The smartphone industry needs concept products, too

When companies turn to gimmicks as the headline act in a product launch, you know there’s not much really going on.

We can’t blame Samsung Electronics Co and Huawei Technologies Co for releasing $2,000 and $2,600 phones respectively. Foldable screens are kind of cool, I suppose. But so are those weird and wonderful concept cars the auto industry likes to bring out let me remind you about the Ford Nucleon, the BMW Gina and the Chevy Volt which sometimes turn into viable products.

Unfortunately, the tech industry moves so quickly that developers don’t often get a chance to roll out concept devices that are intended to showcase the future more than drive sales.