Tech
A brief history of modern foldable phones
A travelogue through the highs and lows of the folding phone era, from creaky hinges to shattered screens. Is this the future we were promised?
After 10 years of the touchscreen slab, it's time for something new. The next phase for smartphones is foldables — devices with screens that fold. Whether that's a phone that folds open into a tablet or a phone that folds in half to become smaller. Everyone from Samsung to Motorola is pushing foldable phones as the next big thing.
There's just one problem: every serious stab at a foldable phone has failed. Companies want us to believe that things will be different this year. But I have my doubts. Overcoming the challenges doesn't seem worth the trouble and so far nobody has made a reliable and durable foldable phone. This is a brief history of how disastrous foldables have been thus far.
