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| Image source:samsung.com/ |
Flip Phones are on top right now.
These phones are a far cry from the phone you used to learn T9 texting in college. Today's mobile phones are the smartphones of 2023 that fold in half - except for a screen on the front cover.
They've made a comeback of sorts in recent years, but until now have been overshadowed by their l arger, more expensive folding-style counterparts. That's understandable, since their little covers didn't do much other than check the weather and pause the podcast. But that's all changing this year: with a round of updates from Motorola, Oppo, and probably Samsung, flip screens are much bigger and more useful. And that's a big deal.
Samsung is likely to announce the fifth generation Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5 this week at Unpacked, which has become an annual summer folding party. They're slimmer and lighter than last year's models—that's what TM Roh told us, anyway—and both likely use new hinges that fold completely flat. The Z Flip 5 is said to have a much larger cover display than previous generations. Z Fold 5? Well, the rumors point to a very boring update to be honest.
Don't get me wrong. Flip phones are also having a good year. After years of waiting, we got the Google Pixel Fold, and it turned out to be a success, at least by the standards of the first generation. Honor just released a foldable phone that is almost as thin and light as a regular phone, which is an achievement in itself.
OnePlus will likely enter the conversation later this year and could bring some much-needed price competition, with foldables currently sold in the US starting at around $1,700. But even this new line of foldable phones is basically a riff on what was already there. They're essentially no different in design from Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold phones from the past two years. They keep getting thinner, lighter, more durable (thanks?) and, God forbid, cheaper. But in four years, they probably won't look much different than they do now. Flippables, on the other hand, are undergoing a more radical change.
The previous generation of flip-style phones looked like a regular phone with a smartwatch on the front - good for checking information quickly, but not much else. The new foldable screens sit more comfortably between a smartwatch and a full-sized phone.
They're big enough to give you a lot more information at a glance than a watch, but you can't do everything comfortably like you can on a regular phone screen. As a result, you get back some of your attention that you would have spent mindlessly scrolling through Instagram when all you wanted to do was check the weather.
On the other hand, a foldable phone gives you a standard-sized screen on the outside and a tablet-sized screen on the inside. You have at least the usual amount of phone and if you want more phone, you open it and get phone plus. If you like using four apps at once for tasks that normally require a computer, this is a great experience.
But then again, a foldable phone costs almost two grand. And that's where flip phones can gain mainstream appeal: They cost about the same as regular flagships. And price is one of the big question marks in Wednesday's Unpacked: If the Z Flip 5 gets a bigger cover screen, will the price go up? If it stays at $999, it could be bad news for the Motorola Razr Plus. The Moto costs $999, but lacks the full IPX8 water resistance that the Z Flip series has added over the past two generations.
They've made a comeback of sorts in recent years, but until now have been overshadowed by their l arger, more expensive folding-style counterparts. That's understandable, since their little covers didn't do much other than check the weather and pause the podcast. But that's all changing this year: with a round of updates from Motorola, Oppo, and probably Samsung, flip screens are much bigger and more useful. And that's a big deal.
Samsung is likely to announce the fifth generation Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5 this week at Unpacked, which has become an annual summer folding party. They're slimmer and lighter than last year's models—that's what TM Roh told us, anyway—and both likely use new hinges that fold completely flat. The Z Flip 5 is said to have a much larger cover display than previous generations. Z Fold 5? Well, the rumors point to a very boring update to be honest.
Don't get me wrong. Flip phones are also having a good year. After years of waiting, we got the Google Pixel Fold, and it turned out to be a success, at least by the standards of the first generation. Honor just released a foldable phone that is almost as thin and light as a regular phone, which is an achievement in itself.
OnePlus will likely enter the conversation later this year and could bring some much-needed price competition, with foldables currently sold in the US starting at around $1,700. But even this new line of foldable phones is basically a riff on what was already there. They're essentially no different in design from Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold phones from the past two years. They keep getting thinner, lighter, more durable (thanks?) and, God forbid, cheaper. But in four years, they probably won't look much different than they do now. Flippables, on the other hand, are undergoing a more radical change.
The previous generation of flip-style phones looked like a regular phone with a smartwatch on the front - good for checking information quickly, but not much else. The new foldable screens sit more comfortably between a smartwatch and a full-sized phone.
They're big enough to give you a lot more information at a glance than a watch, but you can't do everything comfortably like you can on a regular phone screen. As a result, you get back some of your attention that you would have spent mindlessly scrolling through Instagram when all you wanted to do was check the weather.
On the other hand, a foldable phone gives you a standard-sized screen on the outside and a tablet-sized screen on the inside. You have at least the usual amount of phone and if you want more phone, you open it and get phone plus. If you like using four apps at once for tasks that normally require a computer, this is a great experience.
But then again, a foldable phone costs almost two grand. And that's where flip phones can gain mainstream appeal: They cost about the same as regular flagships. And price is one of the big question marks in Wednesday's Unpacked: If the Z Flip 5 gets a bigger cover screen, will the price go up? If it stays at $999, it could be bad news for the Motorola Razr Plus. The Moto costs $999, but lacks the full IPX8 water resistance that the Z Flip series has added over the past two generations.
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