Are foldable smartphones the future? Flip phones are coming back in a big way

Do you remember your first flip phone? Well, that nostalgia may be making a comeback with the growing popularity of new foldable smartphones.

Google is coming out with its first foldable smartphone, the Pixel Fold, which could end up with a price point of over US$1,700. Internally at the company, the project is called, “Felix.” We can expect that launch at some point mid-year, with a formal announcement at Google’s annual developer conference early next month. Before this news, Samsung has been dominating the whole foldable smartphone space. Currently, you can buy the Galaxy Z Fold 4 for US$1,799.

Dr. TM Roh, Samsung’s president and the head of its Mobile Experience Business, has said that this kind of phone model is the future. “Three years ago, Galaxy foldables could be summed up in a single word: radical,” he said last year. “Very quickly, however, it became clear that this groundbreaking, flexible design fit perfectly into modern lifestyles. As a result, what was once a novelty three years ago, is now the preferred choice for millions.”

So, are foldable phones once again entering the mainstream, like they did 20 years ago? Well, according to Roh, 70% of buyers with foldable devices switched up for a flip-style cell phone in 2021.

And with the Y2K aesthetic popping off on social media right now for younger people (thank you, TikTok), there’s definitely an appeal to the idea of a flip phone comeback. Google told USA TODAY that searches for "flip phone" have increased by over 140% over the past five years.

"It started with Samsung's flip phone and has been a big hit in South Korea," explains Tim Bajarin, a longtime tech analyst and Chairman of the market research firm Creative Strategies. "Then it started showing up in TikTok videos, which got the attention of Gen Z, a demographic not familiar with the flip phones of the 1990s, and they began searching for those models."

The capabilities of a modern-day smartphone with the look and feel of your first-ever cell phone? Modernized nostalgia? Doesn’t sound too bad…