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Laptop Magazine’s Misguided Analysis of Foldable Smartphones
Laptop Magazine tried to explain why foldables were not selling more and after talking with 5 experts came up with a consensus, they cost too much. Fisher of Tom’s Guide said his experience with the Galaxy Z Fold 2 has been damn-near life-changing. “It has changed every single thing about the way that I interact with my phone. It has replaced my laptop 30% of the time. I've written scripts many times on the phone. I’m talking 2,500, 3,000 words very comfortably. I can't say enough good things about the Fold 2,” Fisher said.
“What would it take for foldables to become more mainstream?” Fisher was asked .
“The price needs to come down significantly,” he said. Fisher isn’t the only one who believes the price is the main deterrent to foldable world domination. Four other phone experts were asked about foldable industry — here’s what they had to say. Zack Nelson is the brains behind the JerryRigEverything YouTube channel, which has nearly seven million subscribers to date.
Fisher, Nelson, Evans, Riley and Ismail are optimistic that foldables will eventually spread like wildfire once their prices drop. Once the public spots the “in-crowd” living an enviable lifestyle with foldable phones, watch consumers jump on the bendable device bandwagon.
These experts seem to lack perspective on the foldable dynamic, the innovation in hinges and durability, the thinning of the product, the increase in brightness, the adoption of the S Pen, the use of a larger screen for video. We got nothing from the price assessment – most breakthrough products take advantage of early adopter purchases, typically at higher margin to overcome lower yields. Sales of a new form factor product can’t be judged after one year. Give it a break guys; the first-generation iPhone sold 1.39 million units in 2007. Samsung’s 1st foldable in 2020 sold 2.5m units.
Figure 1: Global Foldable Smartphone Shipments (m)
Laptop Magazine tried to explain why foldables were not selling more and after talking with 5 experts came up with a consensus, they cost too much. Fisher of Tom’s Guide said his experience with the Galaxy Z Fold 2 has been damn-near life-changing. “It has changed every single thing about the way that I interact with my phone. It has replaced my laptop 30% of the time. I've written scripts many times on the phone. I’m talking 2,500, 3,000 words very comfortably. I can't say enough good things about the Fold 2,” Fisher said.
“What would it take for foldables to become more mainstream?” Fisher was asked .
“The price needs to come down significantly,” he said. Fisher isn’t the only one who believes the price is the main deterrent to foldable world domination. Four other phone experts were asked about foldable industry — here’s what they had to say. Zack Nelson is the brains behind the JerryRigEverything YouTube channel, which has nearly seven million subscribers to date.
- Nelson tortures smartphones, whipping out knives to scratch their displays, slice open their hardware guts, and more. However, it’s all for a good cause. Nelson tears down devices to see how durable they are. Many tech YouTubers review phones from a surface-level, software angle. Nelson, on the other hand, offers his thoughts on hardware. Nelson asked for his thoughts on the foldable industry. “I don’t think people are necessarily opposed to foldables,” Nelson said. “It’s just the novelty of a folding phone isn’t worth double the price of a regular phone. Once the price of a folding phone comes down to a 'normal' level, on par with other non-folding smartphones, we'll see more widespread adoption. The 'wow factor' isn’t worth an extra $1,000 to most people just yet.”
- Austin Evans, a high-energy YouTube tech personality who lets viewers join him through his wild journeys of PC building, next-gen console teardowns, and device unboxings. Nearly five million subscribers tune in to watch Evans tinker with cool gadgets, including the Motorola Razr and iPhone 12 mini. Evans’ commented on why consumers haven’t hopped aboard the foldable bandwagon yet. His theory behind why the Z Flip and its ilk haven’t caught on aligns with other’s views: the price of bendable devices is too damn high. He also believes consumers are wary of foldables’ longevity and endurance. “The prohibitive price is certainly one of the biggest hurdles to overcome, but reliability is another one. Between the complicated hinges and less-than-robust displays, most don't necessarily think ‘durability’ when it comes to foldables,”. Still, Evans is optimistic about foldable phones due to their eye-catching features. “It may take a couple of years, but once the teething problems are worked out, I really believe folding phones will hit the mainstream,” Evans said.
