Had a Z Fold 4 for a couple of months now and i dont ever want to go back. It feels great in the hand when closed and it is awesome to have a much larger screen available at any time. Crease isnt very noticable on it

Manufacturers are being forced to make their phones last longer with sensible things like replaceable batteries, so they’re coming up with fresh designed obsolescence by adding things that will wear and tear to keep everyone spending $1-2k every couple of years.

I love foldable phones and can’t wait for more manufacturers to hop on board. I have owned every iteration of the Samsung Z Fold series, Z Flip series, and Surface Duo series, and I am now rocking the Pixel Fold.

This form factor that Google adopted is the way to go. A shorter, wider aspect ratio on the outer display makes for an excellent phone experience while allowing you to unfold the device into a proper mini tablet in landscape orientation. I never enjoyed the narrow screen on the Z Fold lineup, so I opened the phone to do almost everything. With the Pixel Fold, I open the phone up only for specific things, such as showing someone else content on my phone, reading, or watching videos.

The biggest issue with foldables is that everyone seems to worry about the device’s durability, which is understandable. I have never had an issue, and I don’t baby foldable phones more than I would a standard slab. I also think the pricing of foldable is a massive turn-off for many folks. Last, many people either refuse to understand the “point” of foldable devices or simply don’t. For example, with me saying that I use the Pixel Fold closed most of the time, some would say, “What’s the point if you’re not going to use the inner display?”. The point with foldables is that you get options. You don’t have to use the phone as a tablet 24/7. At that point, you might as well just get a small tablet. Foldables are supposed to give you a phone experience first while giving you instant access to a larger screen capable of light multitasking and better media consumption experiences than your traditional phone. The beauty of a folding device is that you get the best of both worlds all the time, and you decide how you want to divide your time between the outer and inner displays.

Long comment, but hey, I love foldables, and I will keep buying them. Unfortunately, I think it will take Apple releasing a foldable before they become mainstream :(

After my flip 3 broke not so positive.

I definitely understand that there is a market for it, but personally I’m not interested. They’re expensive, vulnerable, and I have no need for a screen like that. The high prices and vulnerability were excusable in the first few generations, but I feel like we should’ve advanced further by now. I wonder how many people really use one.

Expensive, fragile and rather useless unless you plan to replace your computer and in that case you just made a bad decition. I think it’s a very desperate attempt to hype yet another generation of smartphones no one needs with a gimmick becuase sales go down.

Fold phones fix a problem I don’t have. The tech is interesting, but irrelevant to me

As a woman with tiny pockets I’m considering switching from my (already small) S22 to a Flip-type foldable phone just to not have my phone poke into my hip bone every time I sit down.

Had the Razr 5g, got it new for $600 through a T-Mobile offer. Loved the OS, very similar to pixels. Loved how small it was in my pocket. It became super easy to use daily but… On month 9 a line appeared on my display, that night my phones battery died and upon reboot whole inside screen was messed up. The phone other wise looks pristine, and I have a case that protects it. I never dropped it either. Their one year warranty conveniently does not cover the screen and repair was $950 through Motorola. After arguing the did issue a discount and the phone would cost $750 to repair…when you could get a brand new one on their site for $600 at the time. Ridiculous.

Never buying Motorola again. Might try the Samsung flip in a few years once the tech is solid and affordable.

Foldables are basically the opposite of what I want: a small slab flagship phone, maybe 5" would be ideal. I don’t want it to become huge at any point.

Love the idea. The durability vs price ratio has not yet put this tech into an actually realistic space yet. Too much money for something too easy to break.

Dumb. But I also thought smartphones without keyboards were dumb and look where we are now.

Fantastic if you need a computer in your pocket. Terrible for everything else

Seem like one of the shitttiest ideas out there, done just for the sake of novelty. If you’re lucky you’ll get creases and bad touch responsiveness. If you’re not, it is the most obvious point of failure due to mechanical stress. I could perhaps get behind “rollable” screens or the like (no hard crease), if they prove reliable.

Edit: spelling

I have a Surface Duo 1 and I really think they got the form factor right, as opposed to the folding glass one-big-screen types. The SD also folds backwards so you don’t need (to pay for) three screens. Also, most of the functionality of the Pixel Fold is shown off as multitasking two apps side by side, which is exactly the power user use case the SD was made for.

IMO two-screen side-by-side folders could be down to $1K at this point if they didn’t all employ fragile bending glass and superfluous outer displays.

Also, I like the idea of a Flip… again, without a big outer display. Give me e-ink on the outside or something for the clock and message previews – I’ll open the phone if I need to anyway.