Foldables are sort of boring now — and that’s great news for Apple
Foldable phones started with Royole's FlexPai and Samsung's Galaxy Fold, both facing early challenges. The foldable phone market has matured, becoming less exciting, which benefits Apple.
This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on smartphones and Android, follow Dominic Preston. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes on Sunday at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here. How it started Believe it or not, it didn't all start with Samsung. Royole, a now-bankrupt manufacturer of flexible displays, was the first to release a commercial folding phone, the "charmingly awful" FlexPai. Samsung's first Galaxy Fold followed a year later, plagued by a variety of faults that saw review units break within days. That launch went so badly that it prompted Chinese rivals to delay their foldable phone launches. Over time, foldable phones have become less exciting, which is seen as good news for Apple, which has not yet entered the foldable market.