Being the age I am, I’m just old enough to remember flip-phones.
A relatively simple concept that has been on my mind lately for reasons I’ll get to. Widely considered obsolete unless you just want a cheap phone to make calls etc., these phones featured a screen on one side, a keypad on the other, with a hinge joint between the two.
The reason that this device has been dragged back to the front of my brain in recent weeks is because I am reminded of them every time I see this:
To be clear: I’m aware that this foldable iphone is not the first foldable modern smartphone (I know Samsung released them years ago also).
But I’m also left wondering: what is the point? I think I can perfectly understand the use of flip phones as they were when they were popular, but foldable phones I just can’t see the benefit. As far as I can see, these foldable type of phones offer little to no benefit that you couldn’t get from, say a regular iPhone or Samsung phone, in terms of the consumer and how they are used in general life. I get that the hardware/software may be different, but that’s not going to be a factor in most people’s daily lives (you’re not going to care about the type of core, or the screen resolution when you make a phone call, etc.) It seems like it’s more of a gimmick from the companies making them to try and make more sales, but even if that’s the case, the product must have something unique to offer, so what is it about foldable phones that are so unique besides the gimmick of folding?
Well, if you’re my friend’s kid, the point is to make it super easy to accidentally shatter the screen when you close it.
Your poor friend lol
Yeah, I felt super bad cuz she had her own flip and it was a year or two old at that point, but her kid closed it on a small bit of something and that was enough, apparently.
Definitely doesn’t make me want a foldable phone, I’m too damned forgetful and would absolutely fuck up my phone like that.
If cost was no different I would get one if they would do it right. Motorola had one that had a normal phone sized screen and then folded in half like a dumbphone but then they put onther screen on the outside. I would like it designed to protect the screen when closed and I don’t want another screen on the outside to be available to break. conversely I use a tablet and having a phone that gave that larger form factor as an option would be great. now really my ultimate though is just a dumb/featur/flip:phone that can act as a mobile hotspot and that you can connect to and go through all the settings and features and such from a web browser to the local address of the phone. especially to upload/download contacts and calendar.
this sounds like one of those “i don’t like this book even though i haven’t read it” kind of things.
Surely you can’t so lack in imagination to understand expended screen real estate on a pocketable. computer is something people might think is a benefit?
I’d be lucky to make a call a month on my Moto Flip (50 ultra),
When i fold it down it’s tiny and easily pocketable and when i flip it open on the 2 hr high speed train ride I just took, it’s a great size. for catching up with a couple videos. It’s unfolded now, the bigger screen at the top of the on screen kb is nice I got this one for an excellent price, 50% of rrp and had $200 in nearly expired vouchers but the screen isn’t that much higher then a slab phone but is 1/2 the size in my pocket and I can do a fair bit on the outside screen re messages etc
I’d like a Samsung Fold 8 but can’t justify the price, also when i travel i think I wouldn’t need a laptop at all, a small foldable kb and mouse because it’s really a pocket computer.
I agree that I don’t see a point. I do want to say, phone is a legacy term though. They aren’t used to make phone calls often.
The advantage I could see would be to use desktop-ratio content on a mobile device. Smart phone resolution has become so common this isn’t an issue though. In fact the wider content is far less supported for phones specifically. There’s probably a handful of jobs where that format is better, but I don’t see the advantage for consumers.
My brother had a foldable Samsung years ago, and it’s the only foldable phone he’s had, which should tell you something. There’s really no advantage and several disadvantages. It’s a gimmick and that’s it.
Because I can’t fit a tablet in my pocket
I own a Motorola razer 2020, absolutely love this phone! It’s five years old. Love that it folds and fits in my hand, pockets, cup holders and the like. When I’m ready I will most definitely get the new Razor.
Cool, but I gotta ask… cup holders? May I ask in what context is one storing their phone in a cup holder?
Driving?
Bigger screen, smaller pocket size.
They also break easier so you have to buy more phones.
