“I didn’t do anything to deserve this. The phone sat on my desk while I wrote about it, and I would occasionally stop to poke the screen, take a screenshot, or open and close it. It was never dropped or exposed to a significant amount of grit, nor had it gone through the years of normal wear and tear that phones are expected to survive. This was the lightest possible usage of a phone, and it still broke.”
This can happen to any phone of course — there are numerous threads on reddit of faulty S23 phones that are only days old, and of course the first Galaxy fold phones were problematic — but still. Rough start!
I had a Z Fold 2 for 2+ years before selling it and it was a great phone overall. Didn’t feel like the technology “wasn’t there yet” but it felt like a full fledged product and the built quality was really top notch.
What i agree with is that indeed the inner screen is a gimmick or the foldable idea itself. I found myself using the inner screen mostly for streaming and using the outer screen for literally anything else. Which meant that for 95% of the time I used the outer screen.
I think the Flip series has a way better usecase for a foldable because the fold Idea reduces the size of the “normal way of use” product.
I think the Fold expands on the “normal way of use” so it is easier put it in the gimmick territory.
I still think it is better to just get an Phone + Tablet overall if you want the best of both worlds.
But to be clear, this has been my experience as having had the Z fold 2 as a daily driver for 2+ years.