Samsung, Apple and the rest obsess over the creaseless foldable. But what if we want something else?

Are you getting what you want out of your foldable? Are you happy with its battery, with its cameras, with its screen(s)?

Maybe… and maybe not, but it seems that many of the top players aren't keen to introduce those. At least not in a big way.

Instead, they obsess over the crease in a foldable's inner screen. In their dreams, we, the users, are dreaming about a completely flat, creaseless foldable.

Many of us do, but I'd say there isn't a shortage of people who are perfectly fine with the creases on not just 2026 foldables but on 2025 models, too.

It's complicated

Of course, it's complicated. We buy the things that are available on the market and that's that. Speculating about whether people prefer a completely flat, zero-crease foldable or can live with a reasonable crease isn't possible right now: there's no such "zero-crease foldable".

Not even the excellent Oppo Find N6 delivers a completely flat inner screen. When you unfold it, there's a crease – but the great thing about it is that it's noticeably shallower than before.

I guess the truth is to be found somewhere in the middle. Yes, earlier foldables were atrocious in terms of crease (and durability for that matter, too). They were popular mainly among two groups of people:

• Those who need a big screen for multitasking
• Those who want to show off something flashy and expensive

Both target groups found what they were looking for in the foldables realm. Also, both groups were willing to make compromises with the devices itself – nothing first-gen is perfect.

Then, things took a turn for the better. In recent years, foldables got thinner, stronger and more potent; and in 2025, foldables like the Oppo Find N5 – the current Find N6's predecessor – proved that the flagship experience is no more a slab phone territory.

What now?

It seems that we're at the crossroads. Now that we have great all-rounder foldables, phone manufacturers have to decide where to go.

Should we try to boost battery capacity to 8,000–9,000 mAh levels? Should we try to install quadruple camera setups on our foldables? Should we focus on the display brightness, on the speakers, on the gaming features, on the thermal management, or solely on the software side of things?

Many makers have prioritized the creaseless experience.

It's not just Oppo, but there are numerous rumors that claim it's Apple and Samsung that are also obsessed with the "completely flat inner screen" project.

That can come at a cost. Every feature that manufacturers focus on means that something else gets left behind. For example, Samsung may skip upgrading a key Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Z Flip 8 component for a third year in a row. Instead of M14, the company might stick to the older M13 OLED material.

It's in the middle

Maybe we'll have a truly creaseless foldable one day. That's great and all, but is that our biggest pain point with foldables? What's more, such a handset will surely be shockingly expensive.

OK, to summarize:

• Early foldables were fragile and plagued by pronounced, ugly creases;
• 2025–2026 foldables still come with a crease, but it's much shallower now;
• The creaseless foldable will materialize at a point in the future but will cost an arm and a leg for quite some time.

Even if this hypothetical creaseless foldable materializes in 2027, I think many of us would just prefer the warm company of the 2025–2026 foldable – its crease is good enough to live with.

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