I’m gonna throw a big asterisk here though. I bought my current pixel 9 pro fold in 2024 and it didn’t break until today, when I was opening it. I saw nothing to indicate why it happened.
I have dropped it enough to be amazed it’s late this long.
Screen is always protected though and those screens were very easy to scratch.
They can be damaged by dirt getting in the hinge. Iirc, the Pixel fold is the least at risk at an IP68 rating, but other brands tend to be IP4X (the first number is how resistant to particles)
If a piece of sand gets caught in the hinge it can permanently cause the screen to bubble out.
For the record, I’ve had a Samsung Z Fold the past 2 years without much issue besides the cases and protectors always falling apart within a year. And I’m going to switch to a Pixel Fold soon for Graphene OS
It’s a full color tablet that fits in your pocket. That comes with huge quality of life improvements displaying PDFs, e-books, comics, spreadsheets, charts, diagrams, videos, etc. Have you ever tried reading a PDF on a phone screen? It sucks.
I’ve had a fold for a couple years now, and I use the inner screen constantly. If you don’t read as much as I do it’s probably just a gimmick, but it’s great for me.
The foldable screen was a game changer for me. Id never had a ebook reader before and now all of the sudden I can read a book at work on my breaks. But also the coolest part is getting into graphic novels and comics for the first time in my life. Life changing.
the coolest part is getting into graphic novels and comics for the first time in my life. Life changing.
Yup, comics suck on a phone screen. I had been looking for a good color e-reader, and all things considered the portability of the fold made the decision pretty easy
Meh, people go on about productivity and whatnot but I don’t think that’s a good thing, if you need to work you use a computer, need to do both? Then use a laptop, people already have no boundaries between work and personal life, foldables are making it worse.
You could say the same thing about laptops, of having a desktop PC in your house.
How about be an adult and set some boundaries for yourself instead of pretending that since we have improved technology that you’re “enslaved” or something. “Woe is me, Apple hath made it too difficult to avoid my boss with this big luxurious screen!”
Nah, capitalism did that, sweetie. Your toxic boss did that. But you’re a grown up and you can assert yourself without being rude. Practice in front of the mirror if you have to, okay?
I didn’t say anything about work or productivity. Like it is useful for that, but it’s largely for leisure reading.
They break faster than non-folding phones, giving manufacturers an endless source of new revenue.
My Z Fold is rated for 5 years at 100 folds per day. I’ve had it for 2 years and while I don’t fold it nearly that often it’s still going strong
Except they don’t. I’ve had my Samsung flip for years.
Same here! That’s exactly why I buy foldable phones!
you’re not going to care about the type of core, or the screen resolution when you make a phone call…
It’s not really a phone anymore. It’s a portable pocket computer. Being able to unfold a larger screen makes sense for a portable pocket computer.
That’s the reason I got a folding phone. I picked up a used OG Puxel Fold for around $300, installed GrapheneOS, and installed Termux. Unfolds into a large enough screen to make desktop PC application use work well. I regularly code on it and have Qt Creator and VSCode always available. I wish I could put postmarketOS or some other real Linux OS on it, but the screen makes it more viable than my actual Linux OnePlus 6 for desktop application use. It fits in my pocket too, which tablets do not.
Yes, this is the answer and it’s not that hard to understand.
What is hard to understand is the value proposition. Flips are more expensive for a lower spec device, and they’re very unreliable–they’re still breaking alot; wouldn’t expect more than 2 years out of one.
For most people in the pocket computer market, their needs would be more economically served by a high end phone and a mid tablet, or a high end tablet and mid phone, both items having a naturally longer life than a flip, and will each be used less, and are individually replacable.
All-in-all, flip phones are a fine concept, but at their price point and longevity, they don’t make a ton of sense for most people. Just easier to carry a tablet or put up with the smaller screen.
For most people in the pocket computer market, their needs would be more economically served by a high end phone and a mid tablet, or a high end tablet and mid phone
Which makes it frustrating that the tablet market is so tiny compared to the phone one. And many of them have worse specs than even entry-level smartphones (Samsung is still selling the S6 Lite, which has a paltry 4GB of RAM and can barely handle running a single heavy app without crashing).
