Would you buy a Google Pixel foldable phone? I’m not sure I would.

Opinion message from

Eric Zeman

Foldables are in the news again this week and it got me thinking, would anyone buy these potential new foldable phones? What about them, other than the foldable form factor of course, would make them attractive to consumers? Is there one approach or design that is better than others? Let’s talk.

Huawei kicked things off with the Mate X2. The X2 represents a major change for Huawei. The original Huawei Mate X featured a screen that wrapped around both the front and back of the phone. The X2, however, abandons that approach for a more traditional laptop-style foldable that opens in a similar fashion to Samsung’s Galaxy Fold line. Based on my experiences with the Mate X and the Galaxy Fold, Huawei made the right choice here. The Mate X2 has an 8-inch main screen and a separate outer panel that allows the phone to be used when closed. Unfortunately, this phone will only be sold in China.

Then a rumor erupted that Samsung was making folding screens for a handful of phone makers, including Google, Oppo, and Xiaomi. Google and Xiaomi are looking at the Galaxy Fold-style display, while Oppo is more interested in a design similar to the Galaxy Z Flip. This report corroborates a story from 2019 that Google was interested in foldable phones.

“We are definitely in the process of prototyping the technology. We’ve been doing this for a long time, ”Mario Queiroz, then head of Google Pixel, told CNET. However, Queiroz added a qualifier: “I don’t think there is a clear use case yet.”

Phones don’t have to sell, or at least not well enough.

To complement the new foldable fodder, Samsung has launched a new offering that allows people to try out a foldable phone – the Galaxy Fold 2 or the Galaxy Flip 5G – before purchasing it. The idea is to get people to try out a form factor that they might otherwise ignore.

It was this last story that really marked me. Earlier in February, Samsung slashed the price of the Galaxy Z Flip 5G by $ 250. Likewise, Motorola and Verizon Wireless have cut the cost of the Razr down to $ 500. Now Samsung is hoping that a free trial period will hook users on the life of the foldable phone. Why? Phones don’t have to sell, or at least not well enough. Heck, the the Wall Street newspaper declared the folds a flop in September 2020.

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room first: the cost. Huawei’s new Mate X2 costs almost $ 3,000, the Galaxy Fold 2 nearly $ 2,000, and the Z Flip and Razr-style foldables cost around $ 1,400, roughly depending on the promotions. These prices do not correspond to current consumer spending on smartphones. Clearly, prices need to drop below the $ 1,000 mark before most people weigh a foldable. It is not yet clear whether the new foldables from Google, Oppo or Xiaomi would fall below this amount. It’s doubtful.

Foldable prices don’t match current consumer spending on smartphones.

Then there is the use case of foldables. The two main camps are laptop and flip phone type, the former commander more in stature and cost. A phone like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 is aimed at power users who want a large tablet-like display when the device is open. Meanwhile, a phone like the Moto Razr is a more fashionable choice for those looking to minimize the phone’s footprint. Each of these is a legitimate reason to want a foldable, but the high cost overrun is likely to exceed them.

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Trust is an issue. Execution is important, and Samsung and Motorola get low marks in this department. The original Samsung Galaxy Fold failed dramatically and the first-gen Moto Razr suffered from hinge issues as well. These issues were largely fixed in later designs, but it makes us wonder if the new foldable makers – Google, Oppo, Xiaomi – would be able to do things right with their initial products.

Given the Google Pixel lineup’s long list of hardware quirks over the years, it’s hard to convince. For now, foldable phones are overpriced and unreliable. While the idea of ​​a foldable phone from Google is appealing on a basic level, the Pixel maker has some serious hurdles to overcome.