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00:00things about folding phones right now.
00:11So number one, sales of these things are up every single year, despite them being overall
00:16a pretty tiny fraction of overall smartphone sales.
00:19And number two, it is still very much early adopters and enthusiasts that are buying these
00:24things maybe with one exception, but that's just because they're so expensive.
00:28And they also clearly still need some material science breakthroughs in order to feel like
00:34a regular phone.
00:35But the most interesting thing of them all that I really want to talk about here is how
00:38it so clearly feels like Samsung steers the ship in this particular category.
00:44So we got the very first real foldable, what, around 2019, not that long ago, stuff like
00:49the Royal FlexPai.
00:50It was a hilarious phone, but hey, it was technically a folding phone and we could clearly
00:54tell that the idea was pretty sick.
00:56So the question became, what if these things start to get really good so that they no longer
01:01feel like a science fair project, but that they get to the point where it's like just
01:05a normal phone that happens to fold in half, that would be sick.
01:10So let the R and D begin.
01:11So now it's three and a half years later and we have a bunch of different folding phone
01:14options out here now.
01:16And what I've noticed is they've basically coalesced into three form factors, three different
01:23distinct models or versions of this one, two, three.
01:26So it's the fold, the flip and the others.
01:31So the fold, this is something normal that opens up into something big.
01:36That's the basic idea.
01:37And so the standard among these is Samsung's Z Flip 4.
01:42The competition is getting closer and there's one notable one that I'll talk about in a
01:46second, but basically all of them are starting to look like this one.
01:49I've been using the newest Fold 4 on and off for a few weeks now.
01:53It looks basically exactly the same as last year with slightly more trim bezels.
01:57It has an updated chip set, new cameras, and a more well-hidden internal selfie camera.
02:02So the new chip set has done wonders for this phone.
02:05Performance is consistently very smooth and the battery, while it is the same physical
02:09size as last year, is getting 15 to 25% more battery life because this Snapdragon 8 Plus
02:15Gen 1 has just been so rock solid and efficient while also being more powerful.
02:20And then the new cameras, while they look almost exactly the same as last year from
02:24the outside, they do offer an improvement as well.
02:27Nothing game changing.
02:28I mean, they're flagship quality cameras as far as detail and color and freezing motion,
02:32which is huge, but that's what it is.
02:34The rest of the hardware evolution though has basically come to a stop.
02:38Like we had a much smaller cover screen to start.
02:40Now it is a full corner to corner cover screen.
02:42This one, this final version here is three millimeters wider than last year.
02:45And the main screen on the inside, it stays at 7.6 inches diagonally, but it changes slightly
02:51in aspect ratio from 22 and a half by 18 to 21.6 by 18.
02:56It's still a good looking OLED.
02:58It has a slightly visible and feelable crease through the middle.
03:02And the main improvement is that it's gotten stronger and more durable over the years from
03:06being one of the most fragile components on any phone ever to being able to actually support
03:11a special stylist and not breaking immediately.
03:13And that selfie camera that they hid under this display in this fourth version, it feels
03:17kind of like a gimmick, but it is also now much more impressive visually.
03:21Like it's much harder to see during everyday use that there's a camera back there at all.
03:26You're just looking at the content.
03:27It's almost invisible, but it still takes some of the worst quality selfies I've ever
03:32seen from a modern day phone.
03:34Not even exaggeration at all, you know, it's functional for video calls.
03:38I can get behind its existence, but you should really just be using the back camera to take
03:42selfies on this phone.
03:43The absolute best thing about this new Fold 4, and I'm not even joking, is the new dock
03:48at the bottom.
03:49It's great.
03:50It has massively improved how easy it is to multitask to the point where I actually want
03:54to do it more while using the phone.
03:55It can be a little awkward sometimes that it sits right above the gesture bar, but you
04:00get used to it pretty quickly and it is endlessly convenient to just set up a bunch of custom
04:04apps ready to go whenever you want.
04:06Plus some recent apps on the right.
04:07Maybe the iPad should experiment with a permanent dock like this.
04:11Either way, this is also coming to older Folds as well.
04:13But guess what?
04:14This still comes in at $1799, so it's more expensive than most other phones, and it's
04:19still thicker than most other phones.
04:22But there is competition.
04:24There are alternatives.
04:25So the Oppo Find N, which I did a video on, is basically a Z Fold, but slightly smaller
04:31with a more passport-like ratio.
04:32So that makes the cover screen feel more like a normal phone, a little bit more reachable,
04:37but it also makes the inside screen a bit smaller.
04:40There's also the Huawei Mate X2, which is the Fold, but a wedge shape.
04:44So you can see they do it a little differently with the weight distribution, which definitely
04:47feels different in the hand.
04:49It has its advantages.
04:50It's also a little bit bigger, which means the outside screen is extraordinarily tall,
04:55but the inside screen is now up to eight inches diagonally.
04:59And the Vivo X Fold, which I don't have in front of me, but I've seen videos, feels like
05:02a Fold, but with slightly less of a crease.
05:06But then there's the new Xiaomi Mix Fold 2.
05:09And this one has been extremely impressive to me.
05:12And it actually has possibly real arguments for it over Samsung's standard Z Fold 4.
05:17This is the thinnest and prettiest Fold in the world right now, yet it somehow packs
05:22a larger 4,500 milliamp hour battery inside, which is incredible.
05:26And it also takes a bit of a different approach to the hinge, where it's a little more fluid.
05:30And once you get past 90 degrees, it really wants to snap open.
05:33And once you get close, it wants to snap shut.
