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[ResurrectedContrarian]

The fantasy of all personal or entertainment devices converging into a single, catch-all, sleek phone device seems, if anything, to be receding from popularity.

In recent years, narrowly specialized and stubbornly retro hardware has been a hit many times (NES mini and its many imitations; bizarre portable revivals like the recent Oregon Trail handheld and popular mini-arcades; the rather high popularity of the Switch, despite its refusal to have any general-device features like streaming services or even a browser). I think people still enjoy gadgets that feel unique and tailored to their task, particularly when it involves games.

Dedicated gaming devices are more social and family-friendly anyway. I don't want to pass across the table some insanely expensive device I shouldn't have purchased anyway just to keep up with the glam race of mobile phones; but we sure as hell pass handhelds or switch joycons around and have a great time.

 

[hououinkyouma00]

You do know controllers are compatible with phones right?

I feel like this is a default stock answer when Phone is in the title.

Actually on further inspection some of these responses are reading only the title and not the OP. sigh.

I read the entire thing and it's not gonna happen. Anytime anything new comes out "it'll kill consoles". The only thing that might kill consoles is PC and even then not in the way people think. If anything it'll be a console style PC.

 

[Caayn]

The foldable tech is interesting for sure. But if I were to guess is that it'd be more interesting as a method of displaying streamed games on a larger mobile display, even if its just for inhome streaming when the main display is occupied by a house/familymember.

The price for the Galaxy Fold is steep for sure and a major barrier for now. But it's the first consumer ready device of its kind. It'll obviously come down in the future.

Small on the go, big when needed. Count me intrigued.

 

[Miyazaki’s Slave]

Just some rantings as I yell at the clouds......

In my opinion this type of tech leads consumers to a "one stop shop" approach for their hardware needs. The OS (android) is still quite a ways from being able to senselessly (what I mean here is make a meaningful "usable with ubiquitous apps" transition to and from) go from phone environment to PC/Productivity environment to entertainment environment. Sure, Samsung has lead the way with things like Dex (docks your phone and turns it into a "PC like experience".......it is not great for my uses), Google is charging ahead (and in my opinion winning) the living room and streaming race against their competitors and Nintendo has already shown how great gaming on the go and on your couch is.

This is is another step in that direction. They are trying to crate a mobile smart phone powerful enough (ie enough storage, bandwidth, screen resolution, and speed) to replace your tablet/productivity laptop. I think people underestimate how aggressive some of these tech companies are positioning streaming services (as a developer we already see Google already putting a LOT of emphasis on making all google apps support their "instant on" initiative ) as a key pillar for all of their vertically integrated product positions.

Is this "fold-ablet-ohne " going to eat Sony's lunch....most certainly not BUT I do not think it will be long until we plug our social devices into a thunderbolt 3 cable, get all of our media content streamed to our TV's, and pick up a branded controller to "enjoy the latest in entertainment apps".

 

[CJY]

I’m getting ready to sell my PC, PS4, Xbox One X and Switch and going all-in on a Galaxy fold.

I hope you’re right OP, I believe in you.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

So TVs are increasingly larger and with better resolution , aiming at 8K, and suddenly we are gonna play on a 6-inch-screen. Yeah, that makes perfect sense.

Besides, there is THE PRICE. For, I am breaking this news to you, PRICE IS THE PRIMARY FACTOR for a gaming platform. Consoles exist for 2 reasons:

- Price
- Exclusive games

Being price the biggest one by far. Therefore there is literally ZERO chance that a 1000 usd device (let alone 2000) may replace hardware that provides a better experience at half price.

 

[ThatGamingDude]

I'd like to hear your thoughts on this subject.

Your analysis completely leaves out the idea that other technologies will continue advancing along side foldable phones and implies that only phones are currently progressing in technology.

PCs and other devices will stay in the market as long as innovations are made, and they are still relevant in terms of resources. Your CPU architectures are still going to be limited by the amount of transistors they can fit, so in current terms your overall performance from a larger CPU with more transistors is going to be better than a smaller CPU with less (This is also highly disregarding different features of a chip etc, but is going to be a major factor of I/O)

Can you think of a company that works solely by cell phones, or is looking to do that in the future? I work in the IT sector and I can't think of a company that has tried to swap to just phones, and talking to any of my colleagues or going over to the dev departments there's no inclinations or signs that phones are going to take over the market.

Mobility, yes; phones? No.

 

[shark sandwich]

I’m getting ready to sell my PC, PS4, Xbox One X and Switch and going all-in on a Galaxy fold.

