This is the year you will want a foldable smartphone, but here’s why you won’t buy one

It’s been seven years, almost to the date, since Samsung announced the original Galaxy Fold and made tech nerds dream. Since then, foldable smartphones have been considered niche devices for enthusiasts. They were too fragile, with questionable performance, damage-prone internal displays, and poor folded experience, which made them unsuitable for mainstream audiences.

Today, all those worries seem to be gone, and we may be ready for the first foldable that will be truly appealing to the mainstream. I’m not even talking about the iPhone Fold. Honor just confirmed that its Magic V6, which is about to launch this weekend, will feature a creaseless internal display and an enormous 6,100 mAh battery.

Adding those improvements to the already slim chassis that made the Magic V5 very comfortable to use when folded, we can say that the seven-year-old dream unleashed by the Galaxy Fold has been fulfilled. Unfortunately, there’s one major issue left with those devices, and it’s unlikely to have an easy solution anytime soon.

Who would want to pay for that?

It would’ve been great for 2026 to be remembered as the year when foldable phones became mainstream, but that’s probably not happening. More likely, this year will be remembered as the time when AI made the smartphone market crash. Some analysts are already forecasting a 13% drop in smartphone shipments because of the DRAM and NAND chip shortages plaguing the consumer electronics industry.

The most tangible effect of the memory crisis is the hefty prices of smartphone components. While that’s set to affect low-end smartphones much more, premium devices won’t be unscathed. Losing its entry-level market, brands like Honor may be forced to extract more profit from their premium offerings. 

Even without those factors, book-style foldables were already some of the most expensive smartphones on the market. Devices like the Honor Magic V5 and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 are about 50% pricier than the slab flagships Magic V7 Pro and Galaxy S25 Ultra. Rumors about the iPhone Fold claim that Apple is willing to cut some corners to keep its price at $2,400, which is still double the iPhone 17 Pro Max.

It’s still worth it

What’s unequivocally true about those devices in 2026 is that they’re worth it. Gone are the days of the fragile and hefty foldable. The Honor Magic V6 will have IP68/IP69 certification for dust and water resistance. The Galaxy Z Fold 7 was already as comfortable to use when folded as any slab smartphone. Thanks to the display and hinge improvements, inner displays don’t break down anymore.

Put in simpler words, with modern foldables you’ll get an excellent smartphone that’ll serve you just as well as any other flagship on the market. However, unlike a Galaxy S26 Ultra or iPhone 17 Pro, you can sit down, unfold it, and enjoy a really nice tablet. Combine that with a mobile keyboard, and you can even get yourself a Chromebook replacement.



All this is true today, before the premiere of the Honor Magic V6 and Oppo Find N6, which are expected to introduce significant improvements over their predecessors. We’re even further from the premiere of the Galaxy Z Fold 8, which is expected to launch in the summer, and Apple’s first foldable iPhone. None of those is likely to be cheaper than current models, but their improvements could make them even more worthy of their hefty price tags.

That’s a tectonic shift for foldable phones. Moving from weird gadgets that few people wanted to own to some of the most attractive smartphones that many people would want to own is a giant step forward. Sadly, just like before, very few people will be able to afford a foldable phone, and that’s unlikely to change anytime soon.