Our folding phone-filled future is so close to reality, and yet so far away

Over the years, there have been a number of enticing smartphone hardware gimmicks that have come and gone. Secondary ticker displays, modular accessory systems, motorized camera lenses, and more — every fun idea is met with hype, only to then fall by the wayside not long after. In many ways, I have come to the conclusion that the tried-and-true candy bar-style form factor is the ultimate form of pocketable computer.

When book-style foldable phones first hit the scene in 2019, I was pretty skeptical about the product category as a whole. In my eyes, the tech was too experimental, the concept too grandiose, and the end result too impractical for mass appeal. Early foldables — including the original Samsung Galaxy Z Fold — were comically thick, and I felt they compromised on much of the traditional handset experience.

Fast-forward a few short years, and my outlook on foldable phone tech has been flipped on its head. After some hands-on time with the Honor Magic V3 late last year, and more recently, getting to test out the Oppo Find N5, I’m now fairly convinced that book-style folding phones are the way forward. What I’m less convinced of, however, is the notion that the category will hit critical mass anytime soon.

Foldable phone hardware has rapidly matured

Inner display durability is the one major hardware compromise that remains a fact of foldable life

Looking back at the aforementioned first-generation Galaxy Z Fold, which was the first high-profile book-style folding phone to hit the US market, one thing is crystal clear: folding phone hardware has experienced a serious glow-up over the past half-decade.

The original Fold featured a tiny cover display flanked by massive bezels, a strange bar-shaped proportionality, the thickness of two regular phones put together, and a head-scratching inner display notch. Today’s flagship folding phones are plagued by none of these issues: bleeding-edge models are all-screen, thinner and lighter than I’d ever thought imaginable, and refined in terms of fit and finish.

Even the dreaded display crease, which was previously an eyesore on most foldables, has been all but mitigated on newer units like the Oppo Find N5. Sure, the crease is still present, but it’s hardly noticeable unless the display is turned off, or you’re going out of your way to angle the phone in broad sunlight.

Presently, one major hardware concern remains a reality when it comes to foldables: durability. The latest models feature official IP water resistance ratings, but no protection against dust, dirt, and sand. If you’re considering going to the beach this summer, and you own a folding phone, I’d highly advise against bringing the vulnerable gadget along for the excursion.

Dust and sand particles will make quick work of your foldable, permanently damaging its hinge system and scratching its inner display to oblivion. If you don’t believe me, just check out one of the many durability tests out there on YouTube. Despite claims of ‘ultra-thin glass‘ or any other marketing terms used by phone makers, the inner displays on modern folding phones are still very much an Achilles’ heel.

Related

The Pixel 9 Pro Fold changed how I feel about book-style foldables

Google’s 2nd gen Fold is the first book-style foldable that actually fits into my life.

Foldables offer a lot of benefits, but it’s unclear whether they’ll ever hit critical mass

A future in which foldable phones rule the roost feels so close, and yet so far away

Aside from inner-display durability concerns, the other major factor holding foldable phones back from true greatness is their cost. Simply put, book-style foldables are still too expensive. The hope is that prices will decrease over time due to economies of scale, but we’ve yet to see MSRPs hit palatable levels for mainstream appeal.

I’d wager that until folding phones hit the $1,000 price point mark and below, they’ll never hit the critical mass necessary to turn the product category into something viable and long-term. As it currently stands, phones like the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold and the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 remain luxury items for those that don’t mind spending on the promise of a high-tech future that could one day be.

This particular state of affairs is unfortunate, because conceptually, book-style foldables check all the right boxes. We rely on our phones for just about everything these days, and additional display real estate adds much-needed flexibility to the mix (no pun intended). For as computationally powerful as regular phones are, they don’t offer a large enough canvas to allow for multitasking or spreading out workflows.

The square-like inner display aspect ratio that most foldables have settled on isn’t the most ideal for widescreen video content consumption, but this is a small price to pay for a phone that can fold in half and that can operate in candy bar-style mode without compromise.

While I was once a deep skeptic of the book-style folding form factor as a whole, I now (mostly) sing its praises. The ability to carry a mini tablet in your pocket at all times is so enthralling a concept, that I sincerely hope the mobile industry doubles down in a fully-foldable direction.

For folding tech to take off, it needs to offer a no-compromise experience, and this most certainly applies to smartphones. If and when folding phones hit both price and durability parity with their candy bar-style kin, then I’ll know that we’ve truly entered into the era of the mass-market foldable handset.

Related

The folding iPhone could be the most expensive ever released

Apple is preparing to release its first foldable iPhone, possibly next year, but it won’t come cheap.