That will almost be enough to cover the cost of your sweet new phone. Enjoy!

 

[michaelius]

Phones haven't killed consoles yet - no reason why another even bigger screen version would do it now.

 

[Alexios]

I mean, I could see them replacing people's need to have both a phone and a tablet, becoming the new phablet but better, if they can somehow make a nicely sized phone (unlike phablets which are too big for that) that will unfold into a nicely sized tablet (where phablets are too small) so that you don't compromise any more. I don't know if they can (or will, maybe they still wanna sell you separate devices instead) do that though, it would have to fold at least 4 times to make a decently sized tablet into a convenient phone. Other than that I don't see what they bring to the table compared to consoles that they didn't already have before to think this will change things that much. It's not even gaming focused tech. Maybe a Nintendo portable can use foldable screens to have DS form factor but slicker without gaps. Or Switch's form factor but so it fits in pockets...

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I wonder how that middle folding part (probably only a millimeter or two in width) will hold up after a year.

 

[Barakov]

It's not going to replace anything if it's close to $2000.

 

[FStubbs]

I guess Nintendo was way ahead of the curve with this, huh.

Even if these things became actual consumer products (at $2000 with no fruit on the device it is not a viable consumer product), you'd still have the issue of mobile games being mobile games. It's a mature market and it is not going to change. We've been getting stronger and stronger phones every year and a foldable phone is just a stronger phone. I think the iPad Pro is about as powerful as the Xbox One (according to Apple) and nobody is buying that to play Angry Birds or Modern Combat - this $2000 phone is probably stronger than the Switch and weaker than the iPad Pro.

Also, I don't know how this phone will hold up. Samsung killed their "Active" phone line but I think that was actually a more valuable way to evolve phones.

 

[PendekarRajawali]

N-Gage couldn't even beat the GBA.
I loved the phone, though.

 

[JLB]

It would be awesome! Having a portable PS4/X1X in my pocket that I can take anywhere and bring out when i have time... that's the dream.

On a side note, that Samsung Fold is hideous! The "folded mode" is so ugly and so thick. Look at that fore head and chin, it's huge! Unfolded, it's pretty cool but I'd likely have that thing in my pocket in "folded mode" most of the time... I wear skinny jeans, it's true, and that thing would be way too thick! I'll wait for the 2nd or 3rd gen, still cool tho.

starting at $1980.

 

[Woo-Fu]

To play devil's advocate, we don't know how much of that price is the screen itself. After all, it has 2 screens and what, 5 cameras? It's the flagship, and priced like one in the current insanity of the smartphone market.

I know if a DS came along with that screen tech I would want it and want it bad. It wouldn't replace a console, much less a PC, but would be great for when you're on the road or if you have a public trans commute every day for work.

I'd never use it at home, though, because i wouldn't want to plug a screen and a controller into it every time I wanted to use it at home and unplug that stuff every time I hit the road. And sure, that stuff could be wireless and then we'd deal with the hassles of that.

 

[Maguro]

Not even the PC replaced consoles and that is the best way of gaming.

I come from the "Retro" camp and let me tell ya consoles are more than just devices that have to run an app. To a lot of people consoles are passion. The design, the flaws, their sound etc. I always feel joy when opening the hatch of my pc engine. I feel joy when taking a look at my smooth Sega Saturn design. I feel joy when I push the power button on my sleek nes brick.

And although I don't feel this way with modern consoles I am sure there is people who feel this way with them.

Consoles are more than just tech.

 

[LMJ]

The foldable phones are truly an amazing technology, at the end of the day however they fold out into a giant tablet which still requires touch screen interaction... let's be honest here analog controls have been a staple of console gaming since pretty much its Inception, and I don't see that going away anytime soon.

Good luck getting a console gamer to accept touch screen as the only form, and well yes you probably could have some peripheral similar to the joy cons for the switch, that would mean you have to Lug a peripheral around with you.

That's not even including pcgamer so I guarantee you, would never settle for anything less than a keyboard and mouse when it comes to precise gaming.

 

[cryptoadam]

not really, and streaming will be the next big thing and that doesn't need a foldable phone.

Anyways phones have already in a way replaced consoles. Mobile gaming has eaten up most of the licensed and A-AA games. All those phone games you see would have been cheap PS2 games back in the day. Movie/cartoon games aren't really made anymore on console but you can find them on mobile. Add in all the investment companies make to mobile gamine and before phones that would of been spent on console gaming.

