With developer conference season all but wrapped up, we can finally turn our collective attention to my favorite part of the year: hot foldable summer. Sure, this is only the second year where Android users in the US have had a cornucopia of devices to choose from, but considering how impressed I was with hardware from Motorola, Samsung, and OnePlus last year, I’m hopeful this year’s lineup can really cement foldables as my preferred smartphone form factor — and, hey, maybe Google can make good on the promise of its first-gen Pixel Fold.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, though. Before we even face another Pixel foldable — something seemingly destined to arrive in the fall, not in the summer as we saw last year — we have a couple of product launches to go. If you believe the rumor mill, the next few weeks will see new foldables from Motorola and Samsung alike, following up on their respective devices from last year and, hopefully, making the handful of changes needed to become the standout devices they were always meant to be.
I’m of two minds on Motorola’s rumored hardware. On one hand, I loved the Razr+, and found the cheaper Razr to be a solid entry-level foldable especially when it was on sale. On the other hand, neither Razr has seen a single one of its three promised OS upgrades — they’re both still rocking Android 13 — and the overall software experience from Motorola has continued to degrade. While it’s tricky to compare what’s on G-series smartphones to what will be on a more expensive, more premium piece of hardware, I’m still concerned that Motorola is moving backwards, not forwards, on its biggest shortcoming.
Samsung, meanwhile, seems as committed as ever to its usual light upgrade cycles. The Galaxy Z Flip 6 looks virtually unchanged in all meaningful ways from its predecessor, while the Galaxy Z Fold 6 looks to add a slightly wider front display along with the squared edges of the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Neither are revolutionizing what a Samsung-made foldable looks or feels like, but they’re both steps in the right direction for next-gen models.
We’ll likely be waiting a while longer for follow-ups from both OnePlus and Google, perhaps well into the fall. So far, rumors on a successor to the Open are few and far between. Last year’s OnePlus foldable was one of my favorites ever, and if the company can make just a few key changes — wireless charging, faster update cycles, an even slimmer, lighter design — I don’t see that changing. The Pixel Fold, on the other hand, was one of my biggest disappointments of 2023. This year’s model is rumored to sport an entirely new design that should fix the majority of my complaints; I just hope Google doesn’t stick with its rumored name change, too.
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The last time I asked about foldable upgrade plans came two years ago, when the overwhelming number of respondents said they simply weren’t interested in the form factor. A lot has changed since 2022, though. Foldables are cheaper and more plentiful than ever, giving more excuses to buy into this style of device. So, do you have plans to buy a foldable for your next phone? Do you already own a foldable? Or is this just something you’ll never find yourself interested in? While I’m sure the standard slab smartphone will reign supreme, I’m curious to see just how much has changed in two years’ time.
