Larger display, but small pack size, not only sounds practical, it is too. If you want to stand out from the crowd with your smartphone, you can use the foldable. The folding smartphones are still a young device class, the first model only came onto the market at the end of 2018. With the third generation, foldables became more suitable for everyday use, more robust and more useful.

There are essentially two types of folding smartphones: One is folded up for transport and is therefore particularly small and handy with a display surface that is otherwise comparable to conventional smartphones, while the other folders become almost a large tablet when they are opened.

Especially in the first category there are only two models, the Galaxy Z Flip3 5G from Samsung and the Motorola Razr 5G. Both have opened normal smartphone format and are closed only half as long. Although the two cell phones then appear a little thicker, they disappear in every trouser or even shirt pocket. Closing it to hang up after a phone call exudes a cozy, warm retro flair and is reminiscent of the sometimes good, but above all old, days of flip phones.

Technically, the Flip is superior to the Razr, it has the more powerful processor, more memory and better cameras. The Motorola collects points for this with the larger and more practical front display. The legacy of the eponymous cult mobile phone Razr from the 1990s is taken up by the foldable with both the distinctive chin and the software – if you like, you can have the design of the ancestor appear on the display. The street price of both smartphones is just under a thousand euros, and you get for the money Samsung has better hardware and a longer update supply.

The second branch of the foldable family tree reverses the principle. Here, a normal-sized device is not reduced in size for transport, but instead unfolded to achieve roughly twice the display size. The ideal idea: to combine smartphone and tablet in one device. The whole genre began with such a foldable.

The until now largely unknown display manufacturer Royole presented the Flexpai in 2018 and outperformed Huawei, Samsung and Co. in the race for the first folding smartphone. But without sustainable success, because the Flexpai turned out to be not suitable for everyday use: too heavy, not robust enough, performance too weak. Royole later added the Flexpai 2, which can still be imported for around 800 euros, but the company was unable to assert itself.

Huawei initially pursued the same concept as Royole: The flexible display was on the outside; when folded, only the forward-facing part was active; when it was opened, the entire surface was active. In itself a charming idea that does without an additional display for the outside. In everyday life, however, the design turned out to be fatal, the flexible displays are simply too fragile to keep coming into contact with all kinds of objects such as a keychain or table top on the outside. With the Mate X2, Huawei switched to the concept with an internal bending screen and an extra display on the outside. The Mate X2 was never officially sold in Germany and is only available for import at moon prices.

The Motorola Razr 5G takes up the design of the legendary flip phone and complements it with a practical front display.

Currently the safest choice for such a large foldable is the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G. Samsung hides the foldable, almost square screen inside and complements it with an elongated external display on the front. This smaller display is completely sufficient for quick e-mails, reading or photos, you don’t have to open your smartphone for every little thing.

In the third generation, the Fold is protected against water damage in accordance with IPX8, and the new protective layer on the flexible OLED panel is more stable than on its predecessors. Samsung promises that the folding mechanism should withstand opening and closing at least 200,000 times. The cameras come from the Galaxy S20 and are not quite as good as the current top smartphones, but they take useful pictures in all situations. Compared to the previous models, the Galaxy Z Fold3 also added a shovel to the battery, so you can get through the day quite reliably.

For the first time, Samsung has given both the Fold and the Flip support for the S Pen – to the detriment of the Galaxy Note. In addition to the Galaxy S series, the foldables in the high-end segment are now the models of choice among Koreans, and the previously popular Note series has apparently been crushed.

Microsoft has also put a toe into the pond of folding smartphones. With the Surface Duo and its successor, the Surface Duo 2, the software giant from Redmond tries differently than the competition: Instead of a fragile, flexible display, it uses two standard screens that are held together by a 360-degree hinge. That sounds tricky at first, but it has some design-related disadvantages: The gap between the two screens, which cannot be closed completely, hides content.

Without an external display, you basically have to open the duo for all things first, even to answer a call. The camera on the inside in the first Surface Duo was simply overwhelmed, the one on the outside in the Duo 2 was also not up to the task in terms of image quality. In addition, its hump protruding from the housing ruins the design and prevents the duo from being completely folded up or lying down without wobbling. Together with the software weaknesses that Microsoft’s Android surface has been dragging along for about a year, the folding surface devices are only of interest to real Microsoft fans.

The Oppo Find N has been on the market in China since Christmas. The format is wider than that of Samsung.

And which folding smartphones are most common on the counter? If you believe the analysts at Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC), the Galaxy Z Flip3 5G is currently the best seller among the foldables. That fits at least with the manufacturer’s first assessment: In August, at the start of sales, Samsung had given numbers for the pre-orders. At that time, around 920,000 orders were received for Fold and Flip within a week, 70 percent of which were for the smaller and cheaper Flip.

The entire foldable market grew strongly in 2021. DSCC determined a total of around 3.8 million copies sold for around 2021 and sees Samsung at 85 percent market share. The competition from Counterpoint Research presented similar figures, here Samsung is at 80 percent. For 2022, Counterpoint expects an increase in sold foldables to over 18 million copies.

The Chinese company Oppo developed the first foldable for four years, now the Oppo Find N will be launched in the first quarter of 2022. The design is similar to the Z Fold, with significant changes in the format: The Oppo external display is at 18: 9 rather wide than stretched, the internal screen is square. The Find N is initially only available in China, but should make the leap to Europe. The Xiaomi Mi Mix Fold, which is equipped with a 5000 mAh battery, has not yet been sold in Germany.

Apple and Google are not that far yet. Like the first folding iPhone from Apple, the Pixel Fold has so far only consisted of rumors, leaks and dreams of fans of the brands – fulfillment in both cases is still completely unclear.

Google still has an important role to play in the development of the foldables, because of the software. A good ten years after Android 3.0 Honeycomb, the Google developers are again working on their own version of the operating system for devices with large screens. Android 12L is explicitly intended for tablets and foldables and should ensure that the space on the large displays is used, for example with improved multitasking and a different division of the screen content. There is already a first beta for developers, but there is no fixed date for the starting shot. With a specially adapted Android version as a substructure, the surfaces that the manufacturers put over the system should also be able to get more out of the folding format. That will keep the foldable family tree growing.

In c’t 2/2022 we have put together the c’t Emergency Windows 2022 for you. With the kit for the system running from the USB stick, you can find viruses, save data or reset passwords. We shed light on how the EU wants to use loopholes of the GDPR for content scanners, we tested high-end smartphones, mobile USB-C monitors and server software for private media collection. You will find issue 2/2022 from December 31st in Heise shop and at the well-stocked newspaper kiosk.