Google reportedly cancels orders with suppliers for Pixel Fold

15 November 2021
The news comes from sources in the supply chain who say Google's Pixel foldable isn't happening any time soon.

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  • J
  • Just like The Matrix
  • IBV
  • 18 Nov 2021

Bring back the flip phones with current tech.

    • W
    • Wayne Morellini
    • 7tm
    • 17 Nov 2021

    Let's face it. You could design an $20 foldable phone using the outside for the display. This shame, of using the inside and suddenly it's worth a lot ore is just fashion. I was designing a watch with an alternative wrap around display technology, when these crowers were suddenly demonstrating they had cracked foldable OLED many years ago, to have nothing turn up. So, it was a waste of time to abandoned the comparing tech, which wasn't going be as good in the end. However, one cheaper tech that you could use on $20 phones, is electro-wetting displays. If done right, you can achieve rec2020, high contrast HDR.

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • 61x
      • 17 Nov 2021

      Tonberry, 16 Nov 2021Why are foldable phones still so ridiculously expensive? Ot... moreNo no no.. midrange user dont need foldable. Foldable phone is expensive because it's a combination of smartphone and tablet. Thats why foldable phone will never have the same price as midrange phone (under USD 500).

        • ?
        • Anonymous
        • vGF
        • 16 Nov 2021

        Anonymous, 16 Nov 2021What's the best about the Samsung Galaxy Fold is it�... moreAgreed

          • ?
          • Anonymous
          • m4i
          • 16 Nov 2021

          They just saved themselves a lot of money dropping it. Pixel hasn't even established itself as a flagship brand yet to compete with Apple and Samsung. Now trying to release a Ultra Flagship would have been a disaster.

            • R
            • Rippy
            • NUw
            • 16 Nov 2021

            Please bring a pixel 7 compact. 6.1 or 6 2 sweet spot. Please don't forget this big market segment. Apple didn't.

              Why are foldable phones still so ridiculously expensive? Other display tech (AMOLED, screens with minimal bezels, under display fingerprint scanners, etc) always trickle down to mid-rangers a few years after they were introduced in expensive premium smartphones, but there’s still no foldable midranger in sight.

                This product would have flopped anyway. If Google has a hard time selling high end phones how could they ever sell a super expensive foldable in any meaningful quantity. There just aren't enough potential buyers of something like this for Google to really make a dent in the segment IMO.

                  My guess is the Microsoft Surface Duo 3 will never be released either. That the Duo 2 will be the last. So we can say goodbye to dual displays for good. It wasn't popular then with the Kyocera Echo and ZTE Axon M, it won't be popular now even for $400 for a Duo 1.

                  The next Motorola Razr is likely cancelled. TCL cancelled their own foldable clamshell. So the next foldables will only come from Samsung. Huawei and Xiaomi don't manufacture their own displays like Samsung does. They're forced to sell their foldables at outrageous prices. OEMs will focus their resources back to slabs. It's popular and safe.

                    Neither foldables and dual displays are really the future but just a fad like curved displays were.

                    I repeat, we are stuck with the same boring single display slabs forever and ever. Then for the next few years, we'll complain how stale phones have become. Then if Apple decides to release a foldable, they become mainstream and Apple will be praised for how innovative they are and how others are trying to copy them. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

                      With Google's recent QC issues and FedEx not being investigated with recent shipments being stolen, I'm with Google on this one. Now's not the time.

                        I guess Michael Fisher will be wrong again and he's my favorite YouTuber of all-time. Foldables will NOT take off. People are turned off by the prices and fragility of the display. We are stuck with single display slabs forever.

                        I'll buy only Samsung for now on. This could mean the cancellation of the next Motorola Razr. Components are too expensive. How can Motorola sell a flip phone with a flagship SoC for $1000? Samsung could do this since they manufacture their own foldable displays.

                          • ?
                          • Anonymous
                          • 61x
                          • 16 Nov 2021

                          Anonymous, 16 Nov 2021Im still hoping for chinese competition to Samsung. Though ... moreThis is flaw logic. Did you just assume the price of foldable screen is the same or (illogically) lower than price of screen on S21 or s21 Ultra? There is a reason why even big company like google cancels its foldable product, because its not easy and too expensive to make.

                          You sound like samsung had forced you to buy Z Flip. Without realizing there is actually 'cheaper' alternative in the first place, and thats Galaxy S.

                            • m
                            • mooox
                            • ucw
                            • 16 Nov 2021

                            Anonymous, 16 Nov 2021Im still hoping for chinese competition to Samsung. Though ... morehmmmmm let me understand this. Samsung and other manufacturers had been spending hundreds of millions of dollars to make the new flagship so they can make more money, and you think that the other manufacturers should price the phone below the current flagships (which everyone is losing interest in)?
                            Let me guess, you're still in high school and have no idea how to do business?

                              They could have come up with Pixel flip .

                                • ?
                                • Anonymous
                                • mip
                                • 16 Nov 2021

                                Im still hoping for chinese competition to Samsung. Though Im not a big fan of chinese smartphones, BBK and Xiaomi may be the only manufacturers that could rival Samsung.

                                Reason is this: Foldables need to be priced LOWER to the regular flagships, which is more likely to happen if there is not a Samsung-monopoly, which we do have right now. Since at the end of the day the Z Flip 3 (which I do own, and do NOT like very much) is only a S21 ,minus the better camera, that folds in half and is more likely to break..why should anyone pay 999$ for such a phone if the regular phone is just 800$?
                                Sure, it's all about new technology, which we all have to pay for right now. Yet, if more people could buy into this technology, we all had to pay less and people would accept the risk of breaking devices much more than just buying into the safe-bet of a S21+ or S21 Ultra at the same price!

                                Let's hope for a Xiaomi and Oppo Flip Phone in 2022 so the Samsung gets more attractive in every way (battery!).

                                  • D
                                  • AnonD-1025729
                                  • Hkr
                                  • 16 Nov 2021

                                  When Google's not able to properly deliver the hardware quality to the normal Pixel 6 series, expecting that on a foldable is far from reality. That's probably why they scrapped the project. Or is it actually on hold? Whatever, this was a wise and an informed decision.

                                    • D
                                    • AnonD-1025729
                                    • Hkr
                                    • 16 Nov 2021

                                    Anonymous, 16 Nov 2021Google will ne next HTCGoogle bought HTC, so they are in fact, HTC.

                                      Well the market is very small and niche so if you can't beat Samsung no point trying

                                        Foldables that Michael Fisher and I truly support and believe in may NOT take off just yet and perhaps never. If Samsung monopolies this segment, then prices will never go down. No competition. No innovations. The Apple Flip may never get released.

                                        Seems like people are content with the same single display slab for all of eternity. Oh, well. This news which is quite disappointing changes my next purchase. I actually don't want a Fold 3 but the Duo 2. The dual displays just seems more practical. The Fold 3 just feels awkward and narrow.

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