05:37There's less stopping halfway and using it halfway folded like Samsung, which, hey, some
05:41people don't really do anyway.
05:42So then there's the Flip.
05:44The Flip being a normal sized phone that folds down into something smaller.
05:49This is actually currently the most popular version of a foldable phone.
05:52And once again, pretty much all the Flips are converging on the Samsung Z Flip form factor.
05:59This being the latest version, which is a very iterative update from the last one.
06:02There are new cameras again for the wide and the ultra wide.
06:05Both 12 megapixels with slightly bigger pixels on the main camera, which helps images get
06:09just a little bit more light.
06:11It's moved to a matte finish on the outside instead of glossy.
06:14And there are more quick controls and functionality on the outside display.
06:18So you can send quick pre-written responses to texts and use more quick settings toggles
06:23or call three of your favorite contacts again, just slightly better.
06:27It's iterative.
06:28And I would guess something that you probably can or will be able to get ported back to
06:32a Flip 3.
06:33But the biggest improvement has absolutely turned out to be the battery.
06:37So not only did it move up to the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1, but the improvements to the
06:41hinge also left room for a physically larger 3,700 milliamp hour battery this year.
06:47You can finally use this form factor all day without sacrificing battery life.
06:51And speaking of the hinge, it's also better than last year.
06:54I think this is the best one they've ever made.
06:56It's just really firm and confident.
06:59And of course it doesn't take up as much space.
07:00The thing about a small fold like this is that you have to open the phone to really
07:04use it.
07:06And depending on what type of person you are, that's either an upside or a downside.
07:10Like for someone like me, I use my phone all the time.
07:13You could call me a power user, right?
07:15I unlock it all the time.
07:17This tiny outside screen is convenient, but it's not enough to do a lot of the stuff I
07:20want to do all the time.
07:21So I have to take it out of my pocket and then open it up, which doesn't sound like
07:25much.
07:26But if you own the phone and use it, it slowly starts to wear on you.
07:29But there are some people who are intentionally trying to use their phone less, which in this
07:35case is actually a huge win.
07:37It creates this small barrier between you grabbing your phone.
07:41How many times do you just check your notifications and then 10 seconds later, you're just scrolling
07:46through something mindlessly.
07:47You don't even know what happened.
07:49This phone can kind of prevent that, but guess what?
07:52There's other flips too.
07:53And they all kind of look like this one.
07:55So you've heard of the Huawei P50 pocket.
07:57It's a flip, but with a small circular outer screen instead of a big rectangle.
08:02You can still buy the older Z Flip.
08:04It's still a pretty popular phone from a lot of carriers in the US.
08:07Even TCL made this foldable that they never shipped, but that also looks exactly like
08:12Samsung Z Flip.
08:14For a little while, the only other flipper that had any real character that was unique
08:19was the Motorola Razr.
08:22And I reviewed the early versions, the first one, two generations really leaned into the
08:25nostalgia bit.
08:27And I liked them.
08:28They were cool.
08:29But now this third version is out.
08:30And not only does it make this hilarious noise every time you open it, but it looks and starting
08:37to feel more and more like a Z Flip than ever before.
08:40I mean, it still has some character, but it's a lot less than the original Razrs.
08:44Is this because they're not creative?
08:46Is this because they're copying just the most popular one?
08:49Or is it because they're all converging on maybe the most technically advanced design?
08:55Or maybe it's a combination of all this stuff or more.
08:57I mean, clearly each manufacturer is putting their own spin on this.
09:01They have to.
09:02But yeah, they're all chasing the Samsung version when it comes to foldables.
09:06And Samsung knows it for the folds and the flips.
09:09So then there's other, just the other foldable phone stuff.
09:14This is where it gets the most interesting because there is no Samsung here.
09:17So I'm considering anything not in the fold or the flip bucket here.
09:21And the most interesting thing about these is their future is way more questionable.
09:26So you have stuff like this, which is the Huawei Mate Xs.
09:30Really interesting foldable, but it folds from the outside.
09:34So I did a whole video on this concept.
09:36I'll link it below the like button.
09:37Basically, I think it looks sick, but there's just no way this version can be as durable
09:44as a normal phone until material science advances significantly.
09:48And there's also been some other concepts.
09:50TCL has famously shown a working prototype of like everything they can think of.
09:56Like they've made tri-folds and rollables and all kinds of weird stuff.
10:00Never actually sold any of it, but just more proof of concept stuff that you can do wild
10:05creative things with a pocketable, flexible OLED display.
10:09At the end of the day though, it's risky to put lots of research and development money
10:14into something that's not proven yet.
10:17On the off chance that it might catch on.
10:19But that's why I think we find Samsung like kind of at the forefront of it steering the
10:23ship because that's what they do.
10:25Remember when they just were kind of the first ones to make a huge phone, they called it
10:29a phablet and they had like the edge of the screen rolling off to the side.
10:33And then suddenly a few years later, every phone was huge.
10:35Like they've tried so many weird things that some of them are bound to stick.
10:40And so the Samsung thing is to just try more stuff.
10:43And they make so much money with the rest of their business that they can sort of afford
10:46to subsidize the R&D of some wild ideas.
10:49So in the future, someday, you know, maybe we'll see a foldable pixel.
10:53Maybe we'll even see a foldable iPhone.
10:55But for right now in 2022, Samsung steers the ship for the foldables market until probably
11:02the next big material science update where these things really start to shrink and improve
11:06again.
11:07And I would bet money that Samsung is the one currently spending the most money on finding
11:12out what that advancement is.
11:13Let me know what you think about foldables in general.
11:15Are you con-