When Samsung released its first premium Fold phone, it was a technical feat: it was essentially a thick and tall smartphone that unfolded into a tablet. But it was also kind of a disaster, the folding mechanism crunched on dust, and the “screen protector” that came pre-applied would permanently damage the screen if removed. Samsung’s persistence paid off with last year’s Galaxy Z Fold 4, which seems better able to handle daily use. Now almost every manufacturer, from Honor to Google, is chasing the folding device form factor. Smartphones, including Apple’s iPhones, are getting boring with their iterative updates, so a new form factor could keep people interested with a whole new screen that literally folds away when you don’t need it. Besides the hard-to-completely-ignore center crease and durability questions, foldable are still really expensive, with prices kissing a $2,000 ceiling that zaps away your whole college tech budget. But with foldables trending toward abundance, perhaps a price war is around the corner. Stay tuned here for all the latest on the foldables launching this year, like the Pixel Fold, Motorola Razr, and whatever Samsung has planned next. Just don’t try folding your regular phone in the opposite direction unless, of course, your phone is a Surface Duo.
