Are Samsung's foldable phones any better than your traditional smartphone?

Samsung’s second Unpacked event for 2022 was more about convincing you that foldable phones are better than your current candybar style phone than it was about the devices itself. This ideology of normalising foldable phones and how they fit into your lifestyle was echoed everywhere from the opening ad featuring Emily in Paris stars Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, Bruno Gouery and Samuel Arnold, to the structure of the entire event.

The announcement of the Z Flip 4 was followed by the ideal accessories for the device, namely the Galaxy Watch 5 and the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro. Following this was the unveiling of the Z Fold 4 and its ideal companion, the all-new Watch 5 Pro.

These new devices, particularly the Z Fold 4 and Z Flip 4, are impressive but somewhat boring due to the incremental upgrades Samsung opted for.

Yes, folding phones are eye-catching and different from the sea of candybar style phones that we all rely on, but when your latest generation devices are basically indistinguishable from the previous generation and only bring minor upgrades, are they worth the sacrifices?

Arguably the most appealing device for anyone considering making the jump from a traditional phone to a foldable is the Z Flip 4. Not only is the clamshell design familiar and somewhat nostalgic for those of us who were around when devices such as Samsung’s T100 were all the rage, it’s also more practical for a larger number of people than the Z Fold 4 is.

Not only are you carrying around a phone with a 6.7-inch FHD+ display, you also have an additional 1.9-inch outer display and a slightly larger battery than its predecessor in a device that takes up half the amount of space a candybar style phone would.

If someone described a device like that to me, I’d say that it was nothing short of magic.

The problem is that while folding glass is an incredibly impressive feat of engineering, the rest of the device isn’t better than the equivalent traditional phone such as the S22 or S22+.

Yes, the battery on the Z Flip 4 is larger than the one on the Z Flip 3, but it’s still only a 3700mAh battery. The cameras are slightly improved but they’re not better than the ones found in this year’s S-series devices. There’s an IPX8 rating but that’s only for submersion in up to 1.5 meters of fresh water for up to 30 minutes, it has no dust resistance so good luck taking it to the beach.

The Z Fold 4 follows much of the same pattern. Like the Z Flip 4 it looks nearly identical to its predecessor and features incremental upgrades to the camera while the battery size remains the same as that of the Z Fold 3.

More interesting than either foldable are the new Galaxy Watch 5 and Watch 5 Pro, which have dropped the rotating bezel found on the Watch 4 series in favour of a capacitive version, and the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro which look set to be the first true competitor to Apple’s AirPods Pro.

In an interview with reporters, the head of Samsung Electronics mobile, Roh Tae-moon said that “by 2025, foldable items will take up more than 50% of Samsung’s total premium smartphone shipments,” and that “foldables will become the new standard of smartphones.”

In order for this to become a reality, Samsung needs to convince you that a foldable phone is at least as good as a traditional smartphone, and to do that they need to sell you the vision of a life that’s enhanced by a device that can flex and fold. That’s why the accessories supporting these new devices are as important as the devices themselves, because Samsung knows that to lock you in to an ecosystem, they need to prove that the more Samsung devices you have, the better your experience will be.

What they haven’t done is convince me why this can only be achieved with a folding phone.

If the Samsung ecosystem is so diverse and strong, why can I not get the same powerful ecosystem experience with an S22 Ultra that has an IP rating for both water and dust, has arguably the best camera system of any Android phone and has an S-Pen that’s housed inside the device?

I’m a huge fan of the idea of folding phones, but the reality is that no-one has proven why anyone should choose one over a traditional smartphone which comes with less compromise and more consistency.

There’s also a potential divide on the horizon thanks to the fact that the Z Flip 4 runs on Android 12 while the Z Fold 4 runs on Android 12L (which is specifically designed for tablets and folding phones).

Samsung may own the foldable market but it’s only because they have no meaningful competition, and without competition they’re going to continue to push out minor incremental upgrades while still charging more for a device that isn’t as well rounded as the one already in your pocket.

For a company that has been very critical of Apple’s iterative updates to the iPhone line, it’s interesting that Samsung is now following the exact same strategy.