there it is ladies and gentlemen mkbhd
you already know tech videos YouTube
happy to be here we're lucky enough to
have him here today so I thought to
myself you know we need to get to the
bottom of some topics since as you know
mkbhd is the authority on various
technology topics on the Internet hey
what's up guys I'm THD here we've got
something exciting here I mean you
obviously know it's all about these
folding phones right now the next
samsung folding phone and of course it
was the Royale or Royale spy I mean I
have trouble with that one how was real
skeptical that one I didn't see at CES I
play with it at CES let's just say
foldable phones aren't ready no and that
was proof you want to reward ambitious
projects in tech because we're and we're
handling all these slabs that is so bad
cuz everyone's saying oh the phones are
the same now they all look the same
everyone's got a notch and dual cameras
and glass and you kind of want some
interesting new thing to talk about and
they did that but then I look at it and
I use it I have to tell the truth which
is it's not that great don't put this
thing in your pocket it's not the one
today and you only seen this clip yet
it's old this is breaking it's the
president of Xiaomi and they made this
video right here of their working
prototype of how they envision a folding
phone here we go here you go this is the
magic moment okay
it was a double fold on the back oh whoa
why I don't I don't know they're getting
a lot of love for this particular design
people are saying whom this seems closer
the idea of popping it open and having a
slightly larger display like is that
enough to justify this very weird form
factor the rest of the time this
sandwich
mode this the product that's going to
break open the doors for the future of
folding phones
I don't know if I can say yes but I like
the idea where like they folded it and
it went from tablet mode to smaller
tablet mode made more sense than what
I've seen so far this isn't making me go
oh that's why I want a folding phone you
know I'm kind of still waiting for that
moment I think what I saw was a I think
it was also a patent application
remember the razor that flip phone
mm-hmm but it was like a version of the
razor with touch screen all the way and
he could fold it in half so it was like
a new razor
mm-hmm and it was a folding display and
I said oh that that's like the one
interesting way I could see a foldable
display being useful having that flip
phone feel back people loved flip phones
we've gone away from that but now if you
have a folding display you could maybe
build all the components around it and
have a flip phone again I'm interested
to keep seeing these different versions
and we'll eventually get something yeah
and I think the difference in this case
are the reason that this one's
generating a little bit more interest is
because of the company doing it like
Xiaomi is they seem capable like if
someone was gonna do it you didn't
believe in the flex pay Royalle exactly
that was not the most
confidence-inspiring brand yeah no
offense obviously but a newcomer to this
particular space Xiaomi I know they and
their pumping out smartphones like some
new models all the time you know it's
weird about the floating phone or the
folding phone thing is when you fold it
over the back of the phone stays lit up
that's that's happening here yes
happening in the the prototypes I've
seen but it makes me feel like just turn
the back off right so you don't feel
like you're at doing accent 'el touches
yeah no I mean you're probably right
from like a user experience standpoint
it does seem odd to have this display
that you're not looking at on the back
yeah but then you get this weird side of
it which is anyone who has one of these
phones who spends whatever amount of
money is going to be necessary to pick
one he's gonna want the world to know
that their screen folds that's fair so I
don't know here's my thing I'm kind of
with you an early part of the discussion
here I haven't seen the killer
application yet like why what is the big
I get it you have a slightly bigger
display like in this case when he hasn't
unfolded yeah but you look at some of
the big phones out there that there are
six and a half
inches already so if you scale up to
like an 8-inch display for tablet but
like what are you getting in exchange
yeah it's not enough until somebody
showcases maybe a pen input maybe some
other input method or or some type of
application where it's like oh that's
compelling yeah I think the why is like
we can keep having these light bulb
moments about oh that's a different way
to use a folding screen but generally
since we only have these couple
prototypes my conclusion is foldable
phones aren't ready yet proof of
concepts kind of remind me of the
beginnings of other things like Oh ed
and I don't know 3d had its day but like
we're trying to figure out if this is
permanent I think we're yet to have that
light bulb moment yeah we're we're still
stuck in oh it's cool cool a screen is
bolding screens aren't supposed to fold
I'm still not seeing that feature but it
is it is cool tech yeah definitely yeah
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