I didn’t have my heart set on a book-style foldable phone right away. Like many, I wrote them off as too expensive. But after taking a chance on one this year, it has turned out to be quite the cost-saving investment.
I Bought Mine Second Hand
First off, no one needs to spend two grand on a foldable phone. I don’t care what the sticker says. Usually, you can snag a trade-in deal to bring it down to under $1,500, but even that number is high. I recommend just waiting a few months. Foldables don’t hold their value all that well on the second hand market, and it’s easy to grab one open box or in “like new” condition.
I bought a Samsung 512GB Galaxy Z Fold 5 in early 2024 for under $1000. Before the end of the year, I bought a 512GB Z Fold 6 and offered my wife the Fold 5 as an upgrade to their existing Pixel. That one, too, cost me under $1,000.
Now I hear you. $1,000 is still a lot of money, but that’s solidly in the range of your typical brand-new iPhone. It’s quite a few hundred less than an iPhone Pro Max. And that’s just the beginning of the story.
I Decided I No Longer Need a Separate PC
I chose the Galaxy Z Fold over competing foldables because it was the only one that offered a desktop mode. It turns out Samsung DeX has been able to replace my PC. So rather than buy myself a new laptop to replace the slow one I had been using, I invested in a few peripherals instead. I bought a lapdock for when I want a laptop form-factor. Much of the time, I use a desktop computer monitor or even AR glasses instead.
Did I already have a lapdock, computer monitor, or AR glasses? No. But a laptop that feels as fast as my Z Fold 6 would typically cost me roughly the equivalent of all three plus a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. And let’s be real, the AR glasses were an unnecessary splurge that doesn’t really need to be factored into this conversation, but the math works out regardless.
I Stopped Buying eReaders and Tablets
So far, I’ve mostly talked about breaking even. Here’s where we cross over into making a profit. My Z Fold 6 has not only replaced my laptop, but it has eliminated my desire to have a separate eReader or tablet as well. The screen size isn’t that far from that of a Nook Color, which was technically the first Android tablet I ever owned. Not only is my foldable able to read my comics and magazines alike, but it is far more portable in the process.
I didn’t have a conventional Android tablet lying around to sell, but I had been tempted to buy one. My phone reduced this urge. No, a foldable isn’t as good for watching movies as you might think, but the larger screen is good enough for so many other tasks that it’s hard to justify getting another tablet just for video alone. After all, the 7-inch screen on my phone is around the same size as the Nexus 7 I once enjoyed way back when.
I Haven’t Bought a New Gaming Handheld or PC
I’m not big into console gaming. I sold my last console, a Nintendo Wii U, shortly before my first child was born. I didn’t want my kids growing up watching their dad spend hours in front of the TV. Even if we did have a TV in the living room with a console hooked up to it, I wouldn’t be able to play many of the games I want to play. Even a relatively peaceful game like Life Is Strange will still drop an F-bomb in the middle of your living room.
This is one of the reasons I see more appeal in a portable gaming handheld, like a Steam Deck. Yet the screen on my foldable is large and gorgeous enough that I haven’t felt the need for one of those either. Many of the kind of games I like to play feel best on a foldable, like narrative adventure games and innovative indie puzzlers. For those games that aren’t available on mobile, I still have options thanks to cloud streaming. With a telescopic controller, gaming on my Z Fold 6 feels like using a handheld.
Thanks to DeX, it also feels like I have a gaming PC. NVIDIA GeForce NOW provides graphics at a level above whatever mid-tier specs I probably would have purchased since gaming isn’t a hobby I’m willing to invest thousands into. I recently played through all of Life Is Strange: Double Exposure in 1080p, which made my Steam Deck (that I’ve since sold) a bit sluggish when I attempted the same in Life Is Strange 2 and Life Is Strange: True Colors.
Connecting AR glasses to my phone has become my favorite way to game. I’m saving hundreds not having to invest in dedicated hardware just to keep up with this one series (and whatever similar titles Don’t Nod continues to make).
I’ve Sold Off the Tech I Replaced
Once I ordered a book-style foldable, I (perhaps unsurprisingly) sold my old phone. I’ve also sold the Boox tablet I’d been using. My Z Fold 6 is packed with Samsung S Pen features I love and has become my note-taking device as well.
I didn’t sell my old laptop, but I gave it to my son for school instead, saving us from having to buy him a PC. Money saved is money earned.
I sold my DSLR camera before buying a foldable, but it’s a device I feel even less pressure to own now that I have one. The ease with which I can capture shots, view them on a large enough (and vivid) screen, edit them, and upload them on the same device is a delight, even if the camera’s output isn’t quite at the same level. It’s good enough for my needs.
Yes, a foldable can be an expensive purchase if you buy one brand new and use it exclusively as a replacement for your existing phone. That same device can start to feel like a bargain if you use it to replace far more of your devices. Samsung’s foldable is arguably the most versatile consumer tech device you can buy, and for the time being, it has locked me into using Android over any other operating system.
