Ep. 74: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra Review, with SmartTech Research

Yes, no, that's great.

And, you know, Prakash, you know, we were talking about it before you hit the record button.

I think we both believe that we're kind of in a seminal moment in the smartphone history, you know, long history of innovations where, you know, Samsung is really the grandfather or the father of foldable phones.

They've been doing it for many years and not just getting into the category.

You know, they're on the eighth iteration.

of foldable phones and i think that now that if we all believe the rumors you know apple may be getting into the market i think that's a pretty good bet yeah uh next month and i really believe that we're getting to a point in time where people will start to seriously consider the advantages of foldable phones So that's first and foremost kind of my high-level 50,000-foot view that this is going to be a big deal.

Now, price point factors into that.

We'll talk about that in a moment.

But from a design standpoint, especially with the 8, Samsung has come a long way.

I mean, the phones don't feel like a science project anymore.

I mean, I think the first two or three versions had crease issues.

They got a lot of grief in the media.

I mean, I don't have to tell you that the first two or three models were – were pretty challenging.

There were people, you know, breaking them in half because the hinge wasn't particularly strong.

And if you look at the eighth iteration on the two models they announced versus the model they announced many years ago, the first one, it's night and day.

Mm-hmm.

It's a thinner phone, so when you fold it in half, you know, from a volume size standpoint, it's not any larger than a traditional candy bar phone like the Pro models that Apple sells or the larger models that Samsung sells under the Galaxy brand.

And I think we're at this point right now, just at a macro level, That if you really want to get rid of a device, and that's the way I kind of tell people, and we'll get into this, how you can kind of cost justify this.

When I travel, and Prakash, you do a lot of traveling yourself, I always drag along an iPad with me.

And I'm always using the iPad really when I'm on the plane.

I don't really use the iPad when I'm in my hotel room.

I might be using my MacBook Pro or my laptop computer that I have.

But I got to drag around another couple of pounds of hardware.

And I think the nice thing that people will start to see is that, you know what? You don't have to bring along a big tablet on the plane with you because that book form factor that it essentially opens up to, depending on which model you get, is terrific for watching content and watching video.

So to me, that's the big deal.