And Samsung is really quite awful in terms of locking down the OS, second only to Apple, which really has some really good tablets; though it is so damn annoying that the mini has such extreme hardware. It’s like they KNOW that’s the form factor people want, so they make it as expensive as possible.
My daily drivers are a Pixel 7, a 10+ y-o gaming PC running linux, and a mid Galaxy Tab A, mostly for browsing. The Pixel downloads my torrents, and the gaming PC runs my media server and does some AI stuff.
I think I’m happier having several mid-range devices that are adequate for the task they are put to than having fewer devices that are more capable.
Flips are more expensive for a lower spec device
The hell are you talking about? They tend to have roughly the same technical specs as their single-screen counterparts, with the only exception being the camera because of physics.
First, I meant folds, not flips…
Second, you are right; I had some old but also specific information I was misapplying.
That said, it will always be true that you’re paying more for the screen; if you want to pay the same price for a foldable, you’re sacrificing on hardware…
…expensive for a lower spec device, and they’re very unreliable…
We’re all waiting to see what Apple brings out. Perhaps they have come up with a reliable design. Perhaps it will be junk. In any case I agree that the price is not justified for most people today even if it robust and reliable. Personally, I almost never by expensive phones as my use is not very demanding.
I think Apple is buying their screens from Samsung, so wear should be the same. And, Neo aside, Apple is not known for bringing costs down.
Except that the bigger screen doesn’t offer more usability. It’s not the same productivity boost you get from say adding a second monitor or higher resolution screen to a desktop. For the most part the difference between my iPad and iPhone is the layout not the functionality.
I greatly disagree. If you do a significant amount of reading on your phone, it’s really useful to be able to have the larger screen for a slightly larger font (while still scrolling less) and hold it further away from your face.
Also, I’ve used the inner screen of my phone to have 2 separate apps running side-by-side, reading with one side and typing notes with the other, seamlessly. Just like I often do with a second/third monitor on a PC
But if someone could simply buy a bigger phone that fits well in the pocket and is comfortable to carry around, that’s also cheaper and can do pretty much everything the foldable one can do in terms of function (which you can buy) why would you pay extra for one that folds, just because it folds?
The size of screen you get from folding phones is on par with a small tablet and doesn’t come close to fitting in pockets. And even if you could get a pocket that it could fit in, it’d be u comfortable at best and likely to be broken at worst. Folding phones get around both of those problems.
Having a folding phone is more like having a tablet with you all the time, except without the hassle of carrying an extra device around.
I don’t know about you, but I can’t fit an iPad Mini in my pants pocket but I can absolutely fit a folded in half iPad mini in my pocket. That is the point of folding.
What Is an iPad mini? Is it a phone though? I thought it was a tablet? I meant more like the iPhone pro max line, or the Samsung equivalent
Lots of tablets can be used as phones, if they have a baseband modem.
Yes but iPads run on IpadOS, where as iPhones run on standard IOS, which is less powerful.
That’s an Apple problem. There’s plenty of Android tablets that can be used as a phone
If you want to move the goalpost, sure, but standard tablets don’t fit in your pants pocket.
To be clear, I’d never spend that much money on a phone or tablet and it’s fucked up that this is supposed to be the new standard iPhone.
I mean I suppose it’s possible that they could integrate the iPadOS into smartphones at some point, but we all know why they’re not going to do that…
It’s the same thing with a different skin. It’s the hardware that’s powerful or not, not the software.
Is an iPad mini a phone though?
See my previous comment re: portable pocket computer
Well I was asking about phones in the post. See up top
And you were asking for honest opinions, but you turned around and started being hostile and making up bullshit arguments in the comments.
