It's hard to believe, but foldable phones are five years old this year. Today is the fifth anniversary of the re-engineered Galaxy Fold going back on sale, following its false start in April 2019.
At the time, foldable phones represented the promise of something new. Something exciting in an industry that had consolidated around the same glass and metal slab. After my first look at the Galaxy Fold, I came away (perhaps overly) optimistic and wrote that foldables "could be the shape of things to come".
It's clear that foldable phones have come a long way, but they're still a niche device category. There's plenty of promise, but there's also plenty of baggage. There's just the question of what's next.
So to mark the Galaxy Fold's fifth birthday, we've got five different takes on foldables from across the WhistleOut Extended Universe. Some of us have been writing about foldable phones from day zero, while others have only used a couple of devices. Despite that, we all have opinions.
Theory and practice
There’s genuine magic in seeing a screen bend for the first time, but the thing that I found most magnetic about devices like the Samsung Galaxy Fold was the promise that a shift in physical form factor might bring with it a change to our relationship with our phones. If there’s an extra layer between you and the universe of apps, games and social networks on your phone then maybe you might be more deliberate about when, why and how much you indulge yourself.
That was the theory anyway. In practice, it feels like foldable phones have quickly become just another type of handset rather than a more thoughtful one. Foldable phones haven’t been a revolution but a reset for consumers’ expectations when it comes to durability, features and value for money. You might be getting a foldable screen but then as much as now, you’re paying more and you’re getting less for it.
It’s true that it only takes one bad day or slip-up to wreck any phone, foldable or not. At the same time, once you’ve had a foldable screen fail on you firsthand, you begin to feel a lot more apprehensive and anxious about the appeal of the entire enterprise. I was thrilled when my Galaxy Z Flip 3 turned up in the post, but I haven’t looked back once since ditching it for something with firmer fundamentals.
Fergus Halliday - Gadgets Editor @ Reviews.org/au
Stick with a brick
Having grown up in the heyday of the O.G. hot pink Motorola Razr, flip phones have always had a special place in my heart.
I’m also a sucker for a gimmick, especially since smartphones these days are so same-same. So when the 2019 Razr was first announced, I was delighted. The idea of a foldable smartphone struck me as both so innovative and so old-school—a rare combination.
Oh, and don’t get me started on the promise that it could actually fit in my tiny pockets.
The problem is that—at least in my experience with foldables—all that novelty, nostalgia and fun does eventually wear off, and in the end, you’re left with a phone that’s filled with compromises. We’re not quite at the point yet where you can expect the same performance of a foldable that you’d expect from a regular non-foldable flagship.
I am confident we’ll get there eventually—maybe even in just a couple of years. But right now, I’m sticking with a brick.
Georgia Dixon - Managing Editor @ SafeWise Australia
A klutz's conundrum
Other than marvelling at the futuristic tech of bendable displays, I’ve never understood the appeal of foldable phones like the Galaxy Z Fold and Google Pixel Fold. My phone is already way too big. I have, however, grown fond of the foldable flip phone. Taking all the tech jam-packed into the modern-day smartphone and folding it like laundry into a neat little square is oh-so-satisfying.
The cover display (the smaller exterior screen) has also become much more useful on foldable flip phones over the last few years. Samsung lets you do most of your basic smartphoning on the Galaxy Z Flip 6's cover display, while the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra enables you to use any app on your smartphone from the cover display. Both make good use of the cover display, but I’ve found Samsung’s approach to be good for avoiding the distractions that lurk within the Reddit and Facebook apps.
But as much as I enjoy using foldable flip phones, I could never justify the price. I’m what some people might call a “klutz” or even a bit of a “silly billy.” I’m constantly dropping phones, putting them in pockets filled with debris, sand, car keys and what have you.
Every time I see even a speck of dust on the Galaxy Z Flip 6, my heart stops. To its credit, Samsung has worked pretty hard at improving the durability of its foldables, but they still pose a risk for buttery-fingered fools like me.
Brodie Fogg - Editorial Lead @ Reviews.org/au
From novel to not
I’ve always been a sucker for novelty phones. From sliding screens that reveal a qwerty keyboard, the Matrix banana phone, to the hot pink Razr, a novel approach to the handheld has always sparked my curiosity. Since the iPhone however, these novel advances have disappeared. We stopped being blessed with technicolour contraptions, and MySpace buttons, instead being forced to settle for a slightly different version of a black rectangle that we know as the phone today.
Not too long ago it felt like we were recapturing some of that joy and curiosity. A bunch of phone manufacturers were folding glass in half, and OPPO debuted a rollable concept phone. Fun phones were back, baby! And yet, just five years since Samsung released the first official Galaxy Fold to the public that novelty has somehow disappeared again.
Don’t get me wrong, I want to love foldable phones. I committed to the Galaxy Z Flip for about 18 months, I have continued to test cheaper foldables from the international market, and I was still so hyped to finally see the Pixel Fold in Australia. But, despite my enthusiasm, I am finding myself underwhelmed.
Samsung has solidified itself as the foldable brand for most consumers. Maybe this is a brand strength issue more so than a product one. Even though OPPO and Motorola have come in as hot competitors (who have outdone Samsung in my opinion), Samsung seems to be treating its foldable range like they’ve got it in the bag.
Despite not having performance parity with its flagships, the past three Z Folds and Z Flips have already defaulted to incremental spec bumps alongside price rises. While other manufacturers like Motorola are making significant improvements year on year, they’re simply not getting enough of a foothold to scare Samsung into refinement. It hasn’t taken long for the innovation to snap shut.
Five years ago the foldable phone made me optimistic for the future of smartphones, but the reality has been a real letdown.
Anula Wiwatowska - Home & Lifestyle Tech Editor @ Reviews.org/au
The cost of compromise
Over the last five years, I’ve reviewed most foldables that have launched in Australia, tried the rest, and even tinkered with devices that never made it down under.
While there’s a day-and-night difference between the first few generations of foldables and the current crop, I’m still waiting for reality to catch up to the ideal. Right now a foldable phone means compromise, in one way or another.
Maybe compromise is to be expected. Foldable phones have two screens, moving parts, and thinner-than-normal bodies. Maybe you need to give up some battery capacity or camera sensor size to achieve that. At the same time, this can make foldables hard to justify when the pricing is as high as it is.
This has gotten better in flip-style foldables, largely thanks to competition. When you look at devices like the Galaxy Z Flip 6 and the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra, you’re still making some trade-offs compared to a slab phone, but at least the pricing is similar.
When it comes to tablet-style foldables, you’re spending at least $2,699 for a device that falls short of devices that cost $1,000 less. It’s an unfortunate conundrum.
I’ve been writing about phones for over ten years now, and new is exciting, but I can’t ignore the value proposition when reviewing phones. The promise of being able to replace two devices with a single foldable is intriguing, but the problem is when the single device isn’t as good as either it’s replacing, but costs just as much as buying them separately.
That being said, I want to see more foldables and better foldables. We’ve seen drastic improvements over the last five years, I just hope it doesn’t take another five for the category to not feel like such a compromise.
Alex Choros - Managing Editor @ WhistleOut Australia
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