As sales of foldables stagnate, we take a look at what foldables lack and what they need to fulfill their undoubted potential.
Five years ago, in 2019, Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Z Fold. And we were told by tech experts and pundits all over the world that a new revolution had begun and that the future had arrived in our world, one in which smartphones would replace tablets and perhaps even notebooks. Five years down the line, we are still waiting for these predictions to come true. For no matter how many research agencies bombard us about the potential of foldables and how popular the form factor is, the fact is that foldables have not progressed too far from where they started that day in 2019. Ironically, we realized this when we saw perhaps the best foldable we have seen in our lives so far – the Vivo X Fold 3 Pro.
You will be reading our (very) detailed review of this device in the coming days. However, based on its spec sheet and our initial experience, there is no doubt that the Vivo X Fold 3 Pro is the best foldable we have used. It comes with a reasonably large 8.03-inch internal display while retaining a 6.53-inch external display, both of very good quality, which means it can be used easily when open as well as when shut (a complaint we have had with the slightly long-ish cover display of the Galaxy Fold series). It is also the slimmest and lightest foldable we have used in the phone-plus-tablet form factor, which has been the form factor that has been heralded as revolutionary in foldables (the flips are largely style statements, although, by all accounts, they are doing reasonable numbers). It also is the first foldable we have seen with a reasonably large battery (with super fast wired and wireless charging, too), sports good cameras, and runs on a flagship-level processor.New folds, old problems…and sales are dipping
The problem is that the Vivo X Fold 3 Pro also comes with all the baggage that other foldables have carried over the years. Amazingly, the questions which we have been asked about the latest and (what we think is) the greatest fold phone are the same that we were asked about the first one: is it strong enough (we will find out for sure only after a while), can you feel the crease in the middle (you can), is it still heavier and thicker than most phones (yes, it is), can you easily get cases and screen protectors for it (erm…not quite)…and of course, does it come with an eye-watering price tag (yes, it does!).
This is not to say that no progress has taken place on the fold phone front. Designs have gotten sleeker and tougher, cameras (a problem area early on) are improving by the day, battery life (another problem area) is getting better, and display quality is improving so much that you can use devices like the OnePlus Open and the Vivo X Fold 3 Pro like a normal phone (when shut) and like a tablet (when open).