 

[zenspider]

...We are already quickly heading the the future where consoles are replaced by all in one devices...

This is really something I'd like to explore.

My whole life I've seen technology try to play the convergent game, and be it for work or leisure, dedicated devices have always been my personal preference.

It used to be about dedicated devices just being better tools for the jobs, but since convergent devices have caught up, and are occasionally more useful as a result of thier multi-ality, it think now it's more about attention and distraction.
I don't want to play games on my phone or in my digital workspace, and I don't want incoming messages and notifications on my Switch.

I'd say even if a convergent device becomes "master of all trades" from a technical perspective, it never becomes master of all trades at the same time, and the trade-off for gaming (and audio engineering) will always be too costly, or just not significantly convenient.

That folding jawn looks dope though.

 

[Golgo 13]

 

[Tygeezy]

No physical controls, no thanks.
(and do not say they are optional for tablets or mobiles... the fact that they do not come built-in makes them an afterthought)

Pubgmobile controls better than any console shooter i've played. Touch screen is superior to right thumbstick for quick 180 degree turns and it actually uses the gyroscope for precision aiming that consoles refuse to adopt. Also, with 3d touch tech you just press the screen slightly harder to fire shots instead of trying to press a floating button, it's brilliant really.

It compare it a little bit to the steam controller that has trackpads and a gyroscope. Now left touch screen to move takes a bit to get use to. Same for the people that use left trackpad for movement on on a steam controller.

 

[Quezacolt]

Pubgmobile controls better than any console shooter i've played. Touch screen is superior to right thumbstick for quick 180 degree turns and it actually uses the gyroscope for precision aiming that consoles refuse to adopt. Also, with 3d touch tech you just press the screen slightly harder to fire shots instead of trying to press a floating button, it's brilliant really.

It compare it a little bit to the steam controller that has trackpads and a gyroscope. Now left touch screen to move takes a bit to get use to. Same for the people that use left trackpad for movement on on a steam controller.

Touch might be more precise, but i hated it in every game i tried. either on mobile or on the ds/3ds. i'd rather deal with an analogue stick than have to use touch. Buttons are fine, we don't need to change that, besides, just the fact that when we use touch screen we are blocking part of the screen with our fingers is a big negative to me.

 

[Bryank75]

The only way I play games is in my armchair, on a TV with a cup of tea nearby. I hate cell phones, smart phones make people dumb imo.

 

[ThatGamingDude]

I feel as if the unified device aspect is misguided as a whole.

Technology innovations thrive on competition; it's what the people for net neutrality argued it would bring by allowing competitive traffic prioritization contracts (Which is another discussion in itself).

Spoiler

And also misguided

For example, Intel's process for developing product A is a what brings innovation to AMD developing product B, and vice versa. There's something to set a goal towards, because you have something to compare it to.

There's a large amount of factors on what makes a device work; it's not just slap some chips and circuits onto some PCB (Green boards) so you make it fit and it doesn't blow up and run the OS and it works; that actually plays into how the device works because the chips are actually built in a specific way and need to accept connections in very specific ways to work, so you have to place them in a certain spot to do that. Then you factor in the chips themselves which will run different instruction sets (CPU vs GPU, etc) and the firmware capable of handling communicating between the two, as well as any drivers needed, then having the OS work with those drivers and firmware down. Plus a HUGE amount of other factors.

Reducing that down to a universal instruction set, universal design, etc removes innovation and competition; it makes technology start to rely solely on a few aspects of efficiency. This is why things like ARM processors and other things exist; they use different instruction sets and are built differently and for different tasks and was built out of trying to bring a more specialized, more efficient product to a consumer's demand. That's why the 2.2GHZ arm processor in your phone wouldn't handle the same tasks as an x86/64 processor in your PC the same way; some things ARM will be better, some things x86/64 will be better.

Not to mention, there's absolutely no reason your router or phone needs a full x86/64 architecture processor; it's not doing anything as complicated as that. Now some of that starts to get into how bloated x86/64 instruction sets are and why the power is necessary, but ARM and other processors in their current states in comparison are not ready to overtake that architecture, and will be quite a while before it will.

No system will EVER be perfect enough to support the vast amount of different types of computations that exist, and if it did, would have to be something EVERY COMPANY agrees upon to be a standard, and would work together for no profitable benefit; this is why company and development secrets exist, you can't make money on it if you give it out for free. IEEE is one of the organizations that tries to promote and establish companies working together, but by NO MEANS is ANY sort of authority to tell a company they can't develop proprietary technology.

