Another year, another company telling us the future is foldable.
Samsung just dropped its latest bendy flagship, and the internet has already split into two camps: people who pre-ordered it in the first ten minutes and people who think spending two grand on a phone that folds is a personality disorder.
It's like a tiny valley running down the middle of your screen, and once you see it, you cannot unsee it.
Samsung says it's "improved," which is corporate for "we know you'll complain but we already have your money." On the bright side, the hinge feels genuinely solid.
It snaps open and shut with a satisfying little thunk that makes you feel like you're operating a very expensive Zippo lighter.
The outer screen is finally usable without squinting, and the multitasking genuinely works — you can run two apps side by side and feel like a productivity god for about four minutes.
But here's the thing nobody wants to admit: you're paying a mortgage payment for a phone that's thicker than a normal phone, heavier than a normal phone, and significantly more fragile than a normal phone.
Drop it once and you're looking at a repair bill that could cover a weekend getaway.
The "convenience" of folding it shut is real, but so is the anxiety of carrying a glass sandwich in your pocket.
But so is every $1,000 phone on the market, and those don't have a fragile hinge that collects pocket lint like it's training for a marathon.
The real question isn't whether it's good.
It's whether folding your phone is a feature you actually need or just a party trick you'll show your coworkers twice before the novelty dies.
For most people, a regular slab phone does 95% of the same stuff for half the price and zero crease-related existential dread.
If you're a gadget nerd with disposable income and a burning desire to be the first person at brunch with a folding phone, sure.
If you're a normal human who just wants a phone that works and doesn't cost more than a used car, maybe sit this one out.
Our take: foldables are getting better, but they're still a solution in search of a problem.
Final Thoughts
The crease is survivable, the price is not, and nobody has ever looked at a folded phone and thought "yes, this is the future I was promised."