{"id":12137,"date":"2022-08-11T14:44:53","date_gmt":"2022-08-11T14:44:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/08\/11\/samsung-still-hasnt-given-us-a-good-reason-to-buy-a-foldable-phone\/"},"modified":"2022-08-11T14:44:55","modified_gmt":"2022-08-11T14:44:55","slug":"samsung-still-hasnt-given-us-a-good-reason-to-buy-a-foldable-phone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/08\/11\/samsung-still-hasnt-given-us-a-good-reason-to-buy-a-foldable-phone\/","title":{"rendered":"Samsung still hasn\u2019t given us a good reason to buy a foldable phone"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2022\/8\/10\/23300215\/samsung-galaxy-z-fold-4-foldable-phone-killer-app<\/a>
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Folding phones seem, intuitively, like a great idea. Phones are good! Tablets are good! Put them both together, fold it in half, and presto: you\u2019ve made the best of both worlds. Credit to Samsung, too, for willingly subjecting itself to all the growing pains of figuring out how to make a good foldable phone. Last year\u2019s Galaxy Z Fold 3 was a good foldable<\/a>, and the new Z Fold 4<\/a> looks to be even better, if ever so slightly. (I have lots of thoughts about the new era of flip phones, like the Z Flip 4,<\/a> but we\u2019ll save those for another day.)<\/p>\n

What Samsung hasn\u2019t done \u2014 what no one has done yet, really \u2014 is make the case for why you\u2019d actually want a foldable phone. And until it can explain why it\u2019s worth all the extra cost and tradeoffs, I\u2019m having a hard time figuring out why you\u2019d be willing to give up the phone you know and love to get one.<\/p>\n

What Samsung needs to do with the Galaxy Fold (and the rest of the industry will eventually need to do with their own foldables) is convince people that it\u2019s worth buying a phone that\u2019s more expensive, more fragile, and takes up more room in your pocket. <\/strong><\/p>\n

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The Z Fold 4 is a big, big phone.<\/em><\/figcaption>Photo by Allison Johnson \/ The Verge<\/cite><\/p>\n

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Right now, the worst thing about foldables is that they force you to make significant sacrifices on the most important device you own: your smartphone. The new Fold 4 is a little shorter, about an ounce heavier, and about twice as thick as the Galaxy S22 Ultra<\/a>. It\u2019s also $600 more expensive. The Ultra has a bigger battery, better camera specs, and a 6.8-inch screen that supports an S Pen. The Fold 4, when opened, is noticeably larger, but the candy bar phones still get plenty big. And Fold makes a lot of sacrifices for some more real estate.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not even clear to me that Samsung<\/em> knows why you should make all of those sacrifices. On its website, one of the first selling points the company offers is that you can prop up the screen on a table by opening it halfway for watching or taking videos hands-free. Here in reality, we call that a kickstand, and this is an awfully expensive one. In this mode, you\u2019re also only using half the screen, which sort of defeats the whole purpose.<\/p>\n

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