Samsung taking market share from Apple in U.S. as foldable phones gain momentum

Real‑world experiences with foldables

• Several users switched to foldables (Samsung, Pixel, Razr, Honor) and say they can’t go back to slabs, mainly due to dramatically better reading, multitasking, and media use on the larger inner screen.
• Others tried foldables for months and found they rarely unfolded them, preferring laptops/tablets for “real work” and smaller phones for portability.
• Flip-style devices are praised as “small phones that get big on demand,” reducing doomscrolling by requiring intentional unfolding.

Durability, fragility, and repair

• Experiences are sharply mixed. Some report 3–4+ years of use with only cosmetic creases and DIY screen-protector replacements; others had hinges, inner screens, Wi‑Fi/Bluetooth, or boot failures within 1–2 years.
• Lab tests show eventual hinge wear (creaks, liquid, speaker failure) but at very high fold counts; critics note real-world issues like sand, drops, and soft plastic displays are more relevant.
• Fear of out‑of‑warranty repairs and poor service (e.g., bad screen‑protector “repairs”) pushes some back to iPhones or slabs.

Use cases: reading, productivity, accessibility

• Strong consensus that foldables shine for reading PDFs, research papers, manga/comics, and multi‑app workflows (form filling with a document open, remote desktop, note‑taking).
• Large screens are seen as especially helpful for older users or those with poor eyesight; some assisted‑living residents reportedly favor them.
• Others argue phone-based productivity is fundamentally inferior to laptops/tablets, making the trade‑offs unjustified.

Privacy, bloatware, and software support

• Samsung’s hardware is widely praised but its data collection, nagware, locked bootloader, and One UI aesthetics turn some users away.
• There is debate over whether low‑end Android phones are worse for privacy than flagships; evidence is requested but not provided.
• Longevity and updates are contentious: some demand 5–10 years of OS and security support; others note even Pixels only recently reached 7 years, and many niche brands lag badly.

Form factor, status, and market-share narrative

• Many want genuinely small non‑folding phones; some see flips as the only realistic future option.
• Foldables are alternately described as life‑changing, niche tech‑geek/status toys, or the “3D TV” of phones.
• Several commenters doubt foldables alone explain Samsung’s US share jump, pointing to release-cycle timing and cyclical swings; they view the article’s causal framing as speculative.
• Apple’s rumored foldable and the iPhone Air are seen either as late responses that will legitimize the category or as thin/status gimmicks that won’t replace tablets.