Phones with folding displays from Samsung, Google, and several Chinese phone manufacturers have received a lot of interest, and there are even rumors that Apple is developing one. Many of the gadget blogs and review sites claim these are the future of phones. The concept seems like a great idea: a single device that’s both a tablet and phone that fits in your pocket.
I’ve had an urge to try one ever since Samsung introduced their Z Fold phone six years ago. They now make two variations of phones with folding displays, a standard size phone with a single screen that folds in half (much like the old Motorola flip phone), and the Z Fold, a standard size phone with a display on the front and a larger screen that unfolds from the back. I’ve been trying out a fourth generation refurbished Z Fold4 for the past ten days. Based on the reviews, it’s quite similar to the current and last generation phones, the Z Fold6 and Z Fold5.
The phone has a gee whiz appeal when you remove what looks like a standard size phone from your pocket and open it up like a book to reveal an 8-inch diagonal display, about 80% the size of an iPad.
But after a few days the novelty began to wear off, and I found the phone to be a bit less appealing than I had anticipated. The larger screen didn’t always provide an added benefit over the normal-size screen for such things as email, searching, and browsing, although it was useful for watching videos and displaying spreadsheets. I found I was often switching back and forth between the two screens, trying to figure out which was the best to use in a given situation, and I would sometimes need to sign in again on the second screen, even though I had just signed in on the first one. It was also a bit heavier, but not objectionably so.
One of the reasons the larger screen wasn’t as beneficial as I expected was that apps such as email work just fine on smaller screens. We tend to scroll through a list of emails, open up one at a time, and scroll again through the emails as we read them, using only a small portion of the screen at one time. A larger window doesn’t add much value, particularly as the font size remains the same.
Also, holding the phone is more awkward in its unfolded position. You can either prop it up on your lap like a tablet, try to hold it with just one hand, or hold it with two hands without being able to tap the screen at the same time. You can aslo write on the displays using an optional stylus.
Folding phones have a couple of other drawbacks. They’re very expensive, costing $1700 to $2000, which is why I bought the older model for a third the cost. In addition, the flexible display and hinge mechanisms are more fragile than conventional phones and what the manufacturers imply. While Samsung says their screens have been tested up to 400,000 cycles (they don’t necessarily say that they last that long!), based on my limited experience and on-line reviews, I have serious doubts about their claims.
When I received the Z Fold, the phone and the folding display were pristine. While you could see a slight ridge down the center where the screen folds- by design, it didn’t detract from the large expansive image. But after about a week of use, perhaps 100-200 fold cycles, bubbles began to show up at the top and bottom of the crease due to a separation of the permanent screen protector from the display. After a few more days the two bubbles turned into a very noticeable 1/4 inch wide de-lamination down the middle of the display. It would sometimes recede when I closed the phone for a few hours, but when I opened it, I heard a loud puckering sound from the cover delaminating again.
Before deciding whether to replace it with the same model, I did more checking on forums and chatrooms for Samsung phones. I discovered many others that were experiencing similar issues, some after months of use and even with the newest models. Many were complaining that Samsung would not always cover the repair under warranty, often charging $500 for a screen replacement. And for some it happened multiple times. There is also a class action lawsuit filed against Samsung alleging the screen technology is unreliable.
I returned the phone and opted for a new Pixel 9. I concluded that maybe buying a phone with cutting edge technology, especially as a refurbished product, was not a very smart idea. Perhaps my experience would have been different with the latest Z Fold or Google’s similar model, but I doubt it.
It’s also disappointing how many of the product review blogs, sites, and testers fail to reveal problems like this and continue to praise the virtues of folding phones. These phones may be in our future, but the manufacturers have a lot of work to do to make them as reliable and affordable as our current models.
$64 Q: how long is the warranty?
One year
I inherited a Z Flip3 from my wife in early 2022 (she decided she didn’t like it after three months – just after any possibility of returning it had passed – so I took it rather than let it sit in a drawer). The bubbling at the fold had already started, and shortly after I began using it regularly it became a permanent 1/2-inch “zone of separation” around the fold (that has since begun to crack completely and thus allow dust and debris to accumulate between the plastic laminate covering and the display). The big display is nice to have, although it’s too large for me to operate easily with one hand when it’s open (and the now-permanent fold bubble is annoying when watching videos in landscape mode). I’ve been on “death watch” with it for over two years now and lately it’s giving signs that the battery will give out before the display does.
I can’t tell if this is an endorsement or not — it has been cosmetically problematic almost from the very start but at the same time I’ve been using it continually and successfully throughout (and it HAS grown on me to the point that I’m less certain about which direction I’ll go when the day finally comes to replace it).
Seems like your experience may be more typical than not. It’s hard to fathom how Samsung could have released a product that has created so many problems for so many.
She had a pink Razr back in the day that she LOVED and was hoping to recapture some of that magic. I like the Z Flip3 more than I thought I would (not hard since my expectations were so low to begin with) but I can’t in good conscience recommend such a clearly flawed consumer product despite it giving me 2-/1/2 years – and counting – of otherwise good operation, The ongoing triumph of hope over reality is startling, though, given that the technology STILL doesn’t seem capable of delivering on its promise even after six years of field experience.