Editorials · Reviewer Insight
I don't want a thinner Galaxy Z Fold 8 — I want Samsung to fix this instead
Fodlable phones have their make or break moment this year. Samsung needs to get every little detail right for them to succeed.
This article may contain personal views and opinion from the author.
The Fold 7 finally fixed the cover screen and thickness problems, but one issue lingers | Image by PhoneArena
For the first time since the launch of the Fold, Samsung is preparing to unveil not one, but two book-style foldables, and I wanted to use these last moment to reminisce about the one issue that I have had with the Fold 7 since the very first time I used it last year.
Samsung made big strides with the Fold 7 in terms of thickness — now the phone is basically as thick as a regular flagship, and when you unfold it, it opens to an even slimmer size. This is amazing engineering, but having a super slim phone had one surprising donwside for me. It was much harder to simply open the phone. With such a thin design and the flat side design of the Galaxy, it's just hard to find a place to grip the phone comfortably to open it.
That's why my biggest wish for the Galaxy Z Fold 8 is surprisingly simple: give us angled, slanted sides that make the phone easier to open.
Samsung solved the biggest Fold problem, but created a new one
Image by PhoneArena
For years of using and reviewing Samsung Galaxy Fold phones, I repeated the same mantra: please, make the phone wider as the cover screen was incredibly uncomfortable to use. I've been saying this for years, but honestly, I wasn't some sort of a prophet — it's abundantly clear for everyone with common sense that since you mostly use foldable phones folded, you need a usable cover screen.
Samsung, however, insisted, and for years we lived in the "remote control" era. On the very first Fold, Samsung used a tiny screen with a 21:9 aspect ratio, which means the screen was very tall, very narrow and just difficult for typing because of that. The diagonal was just too tiny at 4.6-inch diagonal and coupled with the aspect ratio, you had extremely limited width. A normal 2019 flagship was around 70 mm wide, while the OG Fold when closed was only about 63 mm wide.
In the following years, we had more of the same:
- Fold 2 was 6.2 inches with 25:9 aspect ratio
- Fold 3 was 6.2" and 24.5:9 aspect ratio
- Fold 4 and Fold 5 were 6.2" and 23:9 aspect ratio
The first slight change arrived with the Fold 6, which was 6.3" and 22:9.
It took Samsung six years to realize the most obvious of mistakes, and even then I'm not sure if it wasn't just pressure from rising competitors from China. The Fold 7 finally had an actually usable cover screen with a 6.5" size and 21:9 aspect ratio.
What I am saying with this is that Samsung is not quick to realize some very obvious shortcomings of its designs.
Now, in the Fold 7 review, I and many other reviewers pointed out another common sense problem: the flat sides might be better for durability, but make opening the phone much more difficult.
Samsung could make the perfect Fold with one small change
A couple of years ago, other phone brands realized one small design change makes a big difference | Image by PhoneArena
And again, we are facing a similar situation: many brands have seen this and addressed it with a simple solution: slanted edges. This small tweak removes the problem and makes opening the phone effortless.
New-comer Motorola Razr Fold also feels much more effortless to open | Image by PhoneArena
And you don't even need to go to the Chinese-made foldable phones. The recent Motorola Razr Fold is not as thin as the Galaxy Fold 7, but it feels vastly more comfortable to open thanks to its slanted-edge design,
Samsung, however, seems to think we are in another specs race here. We often see the company specifically mention its extremely thin phones. I appreciate that, but that cannot be the only focus, especially with foldables.
Normal phones are easy because you grab the edge, but with foldable phones, the thinner the halves become, the less leverage you have.
Now, I wouldn't cry foul that much if I was the only one with this problem, but I have talked to other reviewers and friends, and all of them reported similar struggles, especially without a case.
Now, I wouldn't cry foul that much if I was the only one with this problem, but I have talked to other reviewers and friends, and all of them reported similar struggles, especially without a case.
The solution is embarrassingly simple
Rumors don't give me much hope for the Fold 8 | Image by PhoneArena
With the new wider form factors and Apple finally entering the foldable market later this year, foldable phones have their big moment.
And it's in the interest of the form factor that Samsung and other companies succeed with this design. The new Flex Titanium hinge that Samsung just revealed yesterday is incredibly exciting. After all, it promises the durability we wanted from foldables from the very first day (and it promises to kill the crease too).
But Samsung should also nail the little detail. The best foldable is the one you enjoy using every time you open it and that process needs to be effortless.
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