Foldable smartphones have reached their fifth major generation, as heralded by Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Fold 5…

For me it’s definitely the durability concerns. I’ve valued my phone’s water and dust resistance since getting an ip67 phone years and years ago. My brother had a flip and a grain of sand in his pocket got under the display; when he closed the phone the display died. And they expect me to pay more for the privilege.

  • LemmyFreak@lemmynsfw.com
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    1 year ago

    What is the benefit? What improvement does it offer? What is the point of introducing a weakness and simultaneous single point failure in exchange for a phone with a smaller, less durable screen, has a fatter form factor, and makes it more difficult to use to do all the things I actually use my phone for?

    Flip phones existed as a way to easily answer and end calls. They went away when touch screens became a more convenient and versatile means of using a device. Nobody talks on the phone anymore. I don’t even have my phone app on my home screen.

    • lotanis@discuss.tchncs.de
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      1 year ago

      Coincidentally, I’ve been looking at these as I’m due a new phone soon.

      The flip 5 style has no value apart from gimmick as far as I can see. It goes in your pocket in a smaller height which might be of use to some people but that’s about it. Same volume of phone, same size of screen.

      The Fold 5 style makes a lot more sense to me. You get a phone the same size as a normal one (roughly) but then a screen twice sized normal (roughly). I’m sure not everyone is interested in that, but there’s definitely a practical value there for some.