Foldable phones are slowly becoming a thing with companies like Royale Corporation, Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo and TCL (Yep TCL they are responsible for Blackberry, Alcatel and Palm phone) launching or showing off foldable phone concepts. I really think foldable phones are cool and the idea is great, but I feel it’s not really practical and for now, it is not going to be cheap to get hence targeted at only a few people.
Neat Not Need
Don’t get me wrong, I really think that Foldable phones are a cool piece of tech and when done right it’s going to be really neat. Like having to unfold your phone into a tablet to show something to someone or just like Samsung demoed; to use navigation. But here lies the case where 1. People don’t really buy android tablets anymore, heck even Google has abandoned the Android tablet category and 2. Those who buy it have a need to separate productivity or multimedia from normal phone tasks. At this point, the only use I personally will have for foldable devices is to show off among my friends…be like “Yo! Can your phone do this?” just that!🤷🏾♂️
The Tech Isn’t There Yet
As we all know glass can’t be bent so to be able to archive the fold, they’d have to use some sort of bendable plastic over the display panels and that got me questioning how durable that is. With how Huawei made their Mate X, which folds outwards, you would end up with scratches on the display way sooner than you’d expect and anytime the devices is stretched up with time you’d start noticing that the plastic starts to bubble up around the point where the fold occurs and the hinges being visible also makes it a bit more fragile in my opinion. And the Samsung Fold is just too bulky with the main phone screen being small and has way too big bezels. They both cost over $1700 in perspective, that’s about GH¢9,392.50 and they are not cheap to make, neither are they cheap to get. At this price point, it’s certainly not meant for everyone, heck you can almost get two full flagship phones with that price. Well, maybe the price can be justified because technically you’re buying a tablet and a phone all in one.
The Future
While I think foldable phones are not really needed and not ready for the mainstream market, I’m really excited and looking forward to seeing what manufacturers do with this new tech and industry trend. Notches on phones went through a development cycle within a year and now we have smaller notches than before. I hope they find cheaper ways to make foldable displays so we also get cheaper folding phones because that’s the only way I’d want to get one; if its price is way cheaper than a tablet and a phone together I shall be willing to try it out.
Well, these are just my opinions so feel free to tell us what you think in the comment section.