Why choose a foldable smartphone over upgrading your iPhone?

• Technology writer Shubham Agarwal has spent over five years faithfully using Apple’s iPhone.
• He was tired of seeing no difference between upgrading his iPhone and having to use multiple devices.
• Agarwal came up with a foldable smartphone that combines an iPad, e-reader, and phone.

I switched to an iPhone over half a year ago. It was an easy decision. Apple’s iPhone excelled at all the tasks I needed to do on my phone, from taking beautiful photos to running dozens of apps to getting through a busy day.

The iPhone XI, which cost $999, also felt revolutionary at the time. The nearly edge-to-edge screen was fun to use, and Face ID made logging in and authenticating digital payments easy.

In the years since then, my screen time has skyrocketed. We do everything on our phones, including reading books, checking TV shows, and doing the daily crossword.

I was spending more time on handheld devices than on computers. And it all caused me headaches and probably worsened my myopia. The iPhone’s screen size was too limiting for the smartphone’s evolving role in my life.

Apple’s upgrade wasn’t impressive

The iPhone’s camera and performance have improved with upgrades. We appreciate the iPhone 13’s excellent photography system and the iPhone 15’s universal USB-C port. However, the model I currently own is basically the same device I was using a few years ago. This lack of differentiation discouraged me from investing another $1,000 to upgrade my iPhone (I tend to upgrade every two years).

I had a Kindle and an iPad, but I couldn’t take them anywhere. Jumping back and forth between devices was a pain, and I often ended up doing tasks on my iPhone that I had scheduled on my iPad.

I considered the “maximum” iPhone, but the screen was uncomfortably large and offered little return. Apple’s mobile software didn’t have any special features for large displays.

I was interested in foldable smartphones.

Naturally, I was seduced by phone manufacturers’ advancements in folding displays. A typical handheld folds up to reveal a tablet-sized screen.

As someone who writes about cell phones for a living, I’ve tried a few, but none of the years-old technology was convincing enough to replace my iPhone. Their designs were too thick, too fragile, and too heavy.

Earlier this year, Apple decided not to include the latest AI features in its year-old iPhone 15 models, forcing me to look for alternatives.

Honor, a China-based mobile phone brand, has released the Magic V3, the thinnest and lightest foldable phone on the market. Here’s why I bought it despite the astronomical price £1,699 price tagabout $2,205 — more than double what you paid for the iPhone 15 in 2023.

The selling point was the thinness of the model.

It was over £500 more than I had previously paid for a new phone, but given the amount of time I now spend on my phone, the investment was well justified.

This mobile phone is a “book style” phone that opens horizontally like a book. Although it has not yet been officially released in the United States, However, in Europe and the UK, in addition to Honor’s official website, it is also sold in Three stores and Vodafone stores. Honor has doubled its market share in Europe this year.

The selling point was the thinness of the model. We were able to take advantage of its folding form factor without compromising on ergonomics.

Even with the two screens folded in half, it’s only 9.3mm thick, much thinner than the 12.1mm thickness of other foldable phones like the Samsung Galaxy Fold 6, and the average thickness of traditional top-end phones. It is approximately the same as 8.4 mm. When unfolded, the Magic V3 is 4.4 mm thin, making it half the width of the latest iPhone 16.

Like other smartphones, The Honor Magic V3 has a vertical 6.43-inch screen that occupies the front. This screen is sufficient for most tasks, such as calling someone or replying to a text message.

But if you need extra space to read an article or stream Netflix, you can fold it up like a book to reveal a wide 8-inch inner display. Any apps or content you were viewing on the outer screen will automatically expand to fill the expanded space.

It is a folding panel with no creases. The company’s Android-based software allows you to take advantage of a larger screen. If you’re doing research while on vacation, you can work side by side by pasting your notes on one side and your web browser on the other.

Multitask just like you would on a desktop computer or iPad. It also becomes a mini laptop with the bottom screen acting as a large touch keyboard.

No more need to use multiple devices

Migrating your data to Android wasn’t difficult. Now that iMessage is supported, you’ll never miss a messaging feature. I was already using Google Photos to back up my media

A few weeks later, the Magic V3 replaced my Kindle. The phone features an e-book mode with eye-friendly tools and a Do Not Disturb mode that lets you disconnect notifications while reading. The inner screen is suitable for reading books, and a dedicated e-book mode applies a monochrome filter throughout the software. It also minimizes flicker, reducing headaches caused by prolonged blue light consumption.

The Honor Magic V3 is the first of many foldable smartphones that could challenge and emerge victorious from the smartphone status quo.

It’s still not without its flaws. This phone has a lot more moving parts than your average phone, so I’m concerned about its long-term durability. Although it’s the thinnest foldable, it’s still a little bulkier than a typical smartphone for most users and their pockets. But I found it to be worth the trouble as it replaces 3 devices.

As someone who has struggled to justify carrying around multiple screens for various purposes, I recommend consolidating them into one.