- Sean Riley similar to Fisher, Nelson and Evans, believes the price is a factor, but on top of that, he questions whether foldables have practical relevance in consumers’ lives. “While the technical achievement of folding displays may impress, the actual utility of them is far more difficult to convey,” he said. “In what way can a folding display make a truly meaningful difference in your daily phone usage?” Many foldable devices can transform into mini tablets, but Riley pointed out that Android tablets aren’t well-regarded nowadays, so the concept of a phone-and-tablet-in-one isn’t immediately compelling to the masses. “Other specific advantages like superior multitasking on dual-screen foldables or Samsung’s Flex Mode that brings the same functionality to its hinged foldables are amazing, but harder to convey as crucial,” Riley added. Lastly, Riley said that the pandemic-affected era is simply bad timing for foldables. “One of the biggest advantages that a foldable has to offer is a larger screen experience that is vastly more portable than a traditional phone or tablet. In a typical year, this would be a considerable selling point for those who travel or those who do a lot of work on the go, but the number of people doing either over the last 12 months has obviously been vanishingly small,” Riley concluded.
- Adam Ismail, Jalopnik staff writer and former Tom’s Guide phone expert said “The novelty and wow factor [of foldables] are certainly there, but they're not strong enough to overcome all the other concerns — price and durability being chief among them. Those remain two major catches to foldables,” he said. Adam used the Galaxy Z Flip as an example. He says it’s a compelling device, but it’s $1,199 and it doesn’t even have 5G. “The benefit of having a normal-sized screen that can fold down into a smaller footprint is handy, but let's face it — most people don't have an issue with gigantic phones. So, what's the benefit to the mainstream, then?” Adam said. Durability is another hindrance to foldables’ success, according to Adam. “Most people don't want to baby their phones, but devices like the latest Motorola Razr have known weak points, limited water resistance and plastic substrate displays that are nowhere near as durable as industry-standard Gorilla Glass.” Adam concluded that some foldables often have to make trade-offs with performance and battery. “The end result just isn’t a sound investment for anyone who isn't an enthusiast dedicated to owning the most futuristic tech,” he said. All five phone experts believe sky-high pricing is the main impediment to foldables’ success followed by concerns about durability. As Fisher said on our call, “even though there is water resistance on every one of the modern foldables, it's not certified for ingress protection. You can't put it in a bathtub full of water, take it out and expect it to live. So, the durability needs to be taken to that last step.” The Surface Duo, for example, is ridiculously fragile. If you want to keep Microsoft’s foldable phone intact for years to come, you’d better move into a house made of bubble wrap. Take it from me: One wrong move and the Surface Duo will not survive. What’s the point of spending over $1,000 for a foldable if it won’t last? While the buggy Surface Duo is an example of how to not do a foldable, the Galaxy Z Fold 2 is the paragon of a successful bendable device. But, of course, the Galaxy Z Fold 2 is a second-generation foldable. Samsung addressed the predecessor’s flaws, and according to the stellar Galaxy Z Fold 2’s reviews, the Korean-based tech giant knocked it out of the park. Perhaps the second-generation Surface Duo may redeem itself in the same way — only time will tell.
Fisher, Nelson, Evans, Riley and Ismail are optimistic that foldables will eventually spread like wildfire once their prices drop. Once the public spots the “in-crowd” living an enviable lifestyle with foldable phones, watch consumers jump on the bendable device bandwagon.
These experts seem to lack perspective on the foldable dynamic, the innovation in hinges and durability, the thinning of the product, the increase in brightness, the adoption of the S Pen, the use of a larger screen for video. We got nothing from the price assessment – most breakthrough products take advantage of early adopter purchases, typically at higher margin to overcome lower yields. Sales of a new form factor product can’t be judged after one year. Give it a break guys; the first-generation iPhone sold 1.39 million units in 2007. Samsung’s 1st foldable in 2020 sold 2.5m units.
Figure 1: Global Foldable Smartphone Shipments (m)
