Many of us are nervous about getting a foldable phone because we expect them to be fragile. After all, the first models were! Yet, while more moving parts do mean more things can break, that isn’t the whole story. That’s not even most of the story.
Foldables Are Not New and Experimental Anymore
My first foldable was the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5, which was Samsung’s fifth generation of book-style foldable. With the release of its successor, the Z Fold 6, Samsung has five years of releasing foldables under its belt. Our own reviews already described the Z Fold 5 as having an aging design and the Z Fold 6 as not for early adopters anymore. I’m not breaking new ground here.
While the form factor may still seem new to many of us, Samsung has been making phones with bendable screens for half a decade. This is the same length of time as jumping from the original iPhone to the iPhone 5. Just like the original iPhone, the original Galaxy Fold felt like a beta product. And like the iPhone 5, the Z Fold 6 feels completely mature.
No More or Less Prone to Scratches
When I got the Z Fold 5, I took a chance to carry it around without a case. I didn’t use my usual sleeve (pictured above) either. I wanted to put to the test how durable phone frames and screens have become.
I don’t drop my phone often, but I happened to drop that one quite a bit. Even so, the frame came away in better shape than some of my previous slab phones. The cover display got scratched up quite a bit, but that was the case on my previous Moto Edge+ 2023 as well. As for the inner screen? Not a scratch. No issues whatsoever.
In fact. I’ve since sold that phone to help pay for a Z Fold 6 (which, like the Z Fold 5, I bought second-hand. The reason I had to describe the phone as only being in “fair” condition wasn’t because it was fragile—it was because I allowed it to get banged up under the same conditions any other phone would suffer under. And for the record, while the phone did have visible scratches, they weren’t noticeable when the screen was on.
If I Crack a Screen, I Still Have the Other
I came away from my first experience with the realization that, in one important way, a foldable is actually more durable than any other phone I’ve had. That’s because no matter how banged up my outer display got, I still had a perfectly clear inner display. I personally use the inner display more often than the outer one, so my phone continued to feel “like new” to me in daily use, even if it clearly wasn’t on the outside.
Even if the dreaded occurs, and the inner screen goes crunch when unfolding the phone one day. In that case, I still have the outer display and a functional phone. If one screen goes down, rather than having to go to a repair shop immediately, I have the ability first to back up any apps and files beforehand.
Unless I outright lose my Z Fold 6, the likelihood of losing data is significantly lower than on any other phone. I have to drop my phone in such a way that I lose not one but both displays. That can happen, but I’ve seen Reddit posts of people dropping their Z Fold from rooftops, and even then, their phones were still usable. Take from that what you will.
I Can Even Crack Both Screens and Be Okay
I’m not saying a freak accident can’t happen. It can. Even then, you aren’t entirely out of luck.
If you totally wreck the displays on your Galaxy Z Fold, you can still connect your phone to an external display and access all of your data using Samsung DeX. I have a dock that allows me to connect my phone to a flash drive or even an external SSD.
While Samsung DeX is a fully functional desktop, you don’t actually need this feature to save your data. If you connect a Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold or a OnePlus Open to a computer monitor, they will mirror their display. That experience isn’t as nice as using a desktop mode, but at least it’s there. So, if the phone still powers on and will connect to a dock, you can still get to your data. That said, hopefully, full-blown Android desktops come to more non-Samsung phones soon.
Repair Shops Support Foldables, Too
Once you save your files, you still need to get your phone fixed. In this case, your options will depend a bit on the brand. Repair shops are more likely to support Samsung phones than OnePlus. Google sits somewhere in between.
If a repair shop services Samsung phones, then it generally will fix Samsung foldable as well. At least, this is the case with major chains like UBreakIFix. You will have to pay more to replace the inner screen than the other one, but that’s a cost I’m willing to swallow, considering how useful a foldable has proven to me. It has completely changed the way I work, and I’m willing to either pay for phone insurance or have an emergency fund set aside just in case.
There Are Plenty of Cases for Foldables
If you’re prone to dropping your phone, you can easily find a case for a foldable. You may not be able to walk into any big box store and discover an option in person, but they’re not harder to buy online than a case for any other phone.
Like with slab phones, cases come with different degrees of protection. You can get something sleek and thin, or you can get something that feels built to keep your phone intact when you throw it against a wall in rage. Case selection may have once been an issue for foldables, but that day has passed.
I’ve used foldable phones for around a year now, and I put mine through more extensive use than most. My Z Fold has replaced my PC. I go about my regular workday either directly on my phone or with it placed in a dock, so it’s getting many hours of use each day. Yet, each time I take my phone out of my pocket, I don’t feel the need to baby it any more than any other phone.
Gadgets can break, sure; I won’t deny that. But I’ve had laptop hinges bite the dust faster than this, and that’s a form factor that few people accuse of being too fragile.
Foldables benefit from having multiple screens in a way other phones don’t. A foldable may have more moving parts, but those parts also build in a degree of resiliency that helps me carry my phone, surprisingly, with more peace of mind than I ever have before.