2021 has seen foldable phones become far more mainstream, but I’m still not buying a bending handset.
2021 may well go down as the year foldable phones stopped being an expensive proof-of-concept and finally went mainstream. This was the year when the execution started to match that immense futuristic promise, and where meaningful quality-of-life improvements and lower pricing finally brought them within range of ordinary consumers. While I count myself among those ‘ordinary consumers’, however, I wouldn’t count myself in with the foldable converts. There are still too many rough edges, annoyances, and open questions surrounding this cutting-edge section of the market. I watched the foldable market closely in 2021, both through personal interest (I very much like shiny new gizmos) and a sense of professional duty. As a freelance tech writer, I’ve had to research and write about the latest foldable phones for countless news items and features. But my current view of foldable phones really only took shape in August, when I received the two most prominent examples of the format for testing. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 and the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 arrived together, bundled up in a large glossy black box. They made an instant impression on me and a largely positive one at that. If there’s an archetypal foldable phone, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 is surely it. Essentially a fold-out 8-inch tablet with the bonus of ‘normal’ phone functionality when closed, it assuredly treads the same foldable design path that the likes of Huawei, Oppo, and Honor have, or will shortly follow. The Galaxy Z Flip 3 is slightly less familiar – a clamshell device that essentially serves as a regular phone folded in half. It’s decidedly cute, with a sharp style that screams fashion accessory. It also reminds me a little of the Game Boy Advance SP, which is never a bad thing. Perhaps best of all, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 finally brought the price of a foldable phone down to below (just about) £1,000. Here was the first such device that you could recommend to a mainstream audience. The official TechRadar opinion of both phones has been positive.
