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Comment by TazeTSchnitzel | Hacker News Reader

The contrast with the Huawei Mate X is stark. The latter has the folding screen on the outside of the phone, which means 1) a wider, and thus safer, bend radius while simultaneously being able to properly close (no lingering gap) and 2) (seemingly?) no ability for space to develop under the screen for debris to get in. Huawei having just the one screen also makes for an overall cleaner design. It makes me wonder why Samsung chose the more problematic inside-fold route.

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I think it's because Samsung is trying to protect the screen. I'm curious to see how the Mate X will perform. I won't be surprised if the screen wrapping around the outside turns out to be really fragile. People are notoriously hard on their phones (especially on the edges) and the Mate X is a phone that has an exposed screen that can't be covered in glass and can't be hidden in a screen case.

Samsung's approach has a better chance of succeeding in the long run simply because it protects the screen, but they clearly need to refine their approach. Without some serious materials wizardry, Huawei's design seems hopelessly flawed. According to this article, uneven pressure may be responsible for breaking the Samsung, think of what could happen with the exposed screen on the Huawei.

Customers might be willing to use Mate X with sleeves / folio cases.

The point is that it's as convenient as a phone. A sleeve would nullify this. Might as well get a tablet.

> A sleeve would nullify this

'nullify' here is subjective. Others might say 'reduce' instead. For some, especially current sleeve or folio users, this could be acceptable.

My pocket is already a sleeve, because I don't carry anything else in the pocket where I carry my phone. But the problem is that I drop the phone occasionally (for me, it happens maybe once in a half a year, but it would be cumbersome to replace the screen every half a year, so I use a protective case).

You could use a sleeve, I guess, but I’ve never seen anyone carry their phone in a sleeve.

You can not use a folio case because the screen is on the outside. You have to remove the phone entirely from the case to unfold it.

But currently all phones have an exposed screen ??? You have to go back to clamshell phones or blackberry designs to have protected screens. If you don't buy a shell or screen protector, your screen gets rattled by coins, keys, and various objects.

bendable screens are made from plastic rather than glass, so it's worse than your typical phone.

And more to your point it is soft plastic and not hard plastic.

Current non-foldable phones have gorilla glass on top of their display.

The edge will likely take more abuse than the surface of the phone. Plus it will be impossible not to have fingerprints on it.

If you have a case on eg. an iPhone then it extends slightly beyond the screen at the sides, which probably makes quite a big difference in protecting particularly the sides of the screen.

The Huawei mate X already had a visible crease in the middle when unfolded precisely because the radius is larger and thus the excess plastic needs to go somewhere. I guess they can still fix the protective plastic properly so there is no ingress.

Though it does mean a corner could get the brunt of a drop. wondering how OLEDs will cope with that. From iFixit's article about the why they think the fold broke, I'm guessing not well.

> The contrast with the Huawei Mate X is stark.

Which doesn't really exist yet.

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