I remember the first time I tried a hybrid electric vehicle, a Toyota Prius, more than a decade ago. I felt it was a momentous change in the motoring landscape. For nearly a century, cars have been powered by a combustion engine fueled by fossil fuels. When hybrids arrived, there were two power sources now—each with a distinct way of propelling a car forward.
But the appeal of a hybrid car was mostly lost on the motoring public. They were too expensive, and people cared more about performance than the environment. Also, the first hybrids weren’t really sexy.
Using the Samsung Galaxy Fold 4 reminds me of hybrid cars. There’s a duality to the Prius (two powertrains) and Galaxy Fold 4 (two screen modes), they’re both premium products compared to their ordinary versions, and they were both ahead of their time. And I like both of them.
Introduced in August 2022, the Galaxy Fold 4 is the fourth version of Samsung’s flagship foldable phone. The first thing that struck me was the stellar build quality. I confess I’m an iPhone guy, but I’ve had my share of Samsung flagships in the past and they were always well-built. But the Fold 4 felt like a solid block of aluminum in the hand. There’s a good heft to it, like you’re—pardon the tacky analogy—holding a gold bar.
Once you insert your SIM card and setup your Google accounts and apps, the Fold 4 immediately does its magic. The external 6.2-inch 120hz screen is already flagship-level, with its bright colors and vibrant images. But there is a moment of awe the first time you open a foldable phone. For more than a decade we’ve gotten used to smartphones in the form of slabs with screens. Then you open the Fold 4 and the 7.6-inch main display greets you with its Dynamic AMOLED 2X screen.
Your brain takes some time to adjust to the sheer size of the folding panel. Most of the usual apps can take advantage of the folding screen, so browsing Facebook, reading emails on Outlook, and replying to messages on Messenger give you generous views. The Snapdragon 8+ chip makes the smartphone experience quite seamless. Planning driving routes using Google Maps is a delight because you see more details.
But similar to other reviewers’ observations, there are popular apps like Instagram that have yet to be optimized for the Fold 4.
Being a square-ish shape, the Fold 4’s screen doesn’t have the best aspect ratio for watching movies and videos. When watching Netflix content, for example, you will inevitably see black bars. But a few minutes into what you’re watching you’ll get immersed and the black bars fade into the background. At least the subtitles are shown on the black bars, letting you enjoy more of what you’re bingeing.
When watching YouTube videos you can open the folding screen to a 90 degree angle so it’s propped up on a flat surface (the hinge is quite strong and can remain in place at almost any angle), but this forces the video to appear solely on one half of the display. My advice is to just get one of those affordable phone tripods from Miniso so you can enjoy all of the Galaxy Fold’s screens.
If you feel like creating content instead of consuming it, the cameras of the Fold 4 are up to the task. This is the first time the Samsung foldable shooters can hang with the big boys. I won’t go too much into detail about the photography, but the Fold 4 will easily handle your everyday photo and video needs. It’s smart and powerful enough to handle tricky lighting situations, with pictures getting a bit of that trademark Samsung color pop.
Ironically, the Fold 4’s biggest asset can also be its most glaring ownership challenge. Folded close this is a very tall phone—longer than what most of us are used to. So holding it and messaging take a bit of getting used to. And when you open it, its sleek and glossy body also makes it a little slippery. For the first few days the Fold 4 will feel unnatural in both modes, as you unlearn the familiarity of holding a rectangle smartphone form. But when you get used to it, reading and texting in both form factors feels more natural.
This Samsung also feels very sturdy. I’ve seen this dissected and ripped apart in a YouTube video, and I was impressed at how strong it has gotten over several iterations. Gorilla Glass Victus+ is used in the front screen and the glass back, with an aluminum frame providing strength to the whole device. I never used a case in the weeks I had the Fold 4, and I felt secure just laying it on tables and stuffing it in my bag. And I never got a scuff or a scratch.
Like all groundbreaking technology, be it hybrid cars or folding phones, they will keep improving and get better. In the Galaxy Fold 4’s case, I feel it has reached a turning point. It is now sturdy, seamless and sexy enough for most people—price aside. If you want to try a new smartphone experience, there’s never been a better time.
