We hear a lot about how flexible smartphones are the future and how new tech will get cheaper and more well-integrated into our lives over time. Two of the most popular candidates for flexible smartphones are foldable and rollable designs.

So, which one will stand the test of time?

What's the Point of Using a Flexible Smartphone?

The basic idea of flexible phones is to fit a bigger tablet-like screen in a normal pocketable smartphone body to enable more multitasking capabilities while minimizing the compromises that may come with such a form factor.

Although the Samsung Galaxy Fold Z, the first commercially available folding phone, was launched in 2019, the concept of a folding smartphone appeared as early as 2006. Now, rollable phones might soon steal the thunder from foldable phones. But are rollable phones really better?

The Pros and Cons of Foldable Phones

Foldable phones fold in half, similar to a piece of paper. They feature a thinner (and hence weaker) plastic screen and a hinge inside the device, allowing the screen and phone body to bend.

You can't use strong Gorilla Glass here because it's rigid and doesn't flex. In fact, a weaker display is one of the many reasons foldable phones aren't mainstream yet.

So far, the foldable form factor has been realized in three significant ways:

  1. An inward folding tablet-like design like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4.
  2. An inward folding clamshell-like design like the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 and Motorola Razr 2022.
  3. An outward folding tablet-like design like the Huawei Mate Xs.

With the inward fold method, the device folds shut to protect the bigger main screen from excessive wear and tear. It also uses a secondary, tougher cover screen on the back to imitate a typical smartphone.

Honor Magic Vs foldable smartphone base edge and hinge

With the outward fold method, the main screen folds outwards and is constantly exposed to the environment—folded or unfolded. This eliminates the need for a cover screen since you can use the folded main screen like a regular smartphone. Although more practical, the outward folding phone is currently not ideal since it puts more strain on the screen when folded and makes scratches and dents more common too.

Another problem with foldable phones, in general, is the crease. Since a foldable phone folds and unfolds several times a day, it wrinkles the screen and leaves a crease down the middle.

This is most noticeable when you slide your finger across the screen. Smartphone companies have worked to minimize the crease in the last few years, but it hasn't been entirely eliminated yet. Once it is, more people will be willing to switch to foldables.

Another thing to note is that foldables tend to be much thicker than normal phones because you're essentially stacking one side on top of another. This makes them feel bulky and uncomfortable to carry and hold, especially for people with smaller hands and pockets.

The Pros and Cons of Rollable Phones

If you thought foldable phones were too complicated, you might want to take a seat for this one. Rollable phones are a new flexible smartphone concept that challenges the foldable form factor and potentially renders it obsolete.

Like foldables, the rollable form factor is designed to offer a bigger tablet-like display in the footprint of a normal phone or a standard screen in the footprint of a mini-sized phone.

Rollable phones aim to eliminate the tradeoffs that come with their foldable counterparts since they don't leave a crease, are noticeably thinner (and hence easier to hold), and don't need a secondary cover screen since you can just extend or "unroll" the device.

Because of this, you can switch from having a normal-sized smartphone screen to a tablet-sized one using the same display panel. But since this form factor requires more R&D, it's not yet commercially available at the time of writing.

Another critical advantage of rollables is that they can offer customizable aspect ratios, meaning you can extend the display to your liking without having it either completely rolled or unrolled. With foldables, you get a tall aspect ratio on the cover screen or a large, squarish aspect ratio on the main screen with no in-betweens.

Of course, rollables are not free from problems. For starters, they require motorized parts to extend the device once triggered. Putting motorized parts inside smartphones is usually not a good idea because it can hinder the device's durability and use more battery life to perform the rolling and unrolling actions automatically.

In comparison, foldables have a much simpler design, are easier to manufacture, and have more structural integrity—offering better build quality and durability.

Also, since the user does the folding and unfolding action manually, no extra battery life is consumed by the device. This is important because flexible phones use more power to run than regular phones due to having a bigger screen, but at the same time, they don't have a lot of internal room to fit bigger cells.

The saving grace for rollables is that since the radius of the curvature is much wider, the screen can theoretically be made much thicker and stronger. The screen on foldables can't be too thick because folding it perfectly flat would break it, so manufacturers have to curve it in the shape of a water drop so that there's less pressure.

Foldable vs. Rollable Smartphones: Which Is Better?

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Flip 4 on a gray table top
Image Credit: Samsung

The introduction of rollable devices doesn't mean that foldable smartphones will suddenly become useless. While rollable phones have their benefits, their technology's novelty means they will have teething problems.

Even though no commercial version of the rollable phone exists yet, we can speculate that these devices will need to sacrifice a lot of internal space to make the rolling action occur.

Sacrificing internal parts could result in huge problems. Users might find that the battery life on these is terrible—meaning they need to either reduce their phone usage or carry their chargers around regularly.

That's not all. We might also find that rollable phones have little to no resistance to water and dust compared to their foldable counterparts. This might also be the case when lined up against the standard iPhones and Android devices today.

Foldable phones have a soft screen that's easily damaged, and we might also see the same problem continuing with rollable devices until the next materials science breakthrough. And, of course, the price tag isn't likely to be affordable either, at least in the beginning.

Flexible Phones Need More Time to Evolve

Ultimately, there is no clear winner between foldable and rollable smartphones—at least not yet. We can only get a clear picture of which is better once a commercially available rollable device is available.

While foldable phones have secured a five-year headstart, their rollable counterparts could catch up rather quickly if they offer fewer compromises. But whatever happens, smartphone innovation isn't dying out any time soon.