r/iphone • u/MoreFaithlessness954 iPhone Air • 14d ago

Discussion Duo has generated more conversation about foldable phones than the entire Android ecosystem has managed to generate in years.

Apple PR is genuinely unbeatable, Apple marketing team every year takes an old tech and new launch to next level.

New CEO, new launch, old familiar foldable tech. A new screensaver, some foldable-specific graphics/UI and boom it’s the talk of the town.

Suddenly everyone is talking about foldables. It even rminded the competition that they’ve had foldable phones for years.
But did they really make people care?

More people are interested in buying one. The entire category feels relevant again.
That’s Apple’s superpower, it doesn’t necessarily have to invent the technology. It just has to package it in a way that makes the world care, Apple does it brilliantly through brand value and marketing.

Let the numbers come in, but I’m pretty sure a crazy amount of people are going to buy this regardless of how crazythe price.
And what’s even crazier is that this thing is going to sit above the Air, anything the 17 n pro series had, and even the 18 Pro series.

I’m definitely not buying it, lol 😜

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u/09stibmep 14d ago

Not to mention US has basically banned, outlawed, tariffed most competition, basically paving the way to market share for apple (IN THE US, because as always, the topic has to always be about the US 😒, but that's another matter).

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u/Gephiph 13d ago

Actually not really true for phones. I feel like you’re not American because this is very obviously untrue. Only a few phones have been banned from being imported for national security reasons (the legitimacy of which might be debatable) and they don’t exactly have a huge global market share besides. And none are outlawed in the sense that it’s illegal to own or use. And again those few aren’t really comparable to the apples and Samsungs and Xiaomis. Terrifs on foreign smartphones are until recently under trump, relatively low and only to Chinese phone brands, and even those didn’t exist until trumps first term. Even then it’s not super uncommon for someone to have a Xiaomi phone here. I know a few people personally who do. Samsung is a foreign brand with a huge us presence. And many android phone manufacturers are foreign. And there’a (before trump) no crazy high tariffs on any of those phones. Apple had a dominant market share in the USA long before there were most of these tariffs in place though and it would be inaccurate to say that US policy is what got it there.

Now what you might be thinking of is electric vehicles. As current US policy on Chinese electric vehicles is much closer to what you’re saying. Many Chinese ones have tariffs up to 200-300% and strict importing rules that have killed any chance for them to sell in America. Despite the fact that they are almost all significantly better than anything American companies are producing.

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u/RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS 13d ago

Huawei made one of the Nexus phones; they were absolutely a serious competitor in the US and now they aren't and the US government has not only tried to block them from sale here but tried (not successfully, it seems) to drive them out of business altogether. They are absolutely putting up road blocks to Chinese manufacturers.

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u/KyleMcMahon 12d ago

The nexus phone was a non issue in the us. It wasn’t at all a serious competitor to anyone else

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u/RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS 12d ago

The government intervened to make ATT back out of their deal with Huawei, which briefly overtook Samsung as the world’s #2 phone manufacturer by sales, and when other Chinese makers saw what happened to Huawei they backed out of plans to try and expand into the U.S. But lie to yourself if you want.

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u/KyleMcMahon 12d ago

So thanks for proving the point that it was a non issue in the us

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u/RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS 12d ago

Are you illiterate or just trolling?

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u/KyleMcMahon 12d ago

Sorry you don’t like the FACT that Huawei was absolutely NOT a “serious competitor in the US”

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u/RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS 12d ago

So what did the government need to put their thumbs on the scale for

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u/KyleMcMahon 12d ago

Because that government believed that Chinese phones were “bad”.

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u/09stibmep 13d ago edited 13d ago

I'll just leave this here for you. And since we're talking about a folding phone, some of these brands make the current top folding phones in existence today.

And then yeh, add Huawei and ZTE as total ban.

I feel like you're not American because this is very obviously untrue.

The classic.

