Foldable smartphones have reached their fifth major generation, as heralded by Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Fold 5...
For me it's definitely the durability concerns. I've valued my phone's water and dust resistance since getting an ip67 phone years and years ago. My brother had a flip and a grain of sand in his pocket got under the display; when he closed the phone the display died. And they expect me to pay more for the privilege.
I have a foldable and I hate my foldable. I am literally counting down the days until I can get rid of it.
In the beginning, it was fine but I didn’t use the tablet mode as much as I thought I would. It was mostly just videos and manga. Then the hinge started to get dust or debris under it and wouldn’t open all the way. This has slowly gotten worse and worse and I don’t even want to open it even if I have a good use case now.
The outer screen is too thin but it does make it easy to hold and type one-handed at least.
The device is also bulky obviously which is fine but with a case, it’s about an inch thick which is a bit unwieldy.
The battery life is awful, even without using the main screen. I usually have to charge once a day and overnight.
I just miss my Note. Nice big wide screen, comfortable to hold. Massive battery. Nice stylus. :(
I was wanting to get a larger foldable but didn’t because I didn’t want the size. I already own a tablet and the more I thought about it seemed pointless.
I actually used to have one, but even though I was very careful with it, the screen kept breaking from normal everyday use. Eventually, my phone insurance decided they’d no longer cover this type of phone due to it being too fragile, so I went back to using a regular phone.
Mix of cost and it doesn’t actually benefit me at all. I buy a cheap phone and it does everything it needs to, i don’t need to add a 0 to the cost to get no actual benefit for me.
Probably makes more sense for people that actually use their phones for work or something.
I hated the idea until I bought a Fold4. I’m always careful with my electronics, even so, I’ve dropped it several times on accident and had zero issues. I can’t imagine going back to a slab phone, the flexibility of the extra screen real estate is something I use so often that it really would be a significant disruption to my everyday to go back to a slab.
Reliability is a reasonable concern, but the benefits far outweigh the potential risks for me. If you’re breaking phones all the time, they probably aren’t a good fit for you. I don’t bring my phone to beach so maybe I’m more careful than the average user - regardless, I guess that’s why I have a smartwatch.
Maybe battery life, and I don't want to give up my headphone jack and memory card slot. :(
Cost isn't a real concern for me; Samsung has very aggressieve discount pricing where I am, I could get a Z Fold 4 with the same RAM/memory for about 10% more than the S23 Ultra, so I effectively see it as a freebie small tablet with an expensive phone.
The flips smaller size is awesome, but I think that positive is offset by the annoyance of having to open the phone the every time.
The fold I could see myself buying in a later gen. Once the hinge and screen are through a few more iterations I think I’ll buy one. The huge screen is just so nice. But folded up it shouldn’t be much heavier, larger, thicker than a normal phone, I already think modern phones are way too big as it is.
That’s kind of the magic of the flip, it forces you to purposefully decide to open your phone, so for some folks thats a benefit! Being more present in everyday life is something I was focusing on when I was considering the flip for my next phone. I ended up with a fold for other reasons, but that was one of the best benefits I was considering.
I typically buy last generation refurbished. I was able to get the Samsung Galaxy s22 Ultra for sub $800. The last generation Fold is still over $1000. I need the cool-factor to calm down so the old ones are cheaper.
I've had the Fold 2 for about 3 years now and it works like a charm. No issues with battery or folding issues. I would never go back to a non-folding phone.
I tried a Flip 4 but it had way too many compromises for my taste relative to a regular samsung phone in the same price range, I was also concerned about it’s durability as I tend to keep my phones for about 3 years.
Add comment