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.
What is the benefit? What improvement does it offer? What is the point of introducing a weakness and simultaneous single point failure in exchange for a phone with a smaller, less durable screen, has a fatter form factor, and makes it more difficult to use to do all the things I actually use my phone for?
Flip phones existed as a way to easily answer and end calls. They went away when touch screens became a more convenient and versatile means of using a device. Nobody talks on the phone anymore. I don’t even have my phone app on my home screen.
Coincidentally, I’ve been looking at these as I’m due a new phone soon.
The flip 5 style has no value apart from gimmick as far as I can see. It goes in your pocket in a smaller height which might be of use to some people but that’s about it. Same volume of phone, same size of screen.
The Fold 5 style makes a lot more sense to me. You get a phone the same size as a normal one (roughly) but then a screen twice sized normal (roughly). I’m sure not everyone is interested in that, but there’s definitely a practical value there for some.