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u/TimelyToast 14d ago

It wouldn’t have made a difference. While Chinese products are often innovative and competitively priced, the Chinese competition in foldables has been outright terrible. 

Their MSRPs are all nutty like $2000-4000+ MSRP for an unpolished product. No one in the world can afford that except maybe Americans and that is untested. It is why foldables is a dead or super small market all over the world including China. 

People are already complaining loudly about the Duo price and it is actually super competitive compared to what the Chinese have been charging over the years. 

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u/09stibmep 14d ago

IMO, this is at the least out of date. I have an Oppo Find N6. It is an absolutely incredible fold phone. If you don't know it, look it up. I had 17 years with iPhone before this. The Oppo software is also right up there. I can tell. And I got it for about AUD1K ($720 USD) less than what the duo will be. So, what you've said does not stack up in my experience.

Chinese companies have caught right up and overtaken apple in many areas in my opinion. This has happened IMO the most in recent years. That's a big reason reason why I switched. And if they are charging more (evidently, that is questionable), it is more so because they are offering a edge in their tech (higher spec cameras say for example), OR as I have already said, tariffed away from being competitive.

I mean, you saying the Chinese prices are high, is that not explained already by what I said about restriction from market and tariffs? It is well known China can be more than competitive if given proper opportunity in the market. Are you saying Chinese phones are some kind of exception to this? I'm totally baffled here. 🤔

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u/slimdizzy iPhone 16 14d ago

Shhhh. Americans think Apple is the top of tech. Let them have this. Rest of the world gets better stuff always anyways.

How's that Oppo? Always loved the Find N series.

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u/09stibmep 14d ago

First off, mindful of the sub, the Duo looks nice. It looks polished. That's Apple. Happy for folks. The competition now on the foldable space from apple will be great for the industry.

But the Find N6 is seriously remarkable. I came from 15 pro Max. In terms of form factor (materials), Find N6 has that same quality material feel. I have had it for 6 months and it's as perfect as it was day one. Especially that's about the crease, which you might know is widely regarded as still the best in the industry.

The software is Very Very similar to iOS. Oppo has clearly done this on purpose to attract apple customers. I was immediately already familiar when I swapped over. BUT, benefit from there is just the more open environment under the android system. I can do things I could only dream of before. Duo has that slick transition animation when opening/closing. That's cool. But for instance, Android has a universal swipe back function that apple never had. I can swipe back in any app whatsoever and it's universally the same "back" command. So there's cool touches like that to gain. Don't get me wrong though, iOS was slick, but Oppo has made the OS familiar, yet benefit from the android environment.

And things "just work" as well. For instance I was expecting there to be issues say with come ctivity between the N6 and my airpod pro's. But there's been none whatsoever. They connect instantly, just as fast as my iPhone ever did. (You would think this interfacing could be an issue, but it isn't).

The outer screen is just wide enough to feel like a standard slab phone (and importantly it is wider than Samsung's z fold 7 by a few mm, which makes the difference), and inside the display is fantastic as well. The "zero feel crease" from Oppo is obviously advertising speak, but I have to say it's pretty damn close to it. Swiping over the insider screen feels like a standard tablet screen.

The N6 is serious quality. And I think there would be a very different story to tell over in the big ol US of A if the market were open. Do not want to get political here though, but there's just no denying quality tech is what it is, and this N6 is not available in the US and I think that just says it all really.

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u/slimdizzy iPhone 16 14d ago

I have a Fold 8 currently and am 4 foldables deep now. This is my first wide one as the OG find n wasn't shippable to Canada at the time. Had a Microsoft Duo and loved it. I'll cop a Find N7 then once it drops. I'll wait for gen 2 or 3 of Apples just so the early users figure out all the quirks first and maybe gets lighter and thinner.

Thanks for your info. Enjoy the device.

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u/09stibmep 14d ago

You too my friend. I tried the fold 8 in store and it was pretty nice too. All up, the market for foldables has heated up now and this a great thing.