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Counterpoint: Flip Phones Are a Dumb Idea
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this post was submitted on 15 Jun 2023
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Technology
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I think it's like 3D movies. You will make some money off the people who buy into the gimmick, some more off of the people who remember and want the Razr again, and the rest acts as a kind of "hey we're innovating here!" commercial for the manufacturer.
It's a dumb gimmick, but it seems like capitalism is almost exclusively dumb gimmicks at this point.
There is at least a decent advantage in the flip phones of having the screen protected when the phone isn't in use. I could see them potentially becoming more popular over time if they are improved upon and become cheaper, if only for that reason.
They're not really protected in your pocket though are they? Maybe if you are an office worker that never takes a step off a cement pavement, but for the rest of the world any grit, grain of sand, or piece of pocket debris becomes a weapon that will get between the screens and scratch the crap out of them.
In my opinion modern screens are scratch resistant enough to put in the pocket without many problems and if you need more resistance you can get a screen protecting foil or a case. If my non foldable phone would scratch too much in my pockets I wouldn't really think about replacing it with a device that is twice as expensive and has an additional hinge that could fail.