I wanted to like foldable phones, but the novelty quickly got old

Let’s face it, cell phones, even the best, aren’t that exciting anymore. They’re all way more powerful than we really need, they all have nifty multi-lens cameras, and they all basically look the same. I was really hoping that the foldable phones would give the industry a much needed dose of adrenaline, but well over a year after they arrived, they died out like wet fireworks and left me disappointed.

I worked for CNET for a decade and most of the time I covered mobile phones specifically. I saw a lot of things come and go. I’ve seen the rise and fall of BlackBerrys, I’ve seen weird phone ideas like Russian Yotaphone with its second e-ink screen and I saw the brief trend of curved phones like the LG G4 and Samsung Galaxy Round. But in recent years, it seems that real innovation has been sidelined, with every company clamoring to make what could easily be revisions of the same product.

Think about these phrases: “A big, vibrant screen”, “An excellent multi-rear camera setup”, “An attractive design in metal and glass”. Can you think of many phones that these feelings couldn’t apply to? The upshot is that all phones are pretty good, but that means they’re boring too. The refresh each year adds a few megapixels to the camera, or a little more screen size. Or a slight tweak to a design that basically remains just a rectangular slab.

I understand. Innovation is expensive, and spending millions of dollars researching a new idea means you need the guarantee that it will sell well. LG has discovered this at its cost with phones like the strange and modular G5, which did not sell well and now the company is reportedly looking to sell your telephone business.

So, when foldable phones arrived, my spirits picked up. This was the innovation. Here’s this new tech that really took me back when I first saw it in person and once again got me excited about the possibilities of what phones could become. I know I’m not the only one who liked this idea of ​​the phone that you wear on your wrist like a watch and unfold when you need a bigger screen. But where is it?

The foldables we have are … fine. The Galaxy z flip and Motorcycle Razr The clamshell design is neat in that it makes a big screen phone more sticky by folding it in half, while the Galaxy fold 2 and Huawei mate x are basically tablets that fold in half to become phones, which is good too.

But beyond the curvature screen, they really haven’t pushed any limits. They haven’t changed the way we use our phones or brought about a revolution so revolutionary that it completely changes the face of mobile. They use the same version of Android, with only a few small changes made to some apps to give a little extra functionality, but a little beyond. Really, it’s the same phone as before, but you can fold them in half. I find it very telling that I have the Galaxy Fold and Z Flip in my house, but they’re in a drawer among other old phones and I don’t really want to take them out again.

And you pay generously for this unique feature, as all foldable phones cost significantly more than regular flagships from their respective manufacturers. This, in turn, means that the adoption is low, which hardly encourages these companies – or third-party developers – to think about new creative ways to use this technology. Over time, foldable phones might just be thrown into the pile of other gadgets, alongside banana phones, Samsung Hybrid Camera / Phone and 3d phone screens.

But I hope not. Hope it stays and evolves into something useful and exciting. Frankly, I hope Apple takes up the cause because it tends to embrace new technology only when it can make a truly useful use of it, but maybe not always (I’m looking at you, 3D Touch).

Most importantly, I hope that any mobile phone company isn’t afraid to try to innovate and do something a little different. Phones were fun, and the phone launch events were really exciting to see what awesome new technology was unveiled this time around.

This excitement is no longer where it was. It’s an embers glistening at the bottom of the fireplace now, each generic phone throw threatening to be the bucket of sand that could put it out completely. There’s a chance that folding phones could still be the kindling that turns that embers into roaring hell, but I’m not crossing my fingers.