Apple

If the foldable screen could be more robust, and the fold could be truly invisible when unfolded, I could see it being useful for some people as a phone-tablet hybrid.

Unfortunately features like hardware kill switches will probably always be too niche for a mainstream flagship.

Also you're clearly not apple's target market so you being frustrated by their choices is negligible to them.

I haven't tried for a while but I'm pretty sure you can store your own music files on all Apple devices and listen to them via Apple Music.

Agreed. Being able to fold the device is popular because of the novelty but I argue they're overall objectively worse devices than non-folding one with the same price and form factor would be. I'll much rather have a flat slab in my pocket than a compact cube. There's not a chance a folding device will withstand daily use for 6+ years.

The only way flagship phones will ever get swappable batteries is if the EU mandates that.

https://support.apple.com/en-ca/108935

"A new and revolutionary way of having a multi dimensional phone, the first ever of it's kind, it doesn't fold, it creases at the right points to give you more space than ever."

Apple will do what it always does, and launch any new product as and when it feels it ~~has solved the problems raised by new product categories, and has something it believes is better than existing products.~~ can extract the maximum margins while offering the minimum necessary to be viewed as premium by their customer base.

There, fixed it.

I’m hoping after Tim retires that actual innovation returns.

Like the Microsoft Duo?

There are already a few folding things like that on the market but they're not as popular. People seem to put up with the crease more than they're prepared to put up with a gap. Mostly because with a crease you can still have a full tablet like experience.

But it's always nice to have options.

This bothers me a bit because I absolutely love my current gen horizontal fold phone. The crease isn't ugly or growing in the year or so I've had it. You can feel it, but I got used to that in days.

I suppose it might actually be a more sturdy iPhone. The biggest problem iPhones have is that Apple insist on making the screen out of tempered glass, rather than something a bit more hard wearing. So when you sneeze on it, it cracks.

Folding displays have to be made out of plastic which is actually more durable if more prone to scratching. So you'd end up with a slightly more scratched phone but a less broken one. Plus the delicate plastic screen is always going to be folded up in on itself, so it's protected from scratches as well.

Of course Apple will probably make it without any bezels thus negating everything I just said. All for aesthetics.

Haha. No. But you can get an ever increasing phone where everything is soldered and glued. Also we removes the charging port.