Sorry everyone, but you need to stop copying Apple already

Over the last few months, we’ve seen various leaks about the design of the first foldable iPhone. Apple never talks about unreleased products, but the rumors about its distinct design were more or less confirmed by the wave of leaks about competing devices.

First, it was the Galaxy Z Wide Fold, which should join the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Z Flip 8 this summer. Just like the iPhone Fold, the new entry to Samsung’s already impressive Galaxy Z series will unfold to a wide screen, rather than the typical tallish internal display.

Now, another brand is rumored to join the so-called “wide foldable” trend in a move that makes even less sense. Huawei is reportedly developing its own iteration of Apple’s design, which may launch alongside the rumored sequel to the Pura X.

It would be very easy to criticize Samsung and Huawei for the apparent lack of ideas, but that’s not my main issue.

Apple is not the smartphone messiah

Regardless of your opinion about Apple, nobody can deny that the original iPhone’s role in kicking off the smartphone era, nor the influence the company still has on the market. Almost two decades later, iPhones are still among the best-selling smartphones in the world and the premiere of every new model is a mainstream event.

Another undeniable fact about the iPhone is that many manufacturers are drawing inspiration from it for their own devices. When Apple removes the 3.5 mm jack, adds a notch on the display, or makes the main cameras stick out of the back of its phones, everyone else follows.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, and it’s part of how the industry works. The problem is that the industry often follows Apple blindly, like the company is the messiah that would lead everyone to the promised land of profitability.

Instead of making their phones better, often other manufacturers only add to Apple’s clout with those moves. After all, why buying a copy when you can get the original?

The iPhone Fold won’t be a success because of the design

When it comes to foldables, Apple is very likely to quickly dominate the market, or at least that’s what analysts expect. That achievement won’t have almost nothing to do with the unusual design of the iPhone Fold, and everything to do with the logo on the back of the phone.

That will be the first major change to the iPhone design in its almost 20-year history, which will spark the interest of every Apple fan. On top of that, the iPhone Fold will look like no other phone on the market, except maybe the Microsoft Duo.

Before someone starts yelling “but the Pixel Fold” in the comments, I need to get something straight. The original Pixel Fold was square. Squares are definitely not wide, so this wave of wide phones is as different from the square Pixel Fold as all the most common tall foldables. This means it’s not very different, but still different enough.

Huawei doesn’t need this copy

The most infuriating part of Huawei’s rumored copy of the iPhone fold is that it’s unnecessary. The company is already one of the few that are pushing the boundaries of smartphone design with some truly original ideas.

One of those is the original Pura X, which is probably the coolest foldable we’ve seen. Just like the iPhone Fold, it has a wide internal screen, but its whole design is meant to be used vertically, rather than Apple’s horizontal approach.

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