To contrast some of the comments here from people who’ve clearly never used one of these foldables outside of a display case, I’ve had my Fold 3 (the larger folding tablet style) for two years. I came from the Note and S lines, Windows Phone, and have bounced between iPhones. My Fold 3 is in great shape and has survived many falls. It’s definitely durable enough for me. I take care of it, but I get that some people don’t desire to take care of their devices and expect them to be exceedingly durable. Never had anything under the screen. Never take it to the beach unless it’s in a sealed ziplock. I take care not to put it in dusty environments or let sawdust or shavings get into it (hobbies).
Unfolded, it’s better than any other phone out there. Viewing videos enlarged or widescreen is great depending on video and application. During normal usage, the crease is not noticable enough to be a distraction unless viewed from a severe angle (think the person sitting next to you). Unfolded scrolling of Lemmy, the internet, and reading is a better experience than anything else out there - bar none, no argument. The screen is just huge and viewing websites in mobile or desktop is fantastic. It makes the web actually useable from a mobile device. I never use my Galaxy Tab anymore. Samsung does a pretty good job software-wise adapting apps to fit the foldable aspect ratio if a guveb app doesn’t officially support it. More apps are supporting foldables every day.
I would agree with the sentiment that the Z Flip line likely has a more gimmicky purpose. At least the Fold line functions as a tablet and is a decent phone folded up. At least, that is my experience with a Z Flip 3 before swapping for a Fold 3. But I’ll be buying foldables exclusively from here on out. After using the Fold 3 for two years, I can say it’s folding screen is definitely NOT a gimmick.