For years, individuals have decried the monotony of smartphone design. With every annual launch, firms are inclined to recycle the identical options — once they’re not borrowing from each other — with minimal upgrades and hardly any aesthetic modifications, leading to an uninspiring sea of sameness and predictability.
That is why at each tech occasion I’ve attended over the past a number of years, essentially the most keen crowds cluster around phones that defy {hardware} limitations. This yr’s Mobile World Congress was no exception. I wiggled my approach by hordes of individuals pushing to get their palms on foldable, flippable and ultraslim devices.
A few of these telephones are already accessible to buy, like Samsung’s Galaxy Z Trifold and Huawei’s Mate XTs. Others are nonetheless ideas, like Tecno’s superthin Phantom Ultimate G Fold and its modular phone. A handful of others I noticed are on the way in which to retailer cabinets, like Honor’s Robot Phone and Motorola’s book-style Razr Fold.
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As our smartphone choices have expanded, our collective tastes have remained largely the identical. International foldable cellphone shipments hit a file 14% year-over-year growth within the third quarter of 2025, in response to Counterpoint Analysis. However their share of the general smartphone market was simply 2.5% that quarter, retaining foldables firmly within the area of interest sector. Skinny handsets like Apple’s iPhone Air and Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Edge have reportedly been underwhelming, with advertising and marketing buzz not matching as much as real-world adoption. Even at a tech convention like MWC, I hardly ever noticed attendees toting something apart from a typical slab cellphone.
“Simply because one thing seems nice, does not imply you need it on the finish of the day,” IDC Senior Analysis Director Nabila Popal told me in December.
Novelty and adoption stay two separate spheres on this planet of cellular design. It is refreshing to see cellphone producers department into extra bold kind components, however these configurations have but to graduate from spectacle to staple. And maybe that is by design; one thing can solely be buzz-worthy if not everybody owns it. However the argument that there is a lack of fascinating telephones loses benefit with every passing yr of {hardware} innovation — even when flagship units proceed to really feel like copy-paste variations of their predecessors.
A lot of the hole between area of interest cellphone hype and adoption boils right down to their needing to be more practical. Foldables, as an illustration, have come a great distance with bettering camera quality and battery life, however they nonetheless lag behind what you may get on high-end flat telephones. The identical goes for skinny telephones just like the Galaxy S25 Edge and iPhone Air, which have scaled again specs in alternate for lighter builds. Till sleekness can totally coexist with operate, most individuals will preserve selecting the latter.
Costs for distinctive telephones are additionally prohibitive. E-book-style foldables price round $2,000, and a trifold will set you again round $3,000. Even with their extra restricted capabilities, slimmer and lighter telephones are inclined to linger on the $1,000 mark.
Maybe we’re creatures of behavior. I am responsible of this myself. After testing a number of the most cutting-edge telephones in the marketplace, I all the time flock again to my plain previous slab telephones. They’ve all the things I want — specifically, nice cameras and lengthy battery life — with none frills. For many of us, one display is greater than sufficient for on a regular basis duties.
Positive, the cellphone in your pocket could look strikingly just like the one you used 10 years in the past. However does that actually matter if it is nonetheless serving you effectively?
It is nice that cellular firms are in search of methods to face aside — not solely from each other, but in addition from their current merchandise. And I hope they proceed to push these limits and break free from extra predictable designs, if solely to provide customers extra decisions.
However till extra individuals truly select to department out past the acquainted, recent cellular designs will stay firmly within the realm of feverish commerce present fanfare and the occasional pocket.