The only place a universal device will exist is a Utopian society; but hell, even Star Trek: TNG with a society without need couldn't see ONE type of computation technology completely dominate their landscape. You still saw different types out there. That could be due to our limitation of understanding future technology, but I ask you to gaze into that crystal ball and tell me what becomes dominate in the computer world with certain fact. It's all just predictions that don't take into account new innovations, because that's impossible.

Spoiler

This doesn't even touch on the security aspect of designing proprietary hardware like gaming consoles; DRM for piracy, obfuscating code so people can't steal your proprietary technology, all sorts of other factors duders.

 

[DiscoJer]

Simply because of the form factor, consoles will always be cheaper and more powerful than phones.

 

[Whitesnake]

Will (new flashy experimental technology) replace (current and still effective technology)?

No.

The answer is pretty much always no. And if it does it’ll be in a completely different form than what has been suggested.

Xbox wanted, and to an extent attempted, an all-in-one device with the Xbox One (thus the name). From when it was first announced to now, everyone constantly told them “we don’t care about this extraneous crap, we wanna play video games”. People want the companies that make video game consoles to focus on making video game consoles. All else is second.The reason for this that trying to do everything all at once means making it all mediocre.

Hell, current smartphones are a good example of this. Phones and tablets can browse the web, but you won’t be able to do quite a few of things you can do on a computer. You can play games, but the touchscreen pales in comparison to a controller. You can watch videos and movies, but they’ll always be limited by the small screen.

And let’s say a device is made that can do everything both phones and computers can do, and it does it flawlessly and seamlessly. How much would that cost to make? A pretty penny, I’d imagine. How much is that gonna cost to the consumer? With the current tech market, it’ll have a debilitatingly high price. It won’t have a market beyond the rich and the tech junkies.

I’ll stick with my consoles.

 

[Barnabot]

Go on and play Mega Man games with a foldable phone without any physical buttons and try to beat it. Then go back and try to persuade us on why foldable phones will replace consoles.

 

[Azelover]

I've been hearing something similar over and over for the last 12 years..

 

[PendekarRajawali]

Go on and play Mega Man games with a foldable phone without any physical buttons and try to beat it. Then go back and try to persuade us on why foldable phones will replace consoles.

You better kill me than I have to play Mega Man on touchscreen.
OP watched too much Westworld.

 

[Breakfast at Noon]

Don't talk bollox.

 

[Hari Seldon]

Nothing about foldable phones indicates how they plan on dissipating all the heat required to push gaming graphics, let alone the power. You are assuming some non-silicon based chip tech that hasn't been invented yet and battery tech that is sci-fi in your assumptions lol.

 

[nkarafo]

You do know controllers are compatible with phones right?

Doesn't matter. It's not the default controls. So most games will still be made with touch controls in mind as the base. Also, why make a big budget game on a phone, with complex controls and graphics, etc, when smaller low risk casual games with simple touch controls are massively successful on that platform?

Console/PC gaming and mobile gaming are two completely different markets. One can't replace the other and both can co-exist.

 

[Dargor]

 

[LucidFeuer]

Why are people even replying to this obvious advertising that is illegally not announcing itself as such?

WTF?

 

[scalman]

I dont see why not. If they will be powerfull enough to become next consoles thats great , still dont want touch controls in games so still need controller for that. But handheld consoles must be future

 

[xviper]

not gonna happen, even PC couldn't replace consoles, the majority of gamers play on consoles

 

[Tumle]

Yes it’s going to replace my 65” tv and my 5.2.2 reciver...
I have nothing against phone gaming.. but why all this talk about it replacing something why can’t it coexist?
Like VR gaming and normal flatscreen gaming can and will coexist..
It’s just more options and a bigger marked to tap with different gaming possibilities

 

[HarryKS]

Remember 599 dollars? This one starts at 2000. 2k damn it.

 

[PocoJoe]

not before chips have "unlimited" power aka even mobile chip can output like 50-100Tflops easily, before that big system with power cord can output the raw power for needs of games.

and that will take years.

Why have 1-2tflops portable phone-console-mutant if we can have 10-15tflops home console?

 

[Puskas]

That's a neat looking coaster.

 

[Domisto]

The line of thought it interesting. It's portable, could dock with a TV, pairs with a controller, has touch screen functions. It's gonna be popular.

But do they have the CPU power to push out consoles? I don't think so. Unless all the power intensive games are going to suddenly go to desktop. Consoles have time to adapt.

