Foldable smartphones: are we finally there?

The smartphone has been an essential tool in our daily lives for over a decade now. It lets us communicate — an evolution of its original purpose — but we also use it to pay, travel, take photos, get information, listen to music, enter concerts, unlock our homes and cars. It’s hard to imagine “how we did things before,” even though twenty years ago you’d hardly find a smartphone even in science fiction (Philip K. Dick being the usual exception). We’ve become so attached to them that every now and then, The New York Times publishes a nostalgic piece about “dumb phones” — the ones that can only call and text — just like people once dreamed of returning to nature in the middle of the industrial age.

Smartphones never stopped cannibalizing physical objects and functions, but their form factor has remained the same since that first iPhone unveiled by Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007. Over the years, bezels shrank, pixels multiplied, and cameras evolved with an ever-growing number of lenses. But the design stayed the same. So much so that smartphones became boring: from a hardware point of view, there was nothing left to invent.

Or at least that’s what we thought — until Samsung announced a phone many expected would come eventually, but no one really knew when, or even if. In 2019, the first Galaxy Fold was introduced. The concept was simple: a smartphone that opens into a tablet. A few months later, Motorola revived its classic clamshell Razr brand with the first foldable “flip” phone — a device that folds in half instead of doubling in size, making it easier to carry.

“This is it — the smartphone of the future!” people thought. That moment, incidentally, was just before the pandemic changed our minds about many things. In reality, foldables remained beautiful gadgets to show off during aperitivo, plagued with all kinds of problems, especially screen issues, evolving slowly — and still suffering from one big question: what are they actually for? It’s something I often end up discussing with tech experts, colleagues or analysts, often informally — on the sidelines of product launches or in shuttle rides between venues at big tech events. “Cool foldables… but do you really know what they’re for?”

Exactly. What’s the point of a foldable phone? Regular smartphones are already perfect. Fold-style models are bulky and heavy; flip-style ones need to be opened every time you want to use them… and they’re expensive. Very expensive. Still, nearly every major tech brand — except Apple — has launched foldables. Huawei came soon after Samsung, followed by others like Oppo, Xiaomi, OnePlus, Honor, and even Google, which recently tried to carve out space in the foldable world.

Often these smartphones feel more like “showcase” devices — marketing tools meant to build brand image with a “look what we can do” vibe. Many are only available in a handful of countries, depending on the brand’s strategy. The only company that truly seems committed to foldables is Samsung.

When the second Fold launched a year later, in 2020, I interviewed Jun-yong Song, who leads Samsung’s foldable development team. Like many designers trained in East Asia, he avoids theory or name-dropping design masters — he sees himself pragmatically as a link in a massive process whose ultimate goal is to bring the best possible product to market (and, of course, sell as many as possible). He said two things that still resonate today. The first: “We are always open to what’s new, what’s out there, to what the customers say.” And the second, even more crucial: “The design is really about making the technology beautiful, making sure that the benefits of technology are delivered” (Domus – How to design a foldable phone).

And maybe that’s where Samsung briefly lost its way — enough that the brand leaders got overtaken by Chinese competitors. First by Honor, which with the Magic V2 became the first to make a foldable so thin it looked like a regular smartphone; then by Huawei, which bounced back after difficult years with a “trifold” phone that impressed not only hardcore tech fans — even Il Post, a publication that typically struggles ideologically with consumer tech coverage, wrote about it in Italy. But there’s a catch: they’re Chinese phones. And as we’ve learned over the years, they tend to excel in hardware. But when it comes to interface and user experience, Western brands still lead the way. That’s why the style-conscious tech crowd still prefers Apple — or Google if they must go Android — with Samsung as a sort of hybrid: an Eastern brand with a Western mindset.

At the latest Unpacked event — Samsung’s big product launch — the brand reclaimed the stage. At this point, we can say that the Korean company has clearly defined the two types of “smartfold” and finally figured out what they’re for. And the rapid evolution of smartphone AI plays a crucial role. The two new models, Galaxy Z Fold7 and Flip7, debut with One UI 8 (Samsung’s Android 16-based interface), which integrates advanced smart assistance, including Gemini Live — Google’s multimodal AI assistant — built right into the interface, even on the Flip7’s external screen. It’s hard not to see flip-style foldables as the most sensible form of AI-powered gadget: compact, powerful, equipped with Google chatbots, voice control, camera input, and a 4.1” display that now nearly covers the entire front when closed. You only open it when you need to — and in the future, you’ll open it even less.

But the real star of the launch is the new Galaxy Z Fold7. Compared to the bulky “sandwiches” of previous years, Samsung has finally worked on the thickness, slimming the device down dramatically: it’s now nearly as thin as the flagship Galaxy S25 Ultra (8.9mm vs. 8.6mm). In short, the Fold has finally become what it was meant to be: a powerful smartphone that opens into a small tablet, expanding possibilities for both entertainment and productivity. The camera system has been upgraded to match the Ultra’s, and the battery has been slightly improved too. Sure, the price remains high: €1,279 for the Flip and €2,199 for the Fold — at least in Italy. But with a now-mature design, premium materials, deeply integrated AI thanks to One UI 8 and Gemini Live, and renewed focus on user experience, the Galaxy Z Fold7 and Flip7 are no longer just show-off prototypes — they’re credible candidates for your main phone. Their prices are high, yes, but justified by performance and innovation. They may well mark the true beginning of the foldable era.