Are foldable phones the future of mainstream smartphones?

While there are a few foldable phones on the market right now, like the book-style Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 or the clamshell Galaxy Z Flip, loads of companies have confirmed they’re working on their own versions, so we could see a tidal wave of foldables soon.

The main point of foldable phones is that they’re solving a big problem with smartphones. People want bigger and bigger screens, so they can play games, watch movies and just see everything better. But people also want phones that are easy to carry around and fit in a pocket, which big-screen phones always aren’t. How do you get both?

So if you’ve got a medium-sized phone that can be folded down when you’re not using it so it fits easily in a pocket, or a phone that’s medium-sized but opens up to give you a massive screen when you need it, you’re solving that problem. As smartphones get ever-more useful with more things to do, we’re going to be bumping up against the big-screen problem again and again, which is why foldables will become more useful.

Something that puts people off foldable phones is the price - every single one so far has been pretty expensive. So are foldables only for people with loads of money? Well, for now perhaps, but that might not always be the case.

When any new innovation comes to market it costs quite a bit but over time, and as different manufacturers work on the technology too, that price can go down. Just look at high refresh rate screens - they used to only come in premium phones, but now cheap ones have them too.

So while all foldable phones are pretty expensive for now, over time - and maybe sooner than you think - you could pick up a bending phone for a really low price.

Finally, the world of tech is always changing - in the phones world we had massive brick phones, then feature phones, now smartphones, and there’s no reason to believe the buck stops where we are now. In 15 years we might look back at smartphones, how we look back at feature phones now.

While we’ve no way of knowing if we’ll be looking back from the comfort of our foldable phone, there’s no doubt it’s solving a big problem with smartphones, so it seems likely.

That doesn’t mean everyone should go out and buy a foldable phone right now though - it’s still a very new tech, with some issues to get worked out, and it’ll probably take a good few years before buying a foldable becomes normal.

Still, if you decide to make the switch to foldables today, there are some great options on the market, and you’ll be ahead of everyone else in picking up such a form factor.

#GalaxyZFold2 #FoldablePhones #Foldable

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