Face it, you didn’t honestly want a cordial conversation. It’s pretty clear you wanted an argument just to try to win against someone with a different opinion
What exactly are you not understanding about my previous comments?
iPads are not pocket computers. No iPad has ever been designed to fit in a pocket as like a phone, so I don’t understand how you’ve arrived at the comparison of a foldable phone to an iPad in terms of size and fitting it in your pocket when iPads are a tablet computer that are not designed to fit in a pocket. I’m not doubting that iPad minis are computers, they’re just not by nature portable pocket computers, so I don’t quite understand why you’re drawing the comparison given that nobody puts iPad minis in their pockets (and if they do they are using them wrong because as far as I’m aware, they’re not designed to do so)
My fold is narrower and fits in my pocket better while also being more or less a tablet for work. No regular phone matches its functionality.
The functionality of a tablet with the portability of a phone. Seems straightforward and practical to me idk
Depends how they fold. Flip folds just give you a nice small phone for pockets, second screen.
No point.
We basically hit the ceiling with phones ten years ago.
There’s no way to improve them without a massive shift in technology [think the shift from prop planes to jets]
Now they have to come up with new gimmicks to convince people to upgrade.
It’s like 1950’s Detroit putting bigger and bigger fins on cars that were basically the same as the 1930’s technology.
It’s like oreos. These are the “double stuff” smartphones, haha.
It’s like oreos. These are the “double stuff” smartphones, haha.
I like the idea that they’re called “double stuff” because they doubled the “stuff” in the middle, but couldn’t think of a better word to call it other than “stuff”
That’s what I suspected.
where is my 16:9 king? it’s long gone 😔
First off, hardly anyone under 50 uses a phone for calling any longer. It’s now a portable computer. I want a device in my pocket with a small footprint most of the time, but when I need a big screen for getting work done, I no longer need to carry around a tablet too. I can just unfold my phone and see a spreadsheet. Or take notes with a stylus. Or make some doodles. Or share a video with my wife or parents more easily that they can actually see.
So, it’s one device that has multiple functions in different forms. It also means I no longer need to have a ~$1200 phone and a ~$900 iPad mini, I can get both in a single $2000 device.
There are some companies making flip phones for the disconnected folks, if your primary need is a phone, go for it. The commodore one actually looks pretty cool.
Pretty sweeping generalization of what people use smartphones for, lol. Gotta love the “nobody but old people” take.
Maybe they meant only children want a device where the largest stress point is the middle of the screen.
Nerd crumudgeons can’t imagine an extrovert who use voice regularly.
It’s funny, in my whole friend group (early 40’s) we all exclusively text in some form. When one of us calls, it’s an emergency. Except for one of us. He insists on calling. And we make fun of him, to his face. But he can’t get over it. Maybe you’re that person in your group. And that’s ok, just like this device - different strokes for different folks.
Ah, so you assume that your friend group = everyone under 50, and you’re an ass to the one person who doesn’t conform to your made up rules.
Wow. Go touch grass. I can’t see wasting my time discussing all the people in the world I interact with that are different than your myopic view.
Man, you should take a step back and calm down. Not everyone on the internet is as confrontational as you seem to be, speaking of myopic differences.
Have a fantastic life!
As the owner of a fold6 I can tell you that one of the reasons I got it is that it could replace the occasional tablet use when you need more space eg maps and pictures.
In that, it succeeded quite well. However, everything is now optimized toward the standard phone format so it’s nice but not really that important.
Would I buy a phone with a foldable display again? No, because after 22 months with like 1 fold a day the protection already comes off (replacing it is only 20€ if paid but I have to go on a field trip to get it made) and the price for the device is just not worth it.
So next time standard format again.
That is definitely not normal, I had my z fold 5 for 2 years and I would say I’m a power user, unfolding it at least 10 or 20 times at minimum per day, and nothing on the phone wore out
They’re referring to the screen protector in the middle. And while I think theirs just wasn’t applied well, they have a point. The inner screen protector for mine just started losing adhesion in the crease a week ago. Not worth the effort or cost to fix imho since I have to focus to see it with the screen turned on, but I can see how others find that annoying
