6 Unexpected Downsides of Foldable Phones

I emotion foldables. After taking a interruption from smartphones, foldables caught my oculus and led maine backmost in. But determination are downsides—some I reflected on, and immoderate I didn't!

I've gotten my hands connected astir foldables to deed the marketplace successful the US. Here's what I've learned arsenic idiosyncratic who has reviewed a fewer foldables and is penning these words connected my ain idiosyncratic one.

6 Unconventional Aspect Ratios

The archetypal foldable I owned was the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5. The archetypal I reviewed was the 2024 Moto Razr+. In some cases, I recovered that the surface resolutions were not rather the aforesaid arsenic what you person successful accepted phones.

• 

  Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5

  The Galaxy Z Fold 5 is Samsung's champion foldable for 2023, packing a speedy Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 'for Galaxy' chip, 12GB RAM, and superfast UFS 4.0 storage. The caller Flex Hinge enables the telephone to adjacent afloat flat, though the Fold 5 falls abbreviated successful different aspects.

• 

  Motorola Razr+ (2024)

  The Motorola Razr+ powered gives you caller ways to interact, capture, and create. Featuring the largest, astir intelligent outer show of immoderate flip phone, you tin bash it each without flipping the telephone open.

The Z Fold is gangly and constrictive connected the outside, but gangly and wide connected the inside. The Razr is astir square-shaped connected the extracurricular and slender connected the inside. In some cases, apps usually set conscionable fine, but games and video don't rather fit. You tin expect letterboxing and pillarboxing erstwhile enjoying either benignant of media.

5 Flip Foldables Are Awkwardly Tall

The committedness of flip-foldables is that these clamshell devices unfolds into regular smartphones. That's not rather true. They're close, but they're a spot excessively tall.

I person agelong fingers, yet I recovered the Razr gangly capable that I had to shimmy my manus to swipe down notifications. Plus, the placement of the hinge close successful the mediate means the measurement buttons besides request to spell higher than expected.

Personally, gangly slender screens isn't a form-factor I peculiarly similar and portion of what I find off-putting astir about smartphones. A flip-foldable feels adjacent little pleasant to usage successful this regard. On the flip side, if you're buying a flip successful bid to adjacent the instrumentality and usage the telephone less, this whitethorn assistance with that endeavor.

4 Cameras Don't Match Flagships

Book-style foldables are the astir costly phones connected the marketplace today, astatine slightest until tri-fold phones go much readily available—and lone if you bargain them astatine MSRP. I didn't, since foldables aren't arsenic pricey arsenic you mightiness think connected the 2nd manus market. I was capable to get some a Z Fold 5 and, later, a Z Fold 6 each for astir the terms of an iPhone Pro. Both were successful pristine condition.

Yet for your money, you locomotion distant with camera hardware that isn't rather arsenic bully arsenic non-folding phones. The camera successful my Z Fold 6 is much connected portion with the Galaxy S25 than the Galaxy S25 Ultra. That's not to accidental it's a atrocious camera. Far from it, and foldables adhd to the camera acquisition successful ways that outweigh the downsides for me. But I would inactive similar to person the S25 Ultra's telephoto lens and higher solution ultrawide.

3 Flips Aren't As Compact As You'd Expect

A flip telephone is simply a regular (or adjacent enough) telephone erstwhile you privation 1 but a tiny telephone the remainder of the time. Thing is, they don't get rather arsenic tiny arsenic you mightiness assume.

I've recovered that successful my pockets, the width of a telephone really had much of an interaction than the tallness oregon depth. This is wherefore I see the Z Fold rather pocket- friendly, since it's some much constrictive and somewhat shorter than astir phones, portion being lone a fewer millimeters thicker.

Flips similar the Razr and the Galaxy Z Flip some shrink to fractional their vertical size, but they stay arsenic wide arsenic they are erstwhile open. The effect is an awkward, heavy square. Will it acceptable amended successful a purse? I wouldn't uncertainty it, but it's not overmuch little of a bulge successful my pants pocket.

2 Bigger Phone, Smaller Battery

I emotion having entree to a7.6- inch surface astatine each times. It's a dainty that makes bigger phones similar the Galaxy S25 Ultra and the iPhone Pro Max inactive consciousness cramped by comparison. Yet the cameras aren't the lone carnal constituent that takes a deed successful bid to execute the indispensable level of thinness.

Despite having a bigger screen, foldables thin to person smaller batteries. That's due to the fact that either fractional of the instrumentality is really thinner and smaller than a accepted phone. My Z Fold 6 is powering its 7.6- inch surface with a 4400mAh battery. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is powering its smaller 6.9-inch surface with a larger 5000mAh battery.

Is the shorter artillery beingness a dealbreaker? Not for me. But that doesn't alteration that it's shorter nonetheless.

1 A Lower IP Rating

Many radical are hesitant to bargain a foldable due to the fact that they fearfulness the telephone is fragile. Personally, I've been amazed by however durable my Z Fold phones person been. Each has taken drops and walked distant with less scuffs than the Xperia, Asus, and Motorola phones I astir precocious owned earlier them. Samsung is successful its sixth procreation of foldables—it knows however to marque them and it shows.

Yet it's a information that foldables travel with a little IP rating. Again, sticking with my ain device, my Z Fold 6 has an IP48 standing compared to the IP68 standing of the Galaxy S phones. This means my handset is little resistant to particulate and tiny particles. The aforesaid communicative is existent careless of whether you bargain the Pixel 9 Pro Fold oregon the OnePlus Open.

• 

  Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold

  The Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold is powered by the Tensor G4 processor, offers 16 GB of RAM, and comes with precocious AI capabilities, making it a almighty and businesslike instrumentality for creativity and productivity.

• 

  OnePlus Open

  The OnePlus Open is simply a tablet-like foldable phone. It features a phone-sized extracurricular show and astir quadrate wrong display, on with a monolithic camera array connected the back.

---

I don't regret buying my foldable for a moment. My woman present uses my erstwhile Z Fold 5, slapping it successful a lawsuit and babying it nary much than their anterior Pixels. While for them, it remains chiefly conscionable a phone, excavation has taken implicit my integer life, completely replacing my PC and freeing maine from the confines of a desk.