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A24 TECHNOLOGY
Friday 9 November 2018
Smartphone makers bet on foldable screens as next big thing

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE day, though, that Samsung ing to IDC. Add it all up, and
AP Technology Writer finally provided a glimpse smartphone sales declined
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — at what it's been working by 4 percent during 12
For the past few years, on. months ending in Septem-
the smartphone industry "We have been living in a ber. Samsung, the world's
has been searching for a world where the size of a leading seller of smart-
breakthrough to revive a screen could only be as phones, suffered a 7 per-
market mired in an innova- large as the device itself," cent decline in shipments
tion lull and a sales slump. said Justin Denison, Sam- during that period, based
A potential catalyst is on sung's senior vice president on IDC's calculations. But
the horizon in the form of of mobile product market- it's not clear whether flex-
flexible screens that can ing. "We have just entered ible-screen phones will
be folded in half without a new dimension." have mass appeal, espe-
breaking. Except for a fleeting look at cially when the bendy de-
Samsung and several rivals a device he held in a hand, vices are expected to cost
are preparing to roll out Denison provided scant more than $1,000. Royole
such screens to make de- information about the Corp., a small Silicon Val-
vices more versatile for work phone. Samsung says it will ley company, is hoping to
and pleasure. The foldable be ready to hit the market sell early versions of its Flex-
screens could increase dis- at some point next year. Pai foldable-screen phone
play space to the size of a Smartphone makers are for $1,300 to $1,500 once it
mini-tablet, but fold like a looking for something to comes to the U.S. — some-
wallet so they revert to the excite consumers as they thing that won't happen
size of regular phones. But replace phones less of- until next year, at the earli-
there are questions about ten because new mod- est. For now, it will be avail-
price and durability. els are pricey and aren't able in China starting next
If the new phones fulfill their In this photo taken Monday, Nov. 5, 2018, is a FlexPai smart- that much different from month, at a price equiva-
makers' ambitions, they will phone with a flexible screen displayed in San Francisco. their predecessors beyond lent to about $1,300.
become a leap ahead for Associated Press slightly better cameras and While the idea of a device
an industry whose origins batteries. being able to bend into dif-
can be traced to the old won't need hinges be- screen that's also durable, That's the main reason ferent shapes may sound
flip phones that consumers cause they have continu- Samsung first announced worldwide smartphone good, IDC analyst Ramon
once embraced as cool ous displays that can bend. plans to build a folding- sales have fallen from the Llamas is skeptical about
and convenient. Foldable- In an indication of how dif- screen phone five years previous year for four con- how practical and durable
screen phones, though, ficult it is to make a flexible ago. It wasn't until Wednes- secutive quarters, accord- they will be. q

Google reforms sexual misconduct rules

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE the stories you've shared," entertainment and poli-
AP Technology Writer Pichai wrote in his email. tics — a movement that
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — "We recognize that we has spawned the "MeToo"
Google is promising to be have not always gotten hashtag as a sign of unity
more forceful and open everything right in the past and a call for change.
about its handling of sexual and we are sincerely sorry Google got caught in the
misconduct cases, a week for that. It's clear we need crosshairs two weeks ago
after high-paid engineers to make some changes." after The New York Times
and others walked out in Pichai's email was obtained detailed allegations of
protest over its male-domi- by The Associated Press. sexual misconduct about
nated culture. Google bowed to one of the creator of Google's An-
CEO Sundar Pichai spelled the protesters' main de- droid software, Andy Rubin.
out the concessions in an mands by dropping man- The newspaper said Rubin
email sent Thursday to datory arbitration of all sex- received a $90 million sev-
Google employees. The ual misconduct cases. That erance package in 2014
note of contrition came a will now be optional under In this May 8, 2018, file photo, Google CEO Sundar Pichai speaks after Google concluded
week after the tech giant's the new policies. It mirrors a at the Google I/O conference in Mountain View, Calif. the accusations were cred-
workers left their cubicles change made by ride-hail- Associated Press ible. Rubin has denied the
in dozens of offices around ing service Uber after the allegations.
the world to protest man- complaints of its women substantiated within vari- behind in their training, in- Like its Silicon Valley peers,
agement's treatment of employees prompted an ous company departments cluding top executives, will Google has already open-
top executives and other internal investigation con- and list the types of punish- be dinged in their annual ly acknowledged that its
male workers accused of cluding its rank had been ment imposed, including performance reviews, leav- workforce is too heavily
sexual harassment and poisoned by rampant sexu- firings, pay cuts and man- ing a blemish that could concentrated with white
other misconduct involving al harassment dated counseling. lower their pay and make and Asian men, especially
men. The protest's organiz- Google will also provide The company is also step- it more difficult to get pro- in the highest paying ex-
ers estimated that about more details about sexual ping up its training aimed moted. ecutive and computer pro-
20,000 workers participated misconduct cases in in- at preventing misconduct, The reforms are the latest gramming jobs. Women
in the walkout. ternal reports available to requiring all employees to fallout from a broader soci- account for 31 percent of
"Google's leaders and I all employees. The break- go through the process etal backlash against men's Google's employees world-
have heard your feedback downs will include the annually instead of every exploitation of their women wide, and it's lower for
and have been moved by number of cases that were other year. Those who fall subordinates in business, leadership roles.q