Everyone says that the niche of foldable phones will die away because not too many people in the world even want a foldable, but Apple is about to change all of that, as they normally do; Apple is about to turn what is niche into the norm. And they do it the same way they have always done it: with simple gimmicks that add no purpose to the overall use of the phone other than to present the user with something to show others and say, “look what my phone can do.”
They will spin these things into something magical and must-have, and not a single person will question their purpose or the validity of their functions in improving day-to-day use. Things like the fold animation were genius and the number one thing that set them apart from their competitors before they even considered everything else it could do. For most people, you had them at the opening of the phone; nothing else was really needed from that point, or possibly from the point they saw the Apple logo, let’s be honest.
Something that was just released and loved by everyone has now become one of the most frequently resold tech items overnight on eBay, since the announcement by Apple. Everyone is trying to offload their newly bought Samsung Fold 6; all of a sudden, it is not good enough. Suddenly, something that is lighter and thinner than the iPhone Duo is the problem. Overnight, it no longer matters that the iPhone Duo is one of the heaviest phones in Apple’s history, nor does it matter that it is thicker when closed than most Samsung Folds released in the last three years or more.
All people see is that it can stand, fold, and show pictures full-screen. They can tilt it so it becomes a clock; then what is the point of the MagSafe clock stands? You can open it and make it look like a 7-inch tablet, but did they not previously say that the 8-inch iPad mini screen size was the smallest possible to make a difference in screen layouts so it does not feel like a big phone? Yet here we are, and everyone is acting like it makes sense all of a sudden.
They claim folding the phone halfway will split the keyboard to allow for some kind of new ergonomic way to type that nobody has seen before. Yet, the Samsung Fold 7 does this very same thing, and nobody made it out to be a revolutionary feature. Speaking of keyboards, I haven’t really seen anyone pull the keyboard up on the main screen yet, but something tells me that you will have the same limits the Fold 8 did regarding the amount of screen left to view versus the keyboard. Suddenly, however, it won’t matter, even though it mattered against the Samsung Fold 8.
Functions like this from Siri are very useful, but they are not something I don’t already have when writing on my Samsung Fold 7 and other Samsung devices. Siri now has one more useful function, which is its integration with all your apps. However, the main problem with all of this is that it is not centric to having a foldable device. All iPhones have this ability, and all Samsung phones have these abilities that their folds can do as well. So, what is the home-run function that is strictly associated with the Apple foldable device that you can only take advantage of on iOS?
It is the perfect layout for all the software most people use every day, such as Netflix and Safari, which are able to provide the right layout for the folded screen size. Apps that take advantage of the layout, like messaging apps, utilize everything properly to help create a cohesiveness that most smartphones dream of. It is all thanks to Apple’s walled garden; the same walled garden that people criticize Apple for is the same one that makes this possible.
It is also the same reason why Apple can offer quality-of-life features like those mentioned above and many others that help keep you safe. These are the things that matter to buyers, and yet, once again, this is not something only the Apple Duo can do; other iPhones have these features. If this is the case, it truly comes down to gimmicks and app integration. You see, nothing is truly a real advantage for the Duo, but Apple can wrap up the package better than anyone to make it feel like it is based solely on the Duo and features you really must have right now to be relevant. This is what will make a lot of people who will not use this device for messaging and social media buy it because of all the features it offers, even if they are not features they will use themselves.
Conclusion…
Apple’s culture of creation is the ace in the hole, and the whole world is about to change again based on what Apple says is relevant. The few people will become the majority of people yet again, just like they did with touchscreens, iPads, and Bluetooth wireless audio over wired. They know what they are doing, and they have followed this blueprint for years. Even if others exist that have a right to be praised, they will fall into the category of those outside the norm. For some of us, that might be enough to go this route; for others, going against this way is the fastest way to feel left out, and so the sheep will grow and follow, which is what happens in this tech world when it concerns the island of relevancy. And there is nothing you can do; “You can’t hold the tide back with a broom”.
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