Phone + Tablet = The Future? Welcome to the Fold

Whenever I travel, whether for business or pleasure, I usually carry two devices: a smartphone to stay connected and a tablet for reading books, writing my weekly articles, watching videos and browsing the web on a larger screen. This time, however, I decided to leave that usual combination behind and take Samsung’s latest innovation, the Galaxy Z Fold8, with its passport-sized form factor, for a test drive.
What surprised me was how quickly I realized that I could replace, or at least significantly reduce my reliance on, both devices with just one. A phone when folded, a tablet when opened. Today, I share my personal experience and honest opinion of Samsung’s latest foldable, and aim to shed light whether the fold is the future of smartphones.
So, what exactly is a fold phone? Simply put, it is a smartphone with a flexible screen and hinge that allows it to fold and unfold, giving you two screen sizes in one device. The concept is not new. Royole introduced the FlexPai in 2018, widely recognised as the first commercially available foldable smartphone. Samsung followed in 2019 with the original Galaxy Fold, helping turn foldables into a serious smartphone category. Since then, several generations have brought improvements in the hinge, durability, thickness, screen and overall experience. Today, Samsung, Google, Huawei, Motorola and others are competing in this space, with Apple also expected to enter the foldable market.
I was among the early adopters when foldables first became mainstream. I bought one for my dad from Samsung, received another for myself from Huawei and later purchased the Honor fold when it was launched recently. Unfortunately, neither experience convinced us that foldables were ready. The Samsung Fold disappointed us in less than a year with hinge issues, the Huawei presented a different challenge due to the US-China technology conflict which meant Google services were unavailable, making it difficult to use as an everyday phone, and finally the Honor despite the quality build did not excite me much with its software (in comparison to the former phones). We, together, subsequently stayed away from foldables. They were expensive toys with great potential but the technology had not yet matured enough to justify the price.
Fast-forward several generations, and my experience with the eighth-generation Fold is quite different. I enjoy using it and I feel the technology has finally grown up. For me, the biggest advantage is the passport-like form factor. A traditional smartphone gives me one screen. A tablet gives me a larger screen but is less convenient to carry. The Fold8 sits comfortably between the two. I can read, write, browse, watch videos, manage emails and multitask on one device that fits in my pocket, whether I am wearing a dishdasha, jeans or a suit.
Of course, there is room for improvement. I would like a stronger camera setup, particularly a better telephoto camera, faster charging, a larger battery, better optimization of apps for the larger screen and improved stylus support. Some apps still do not make full use of the available display, although software updates can hopefully address much of this.
So, is the fold the future? I believe it could be. Not because everyone needs a foldable today, but because it addresses a real problem i.e. how do we carry a larger screen without carrying a larger device? This is where I believe the passport-sized Fold8 has succeeded. For the first time, I feel I am carrying a phone and a tablet in my pocket, something I had been looking forward to for years and something I am now happy to have folded into.
I am confident that, sooner or later, especially as prices come down, foldable technology will become a standard part of the smartphone market, and perhaps a device that many (not just senior executives, but professionals and students as well) will own. Until we catch up again next week, I welcome you to the foldable future. Stay tuned.