Foldable Phone: Is It Finally Worth Buying

Bought it out of curiosity

I got the Galaxy Z Fold. 2,097,000 KRW (about $1,550). (Actually on a carrier installment plan -- 87,375 KRW monthly.) Everyone around me said "for that money, just get an iPhone." I almost wavered, but curiosity won. It's a form factor I'd never tried.

Two months in. Bottom line: it's nice, but whether it's worth $1,550 depends on the person.

Unfolded, it's genuinely different

The big screen advantage is real. Web browsing shows desktop-level layouts, video immersion is noticeably better. But what I use most is surprisingly multitasking. Half the screen on Slack, half on Chrome -- genuinely convenient.

For developers specifically, it's great for reading docs. API documentation on a phone is normally painful, but unfolded it's almost tablet-grade. Reading docs on Seoul's Subway Line 2 (the main commuter line through the city) during my commute became comfortable. (I might be the only person reading API docs on the subway though.)

But it's heavy

No way around this. In my pocket, it feels lopsided. I worry about my pants pockets stretching. Too thick for the front pocket, uncomfortable to sit on in the back pocket.

Ended up putting it in my bag, which defeats the portability advantage. My previous Galaxy S24 was 172g. The Z Fold is 239g. That 67g gap feels bigger than it sounds.

The folded state is kind of awkward

Folded, it becomes a narrow, tall screen. Fine for KakaoTalk (Korea's dominant chat app) or Instagram scrolling, but typing is uncomfortable. The keyboard is narrow and I make way more typos. I end up unfolding just to type a text, and unfolding the phone to send one message feels cumbersome.

That's the form factor's dilemma. Folded is too narrow. Unfolded is too big. There's no "just right" size like a regular smartphone.

The screen crease is visible

I was told "modern foldables don't show the crease." They do. Head-on you can't tell, but at an angle there's a visible ridge in the middle. Bothered me at first, but after two weeks I got used to it.

Getting used to it doesn't mean it's gone though. Occasionally I handle someone else's phone and think "oh right, flat screens exist."

Finding a case is its own project

Regular phones have hundreds of case options. Foldables have a handful. Not many designs I liked. Ended up buying Samsung's official case for 79,000 KRW (about $59). Sixty dollars for a phone case. And this case doesn't even protect the hinge. The hinge is the foldable's weak point, and the case just... leaves it exposed. Why?

Haven't dropped it yet, but the anxiety of dropping it is real. It's a $1,550 device, so I handle it more carefully than any previous phone. That's its own kind of stress.

Battery was better than expected

I assumed big screen equals terrible battery, but it's surprisingly okay. Gets through a day on typical usage. "Gets through a day" meaning start at 100% at 8 AM, end at around 17% by 11 PM. Gaming or heavy video watching and you'll need a charger by evening.

The real feeling after 2 months

It's decent. But not "life-changing." The big screen is definitely nice at times, multitasking is genuinely good, and it's optimized for document reading.

On the other hand, factoring in weight, folded-state discomfort, and the price, the advantages over a regular slab phone aren't overwhelming. You need to ask yourself "do I really need a big screen?" first. For someone like me who reads a lot of docs during commutes, it works. For someone who mainly uses social media and messaging, it might actually be less convenient.

No regrets. But if you ask whether my next phone will be a foldable too -- honestly, I don't know. That's the truthful answer.