For years, I’ve been snickering at foldable telephones, the perpetual “subsequent large factor” that by no means fairly will get right here. And whereas I nonetheless suppose Samsung is usually profitable on this market by walkover, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 might need simply made Apple’s case for what a foldable iPhone may appear like. And I prefer it.
The double-stacked tradeoff was at all times a dealbreaker
Ever since its first version, Samsung’s flagship foldable has seemed to me like a cumbersome prototype that someway escaped the lab. Positive, the corporate has iterated on the design and inside mechanics. Nonetheless, I by no means fairly received previous the truth that the Galaxy Z Fold felt like two telephones stacked on prime of one another for the good thing about a second, bigger display screen that, in flip, was a 7-inch answer in quest of an issue.
Which isn’t to say the Z Fold line hasn’t advanced. It has, particularly in the previous few years, because it has managed to benefit from its closed and open footprints (correct app help however).
Nonetheless, one will get the sense that the whole class at all times banked on the cool issue of getting a cellphone that unfolds to an even bigger display screen, hoping that customers would trick themselves into believing that the thick, double-stacked tradeoff was well worth the problem and the value tag.
In the meantime, the previous few years have had no scarcity of rumors about Apple’s intention to launch its personal foldable iPhone. And whereas with each Galaxy Z Fold era, my first response would at all times be “I don’t need the iPhone model of that”, this week’s announcement lastly received me pondering “Oh! I may go for the iPhone model of that!”
Inconspicuosly skinny sufficient
To every their very own, in fact. However with the Galaxy Z Fold 7, Samsung has lastly cracked what I feel is the one factor that’s stored this class from feeling really mainstream: thickness. That is the primary foldable that really seems inconspicuously like an everyday cellphone when it’s closed, and trade-offlessly unfolds into an even bigger display screen.
The Fold 7 is simply 8.9mm skinny when closed, down from 12.1mm of final 12 months’s gadget. Open it up, and it’s a ridiculously slim 4.2mm. For reference, the iPhone 16 Professional is 8.2mm skinny, and the iPhone 17 Air is rumored to be 5.5mm. Sure, the Fold has loads extra inside house to unfold elements and battery round, however nonetheless.
After all, the value nonetheless feels absurd, even for “tomorrow’s tech, right now!” territory. At $1,999.99 for the bottom mannequin, which is $100 bump from final 12 months, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is nearer than ever to the $2100–$2300 rumored value vary of the foldable iPhone.
Would I pay two grand-plus for one? Most likely not. Am I saying Apple ought to simply copy Samsung outright? Nope. However for the primary time, it feels just like the tech is definitely right here to permit for a phone-looking foldable cellphone, fairly than a hinged gadget that was over-engineered into existence.
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