feel huge at first but with time it seems normal. When I went to the Max a couple years ago it seemed insanely bigger than my previous one. But now it seems totally normal. Just as the jump when the iPhone 6 went larger from the 4/5 size seemed crazy at the time but with a couple months it seemed normal and anything smaller felt weird.
It is nice having the bigger screen for certain.
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Android is getting some updates to make better use of folding screens, but for now the support is down to the manufacturer to implement. To be fair it's very good in current generation models. Moving from outer to inner screen is seamless. Most apps are fine as they support table style layouts, and can adapt to things like screen shape changes on the fly.
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What's there to support? If your apps are not display dimension and resolution agnositc maybe you need to consider the assumptions you make during programming.
This isn't some magical separate input or output device. There's nothing to support, a display is just a bit bigger when folded open. At best you need to make sure your app can withsatand a sudden change in resolution while it's running.
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And you just said it, apps already cater to different screen sizes because they already exist. Again there's nothing to support here. A flipped open Z Fold 3 doesn't have out of the ordinary dimensions compared to a small tablet.
If your app works on a tablet satisafctorily it'll work on these folded displays too.
Re: Been Quiet (Score:4, Informative)
I have a Z Fold 3, have had it since launch. It's the best phone I've ever owned. Browsing on it is fantastic. Many apps have special optimizations for use when half folded, which is a great feature.
The only complaints I have is the battery life could be a bit better, and the S Pen should have been integrated, and the front facing camera is not up to my expectations for a phone of this price. I won't hesitate to get one again.
Longevity (Score:3)
Re:Longevity (Score:4, Interesting)
If you;er in the target demographic then it doesn't matter.
You'll be buying a new phone next year anyway, because... "newer!"
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Does anyone know if these foldable screens last a long time? I imagine the folding part of the screen will eventually deteriorate, but over what timeframe?
A common complaint seems to be the folding action it self: if there's the slightest bit of grit or debris on the screen prior to folding, it's very easy to damage the screen surface.
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The oldest ones are only 2 years 4 months old so long term durability is still an open question. The original Galaxy Fold had a fairly "soft" screen, not too difficult to scratch. The newer ones have "bendable glass" which isn't quite as good as the Gorilla glass you get on non-folding phones, but isn't nearly as soft either.
The hinges have improved a lot too. The original Fold had issues with dirt getting in the hinge, but the newer ones have much better seals and even some water resistance.
Fourfold (Score:2)
Meaning they sold 12 instead of 3?
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Re: Fourfold (Score:2)
Shiny, performance, shit. (Score:3, Insightful)
Samsung products look great, and they perform quickly. But in every other way they are shit, and Samsung itself is also shit. They exemplify the throwaway culture in a way that even Apple doesn't for two reasons. One, because Apple, for all its ills, makes a way more reliable product. Two, because Apple, even though they love to abandon stuff and force users into bad decisions (one of my friends for example is going to have to finally switch away from Lightroom because the last version you could buy instead of renting won't run on modern OSX) is still better at supporting old product than Samsung, which pretends that it didn't even exist. If you have an older Samsung product like a microwave or something they literally will tell you that your product model number is invalid when you're searching for documentation. Just went through that with a customer's microwave which is showing an error E2. Look up E2 and the closest thing you'll find on Samsung's site is an E-02, which is "Cooking Time Setting Over Error". What the fuck does that mean? And why does this microwave produce it when you aren't even cooking anything? Except I don't think that's the right description for this error code.
When you add to that all the Samsung shit that loves to catch on fire (not just phones, but appliances like washing machines), the fact that you can't root a Samsung phone without losing camera functionality, and their general shit customer service (yesterday their automated chat agent told me that I had over a 5 hour wait to merely chat with a human because there were 45 people ahead of me) I don't get why any nerds would throw them a dollar. Their shit is shit and they are shit. Flush those fucks.
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Samsung products look great, and they perform quickly. But in every other way they are shit, and Samsung itself is also shit. They exemplify the throwaway culture in a way that even Apple doesn't for two reasons. One, because Apple, for all its ills, makes a way more reliable product. Two, because Apple, even though they love to abandon stuff and force users into bad decisions (one of my friends for example is going to have to finally switch away from Lightroom because the last version you could buy instead of renting won't run on modern OSX) is still better at supporting old product than Samsung, which pretends that it didn't even exist.
I've got to agree. I did have a bit of a row with them when an OS update caused Final Cut Studio to stop working. But overall you're correct. I hav a Samsung Tablet that doesn't seem to exist, and I have a 3 year old HP Envy touchscreen laptop that isn't eligible for W11 updates.
Yeah - Apple gives much better longevity to their products, people get spun up because they cost a bit more, but you don't have to replace them as often. There's some math there that counteracts the "Apples are too Expensive" me
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One, because Apple, for all its ills, makes a way more reliable product.
Citation required. My only anecdote is we had an iPhone 4S fail in the family, while I still have a working Galaxy S1, S3, S4, S5, S7, S9 Edge, an S10, and A72. All still work fine between us. All just replaced due to being obsolete.
Agree with your customer service comments though Samsung's big issue is every country gets a differnet product line and model even though its the same underneath.
My bigger concerns with Samsung is utterly SHIT software, and utterly garbage practices with advertising and raping c
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I stopped buy Samsung phones years ago because - well yes the software is shit. Shit as in email clients that lose email, OS "features" the prevent non-Samsung apps running, nagging you for alternate logins, speech recognition that doesn't, home automation apps that integrate with nothing and that's just the start. To make matters worse their high end of phones are full of equivalent of horn rims on glasses. They are anti features whos
"Though the company didn’t give hard sales f (Score:2)
If Samsung thinks this figure is useful enough to cite — and with the company thought to account for around 88 percent of the total foldable markets — we can guess that its sales were in the high single-digit millions or pushing into the low tens of millions.
From IDC [idc.com]:
According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, shipments of smartphones will grow 5.3% year over year in 2021, reaching 1.35 billion shipments.
... so the total foldable market is currently around 100M, or around 8% of the total market, which is larger than I would have guessed.
... or pushing into the low tens of millions.
What does this mean to everyone else? I got it from the context, but this sounds like something between 10 and 30 million to me, not between 10-11M.
Ha ha (Score:2)
"Samsung Says Its Foldable Shipments Increased Four-Fold In 2021"
I see what you did there. I still won't buy one, not yet anyways.
Um (Score:3)
My wife got the foldable because it was the only way to get a decent smallish phone. She would have been delighted to not have to get a foldable.
Crease (Score:2)
Get rid of the crease you bastards.