EmailWhen Steve Jobs released the first iPhone in January 2007, it was a real revolution.
Before that, the hippest phone around was the Nokia - you know, the one with SNAKE and a numeric keyboard.
Nokia controlled about 90% of the phone market and it looked like it was a monopoly that would go on forever
Then, in one fell swoop in Cupertino, Nokia was done and the world was all about smartphones.
As no one had one, the global market for the phones was pretty much limitless - up to a limit of about 3.5 billion, which is where we are now.
But a decade later (give or take a few years), the global market is saturated. Everyone has one.
In order to keep selling, the very foundation of capitalism - the companies had to keep innovating. But after a while, you hit the ceiling. Why buy an iPhone XI when you already have the X?
You get the concept.
But Samsung, always the very aggressive competitor, came up with The Next Big Thing.
Folding phones.
Look, it's a phone.
Look, its a tablet!
Looked like they had a sure fire winner... except the phones started breaking in half.
You know how it is if you start folding your credit card back and forth a few times.
Same with your phone, apparently.
So Samsung had to do a Boeing 737 Max on their first gen folding phones.
But now they're back
Unlike Boeing.
This week, Samsung will re-release the folding phone.
The phones are going to go for $2000 each.
That's a lot for a phone.
But others are coming fast
Huawei became the second largest smartphone seller in the world last year and plans to launch its folding smartphone in September.
Earlier this year, Chinese technology firm Xiaomi unveiled a prototype of a folding smartphone that transforms into a tablet.
Boeing... still waiting.