Even so, people want multiple devices. It's more convenient in households where two people are doing different things at the same time, or you need to multitask something. If you're playing a power hungry game you don't want the same system downloading and editing files. So it makes sense for each device to have a speciality. It can be more affordable too if each device is tailored to give you bang for buck.

Until available power is in massive excess of what's wanted or needed then the all-in-one homogenous device is still a long way off.

At present its only a minimal threat to the Switch, oh, but it costs $2k. Nevermind.

 

[Aren117]

It's portable, could dock with a TV, pairs with a controller, has touch screen functions. It's gonna be popular.

Yep. Tablets and phones with gamepads are cool devices to play. I already play a lot on them, be it stream from PC, native ports like the Final Fantasies, Dragon Quest, Ace Attorney, RCT Classic (I love RCT1 so much) or emulators like RetroArch and DraStic. Feels convenient, and some pads are slim enough to carry on the pocket even, and still better than carrying multiple devices on the bag, imo.

They won't replace dedicated consoles, I think, but they can be cool companion devices, even more so if you mainly game on PC.

but it costs $2k

Cheaper devices will appear later, hopefully.

Doesn't matter. It's not the default controls. So most games will still be made with touch controls in mind as the base.

I think Google is prep its own gaming device, that could help making pad compatibility a must for major releases.

 

[Ovek]

Could do in the future. It really depends on how gamers evolve, especially generations of kids that grow up playing games on mobile devices.

That and they will need a better design than that shit show Samsung is about to sell.

 

[Ovek]

I think Google is prep its own gaming device, that could help making pad compatibility a must for major releases.

Google won’t be realising a device but a “service”. An Android app and a iOS app is really all it will be.

 

[DeepEnigma]

If they keep repeating this every generation, maybe some day it will be true.

 

[Domisto]

Yep. Tablets and phones with gamepads are cool devices to play. I already play a lot on them, be it stream from PC, native ports like the Final Fantasies, Dragon Quest, Ace Attorney, RCT Classic (I love RCT1 so much) or emulators like RetroArch and DraStic. Feels convenient, and some pads are slim enough to carry on the pocket even, and still better than carrying multiple devices on the bag, imo.

They won't replace dedicated consoles, I think, but they can be cool companion devices, even more so if you mainly game on PC.

What I imagine is it will first take the phones, then take the tablets, then when it's got enough power it'll take the laptops. That will be interesting. People will basically have a foldable computer with a foldable keyboard and mouse, both wireless, keyfob ssd, maybe external GPU. Able to work, stream, and play indie games, maybe AA titles, stream from PC. All Small and portable.

But for high power stuff, the dedicated consoles and PCs will still be there for a long time. And as long as people are buying a console or desktop it will also run all the lower requirement games so that will slow down the adoption rate of this new tech.

When the OP says in 3 years there will be a revolution, I think it will take much longer. I can see it moving into the laptop space in 5 years, maybe. Providing the tech proves itself and the costs get competitive.

It's gonna be cool regardless.

 

[mcz117chief]

I don't see phones/tables catching up with dedicating gaming devices in a while but it is undeniable how huge of a leap they made in the last few years. I am amazed how great looking games my phone can run despite it being a low-end one from about 4 or 5 years ago (Alien Blackout and Final Fantasy Mobius). Maybe in 10 years you will be able to either buy a PS6 or use a Sony super-phone which will do the same thing with lower res/fps but on a smaller screen, just connect your controller and you are set to play anywhere without the need to carry your TV and console around. I can definitely see this happening.

People will basically have a foldable computer with a foldable keyboard and mouse, both wireless, keyfob ssd, maybe external GPU. Able to work, stream, and play indie games, maybe AA titles, stream from PC. All Small and portable.

I expect to see holographic or other virtual/projected keyboards on phones rather than foldable ones. Or maybe something like in that one episode of Star Trek where they played on a roll-out piano mat. They actually sells these today already.

 

[Voost Kain]

Google won’t be realising a device but a “service”. An Android app and a iOS app is really all it will be.

Google's GDC announcement is literally about showimg off a device.

 

[Domisto]

I expect to see holographic or other virtual/projected keyboards on phones rather than foldable ones. Or maybe something like in that one episode of Star Trek where they played on a roll-out piano mat. They actually sells these today already.

Re: phones. It's tempting to say that there will be a resurgence of a more simple smaller phone sized device. You're not going to want to be interrupted when using your all in one foldable tablet/laptop for all those other things. Carrying a wireless earpiece able to make calls and play music tethered to your system would be convenient. Or just a regular phone, lol.