Do You Really Need Apple's Foldable: It's Only a Finger Wider

Apple’s foldable — thinking about getting one for vibe coding? This might be a product a lot of people end up regretting. Seven years ago, when foldable phones first came out, I already brought this up on social media.

Phones have evolved for so many years, and the ideal size remains a slim bar you hold in one hand. Make it a little wider and it stops being comfortable to grip. Your fingers can’t easily reach across the whole screen one-handed anymore.

When foldables first appeared, manufacturers figured users wanted bigger screens, so they traded double the weight for double the display area. But the crease and the flipping action are real pain points — even with court scrolls to review, half the time you can’t be bothered to unfold it. And that use case could have been covered by a separate small tablet anyway.

Then came the small foldables. Without changing the display or usable area, they fold up for easier portability. Women quite like this form factor, and they sell pretty well. Small foldables genuinely hold their ground.

But this year’s so-called wide foldables — or mid-foldables — are a truly awkward product. Whether it’s Samsung’s Fold 8 or Apple’s Duo, unfold it and hold it vertical: compared to a standard Pro Max, the display is only about a finger wider. The only scenario with a clear payoff is watching landscape video — basically binge-watching shows. For every other use case, there’s virtually no benefit. If all you want is to watch shows, there’s no reason to pay this much.

All the major manufacturers are about to release wide slab phones that meet your show-watching needs at roughly a quarter of the price. 8.8 inches is pretty much the upper limit for something you carry around. If you genuinely have heavy Pad usage, you’d be better off with a 12-inch device that folds down to around 8 inches.

For those of you genuinely tempted by Apple’s foldable — especially those thinking about vibe coding on your phone — go to the store, hold it in your hands, and try your everyday use cases. The difference really isn’t that big.

EP0094 · 2026-09-10 · 01:42. The picture uses a digital human, and the voice uses my cloned voice. This is an English translation of the Chinese script used to create the narration.

Apple’s foldable — thinking of getting one for vibe coding? This might be a product a lot of people end up regretting. Seven years ago, when foldable phones first came out, I already talked about this on my social media.

Phones have evolved for so many years, and the ideal size has always been a slim bar you hold in one hand. Make it a little wider, and it’s just not as comfortable to grip anymore. Your fingers can’t easily reach across the whole screen one-handed either.

When foldable phones first appeared, manufacturers figured users wanted bigger screens, so they traded double the weight for double the display area. But the crease and the flipping action — those are real pain points in the experience. Even when you’ve got court scrolls to review, half the time you’re too lazy to unfold it. Or put it another way — that use case could’ve been handled entirely by a separate small tablet.

Then came the small foldables. Without changing the display or usable area, they fold up for easier carrying. Women quite like this form factor, and they’ve been selling pretty well.

But this year’s so-called wide foldables — or mid-foldables — are honestly a really awkward product. Whether it’s Samsung’s Fold 8 or Apple’s Duo, unfold it and hold it vertical, and you can see: compared to a standard Pro Max, the display is only about a finger wider. The only time you get more screen real estate is when watching landscape video — basically for binge-watching shows. But for every other use case, there’s virtually no benefit. If watching shows is really all you want it for, there’s absolutely no need to pay this much for one of these.

So all the major manufacturers are going to release these wide slab phones next, meeting your show-watching needs at roughly a quarter of the price. 8.8 inches is pretty much the upper limit for something you carry around with you. And if you genuinely have a lot of Pad-type use cases, you’d be better off with a 12-inch device that folds down to around 8 inches.

For those of you genuinely tempted by Apple’s foldable — and I know some of you are thinking about using it for vibe coding on your phone — go to the store, actually hold it in your hands, and try your everyday use cases. The difference really isn’t that big.