The-Editors-Desk

Look at your iPhone 12 Pro in the palm of your hand. Go on, hold your palm out, put the iPhone 12 Pro there, and look at it! Now try to fold it! No? I see…

Now imagine a $1,000 bill — if there was one — in the palm of your hand, folded in two. I know, right? It’s called the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3.

What Samsung did with the Z Flip 3 is more important and bigger than “just announce a foldable”. It basically took the Galaxy S21 and made it fold, while making the iPhone look boring at the same time. This is exactly what Apple needs to do with its iPhone: take the flagship and make it fold. …cause if it ain’t happening this year, Apple’s got a real problem on their hands (pun intended).

Apple foldable

Fashionably late?

We’re used to Apple being late to the party but doing things arguably better. In this particular case, Apple is three generations behind. Samsung announced the original Z Flip in February 2020. The second-generation Z Flip 5G arrived in July 2020, and the third-generation Z Flip 3 was just announced last week.

We’re not dismissing other foldables from other manufacturers, but we’re focusing on Samsung because, like it or not, it’s Apple’s main competitor, even if HUAWEI is also on its third-generation foldable.

Whether it’s software or hardware features, I can’t remember ever being a three-generation gap between Apple and the rest (though I’m sure some of you in the comments might recall something that slips my mind). And, while those “missing” features found on Androids weren’t necessarily deal-breakers (Wireless Charging comes to mind), a nifty party trick (in this case, the lack of it) that’s actually useful, like the ability to fold, might hurt Apple.

And you know what the actual rub is? In the past, we could have gotten away with the argument that foldables are expensive, exclusive products with prohibitive price tags. But now Samsung is charging the same amount of money for its foldable Z Flip 3 as Apple is asking for its regular iPhone 12 Pro, not the Max. That’s no longer an excuse, especially that you can get it for much less if you trade in a device, or four

Dear Apple: winter is coming!

The argument that a seven-to-eight-inch display is not what customers want no longer stands valid. We’re not arguing in favor of a Fold 3-like iPhone, though that’d be nice as well. We’re talking about a 6.7-inch display (one which by the way Apple offers on its flagship $1,100 iPhone 12 Pro Max) that offers multiple ways of interaction thanks to its ability to fold all the way through, or just halfway there.

All of this at the price of the entry-level iPhone 12 Pro. Are you kidding me?

And sure, those fully invested in the Apple ecosystem will probably stay (hostage or not) put, but Apple could turn down many future potential customers. The foldable market is booming, with huge year-over-year growth numbers. That’s the future of smartphones, right there!

Let’s face it, about the only Apple product that folds is the MacBook. Sarcasm aside, the technology is there, the money is there, the R&D is there, at this point it’s Apple’s stubbornness that keeps a foldable iPhone off the shelves, and it might come back and bite the apple, literally.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 85

The flagship killer that actually killed the flagship, and the $1,000 price tag

Without involving OnePlus too much into this — the company that started the entire Flagship Killer trend – it’s kind of hard to argue in favor of the $1,069 OnePlus 9 Pro 5G.

At $999 before trade-in and other perks, Samsung killed several birds with one stone. Not only did it (really, this time) kill several flagships, but, what’s most important, it killed the $1,000 price tag or barrier, which, by the way, was first surpassed (or popularized, if you will, for the naysayers) by Apple.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 59
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3

You can Pre-Order your next Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 and get $150 Samsung credit. Samsung also gives you one year of Samsung Care+ for free when you opt into a 3 year Samsung Care+ plan.

It will be pretty darn difficult to ask for anything more than $999 for any phone that doesn’t fold. “But I don’t need my phone to fold”, you might say, and I’m OK with that. You don’t have to flip it closed, just use it open. Wouldn’t it be nice though if it could fold, if you wanted it to?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below. I’m really curious to hear your opinion on all of this.

And, as always, thanks for reading! Welcome to The Editor’s Desk!