Are Foldables Folding?

It’s been seven years since the foldable smartphone burst onto the scene, capturing the imagination of nostalgists and harking back to flip phones like the iconic Motorola Razr. And yet, the momentum in the market seems to have slowed. After two years of near-50% volume growth in 2022 and 2023, admittedly from small numbers, CCS Insight estimates that just over 21 million were sold globally in 2024, representing growth of less than 20%. Is this slowdown a momentary blip, or are foldables serving all the demand they will ever really get?

I’ve been using a Samsung flip phone for nearly three years. I first purchased the Galaxy Z Flip3 in 2022 and used it for two and a half years before upgrading to the Galaxy Z Flip6. I’ve also been using the Honor Magic Vs for the past six months as a work phone.

In this blog, I want to share my personal experience with foldables, the case for and against the segment, and pay some lip service to the foldable iPhone rumours — spoiler alert: I’m not convinced.

Foldable smartphone designs can be grouped into three segments: flip, fold and dual-fold. Flip designs have a hinge across the middle of the screen, turning a regular-size phone into a device half the size. Fold designs have a hinge down the side, turning the regular-size phone into a dual-screen device. A dual-fold, with two side-hinges, turns into a triple-screen device.

Below are examples of flip, fold and dual-fold smartphones: the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6, the Honor Magic V3 and the Huawei Mate XT.

My Experience with Foldables

I’ll start with my own experience. I like the Galaxy Z Flip6 — it’s a good phone with impressive battery life, fast processing and an excellent camera. Kudos to Samsung for taking a slightly disappointing product like the Galaxy Z Flip3 and turning it into a genuinely good smartphone. The Honor Magic Vs is also very good; it’s a few years old and a little too thick and heavy, but for a work phone, I can’t complain.

These devices are great conversation starters. Almost everyone who sees one for the first time wants to inspect it and try it out, including trying to bend the phone backward. It’s clear that foldables are intriguing, and the allure of a bendy OLED screen is quite strong for a lot of people. After the initial awe, the questions start to come.

Why did you buy it? Curiosity. I was suckered in by the concept and I genuinely thought they’d be more popular than they are now.

What do you think of it? I like it. It’s a great phone and ultimately does everything I want it to do.

How is this better than my phone? Now, this is a good question and, truth be told, one that I still struggle to answer with any conviction.

I think this third question helps us to understand the main challenge facing foldables. Phones with a flip design are, ultimately, the same as everyone else’s; they just fold in the middle. This is undoubtedly an interesting feature, but it doesn’t add a lot to its functionality. With consumers seeking additions and improvements to their smartphone that add value to or simplify their lives, this doesn’t hit the mark. But it isn’t the only barrier to rising adoption.

The Case Against Foldables

Firstly, the price. The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 retails for more than £1,000, and the latest-generation Honor Magic V3 retails at over £1,500. At this price tier, foldables are competing with premium devices from leading brands — the iPhone 16 Pro Max costs less than £1,500! In western markets in particular, any phone competing with the latest Apple iPhone or Samsung Galaxy S device needs to be unique and extremely useful, or it’ll be shunned by the majority.

This pricing is, to some extent, out of necessity. Foldables need a durable and reliable hinge and multiple screens, some of which can bend. Designs must accommodate the hinge, and batteries are increasingly required to be extremely thin to fit into the devices. These costs all add up.

But for consumers, the fold or flip feature alone isn’t enough to justify the price tag. It seems a logical conclusion that foldables will remain a niche but premium product. That said, we’ve started to see some quite steep price erosion on the flip design by lower-tier brands (see MWC 2025, Tuesday 4 March).

The Huawei Mate XT retails at a scarcely believable €3,500. I’ve heard arguments that this is a measured decision by Huawei to position the device so far above the high end that it becomes more desirable. Think of it as the Balenciaga of smartphones — demonstrably ridiculous but so expensive that it becomes desirable. The problem is that, at these prices, consumers aren’t paying for the product; they’re paying for the brand and bragging rights. Outside China, Huawei doesn’t have the gravitas (quite the opposite) to be a desirable brand, but the device is still turning heads.

Secondly, the size. Encased and folded, foldables are still quite bulky phones — although the new, ultrathin designs we saw at MWC 2025 are gradually changing that. Fans of tight trousers would probably find this larger size to be a deterrent. Unless a manufacturer creates a wireless-charging-only foldable, devices will always have to be thick enough for a charging port, so there isn’t much leeway for foldables to get any thinner.

Thirdly, the usability of flip phones. It’s difficult to open a flip phone with one hand — I’m constantly staggered by how many times I want to use or open my phone with only one hand free. This goes from an inconvenience to a downright nuisance after a while. The phone can be as good as any other, but if I can’t easily open it in a hurry, that detracts from the overall appeal.

The Case for Foldables

Personally, I don’t see much of an argument for the flip design. A regular-sized phone that becomes half-sized and often twice as thick isn’t useful. The half-screen on the front is increasingly usable, but not very practical. If the main feature is just that it folds in half, I struggle to see an argument for these devices becoming anything more than a niche for people who want something different and possibly a little more compact. We expect that these devices will gradually fall down the price curve but remain a niche offering.

I think that the argument for the fold, however, is much stronger. A regular phone that doubles in size can be quite useful. Working on a larger screen is easier in some cases, making it an attractive solution as a work phone. Watching or creating content on a larger screen is also beneficial. It’s almost a cross between a phone and a mini tablet, broadly getting the main benefits of each type of product without a huge sacrifice.

The Wildcard: A Foldable iPhone?

Rumours persist that Apple will release a foldable iPhone. Introducing a foldable iPhone into the market would certainly generate some interest in the category — Apple knows how to sell the story of its products better than most, so it’d certainly be able to convince a proportion of the market to buy a foldable iPhone.

At CCS Insight, we remain unconvinced that these rumours are true — surely Apple can see the way the wind is blowing. We believe that Apple has had concept devices using flexible displays in its development labs for years, but it just sees no need to jump into the market at present.

Should Apple decide to enter the market, the impact is difficult to quantify. Ultimately, it would need to set an ultrapremium price to ensure the device doesn’t cannibalize other parts of its portfolio, establishing a massive barrier to widespread adoption.

The Prognosis for Foldables

In summary, foldables are good, solid, reliable phones with a quirk that seems to appeal to people who want to try something different. I’d suggest that the quirk, in the case of the flip, is nothing more than that. Perhaps it even makes the device less useful than a standard smartphone. It’s difficult to see the flip getting any meaningful growth in the future, even if prices drop substantially.

For the fold, this quirk turns the smartphone into a two-in-one tablet and smartphone. This can be a useful feature. The design is better for working, watching content and, in some cases, gaming. As devices become thinner and cheaper, maybe the fold design can find some renewed momentum. At CCS Insight, we don’t expect global sales of foldables to grow much beyond 35 million units by 2029, accounting for just 3% of total smartphone shipments. A foldable iPhone would energize the market, but we don’t think Apple needs to take the risk.

In the end, there’s one more question I have to ask myself: would I buy another foldable? Probably not, although what will I talk about then?