5 reasons why foldable phones can't replace tablets just yet

Foldable phones are designed to give you the tablet experience in a compact form, but they fall short in these five ways.

Now that there is some much-needed competition in the foldable space, the form factor is poised to finally fulfill its promise of delivering a tablet experience in a pocketable size. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 showed us what a polished foldable looks like, and the Google Pixel Fold revealed what new ideas can bring to the category. That's without mentioning the brands that are doing impressive things with foldables that aren't sold in the North American markets.

But despite all the advancements to the best foldable phones, they're still not good enough to completely replace your tablet. After daily driving a Galaxy Z Fold 4 and an iPad Pro for more than a year, here are five reasons I still reach for my tablet, even with a foldable in my pocket.

Let's start with the obvious one first: screen size. While foldable phones offer a larger screen than traditional smartphones, they don't offer nearly as big screens as the best tablets you can buy. Carrying a Z Fold 4 daily has made my iPad mini completely redundant since the two devices are almost exactly the same size. However, my 12.9-inch iPad Pro is more than twice as big as most foldable phones, so it isn't really a competition there.

There's also the issue of aspect ratios. If you like foldables and tablets for watching content, you might be disappointed with the experience on folding phones. That's because most foldable phones have square form factors with unique aspect ratios. Since most media is shot in horizontal aspect ratios, like 16:9, you'll see massive black bars around your content on a foldable phone. When all is said and done, the viewable content on your foldable might be only slightly bigger than what you'd see on an iPhone 14 Pro Max or a Galaxy S23 Ultra. Tablets have the same issue, but they're usually more rectangular and offer bigger screen sizes to compensate better.

Another limiting factor of foldables is battery life, and that's a hardware challenge that is very difficult to overcome. There are a lot of parts found in foldable phones that you don't see in traditional ones, like a hinge or a secondary display. This limits the amount of space manufacturers have for a battery, although companies have tried to get around this by splitting batteries between the two halves of the phone. Foldable phones like the Z Fold 4 get me a full day of use as a smartphone, and that's been XDA's experience with new models like the Z Fold 5 and Pixel Fold as well.

However, that doesn't mean that foldable phones have the battery life to perform as well as a tablet. Like computers, tablets typically have high screen-on times, which is different from phones. You'll use a phone at various points throughout the day, but your phone is rarely on for hours straight. By comparison, tablets can be running at full speed for hours at a time, such as when you're watching a movie, playing a game, or getting work done. This kind of use case would obliterate the battery of a foldable phone, and it's one of the reasons why we still need tablets.

Big-screen foldables are capable of getting some kinds of productivity work done on the go, but they're not perfect. One area where the industry leaders struggle is in creative work, like note-taking, drawing, or media production. Screen size comes into play again here, where a bigger canvas can be crucial in taking notes quickly or making a project efficient. However, the biggest issue you'll find when using a foldable phone for creative work is the display type and stylus options.

Foldable phones use a display covering made out of a plastic-like material that facilitates folding the device in half. It's not the hard glass you're used to, and this makes a huge difference in writing or drawing. Although Samsung does offer an S Pen Fold Edition for use with the Z Fold's inner screen, the experience isn't great. That's in part because of the display's material and also because of the display crease that definitely gets in the way when drawing. If you need to write, draw, or do any other kind of creative work — you probably still need a tablet to get it done.

One of my favorite parts of using an iPad Pro is getting a desktop-class browser on a mobile device. In fact, when you log into one of your social media accounts on an iPad running a recent version of iPadOS, the platform will actually think you're accessing the service on a macOS device. Having websites and services automatically load in their full desktop versions makes a huge difference for professionals.

Unfortunately, this is an area where foldable phones struggle. I frequently run into issues with Chrome on my foldables loading webpages, where the mobile version is the default. Even after forcing the desktop version to load, I've still noticed websites acting unusually on my Z Fold 4. For foldable phones to really become productivity powerhouses on the go, the browsing experience needs to get better across the board.

Most tablets have durability concerns largely related to their thin form factors. After years of using my 12.9-inch iPad Pro normally in messenger bags and backpacks, my tablet developed a slight bend in the aluminum frame near the Apple Pencil charging window. When compared to the durability of foldable phones, though, even the most mainstream tablets are better positioned to navigate tougher conditions. Foldable phones have gotten better over the years, and the major players even offer some dust or water resistance certifications on certain models.

But if I know I'm going to be working in tougher conditions, I wouldn't want to use my foldable as a primary device. All it takes is one spec of dust or piece of dirt to cripple the display or hinge of a foldable phone, and that might rule out the form factor as an option. Tablets aren't perfect in terms of durability, but they're more likely to stand the test of time than foldable phones, as they currently stand.

Foldable phones are compelling devices for a lot of reasons, and that's why I daily drive one myself. But for some tasks, a tablet is still preferred over a smartphone, even one that happens to unfold into a larger screen. It's possible that the form factor can replace a tablet someday, but the devices' display technology, battery life, and software needs to improve before that fever dream becomes reality.

Samsung's latest Galaxy Z Fold 5 is a further refinement of the Z Fold lineup. The smartphone looks similar to past Z Fold iterations, featuring a 7.6-inch main screen and a tall cover screen. On the inside, it's powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip and a 4,400mAh battery. You can score up to $1,000 off with trade-ins at Samsung.com.

The iPad Pro M2 (2022) is available in 11-inch and 12.9-inch variants. It's the highest-end tablet the company sells, featuring a stunning display, Apple Pencil 2 support, and much more.

The Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra is Samsung's highest-end 2023 tablet. It offers a gorgeous 14.6-inch display, S Pen support, 5G connectivity, and much more! It's available in Beige and Graphite colorways.

Brady Snyder is a technology journalist that has written about mobile devices and computers for multiple publications. He graduated from St. John's University in 2023 with a B.S. in Journalism and a minor in English. Prior to joining XDA Developers, Brady wrote over 500 articles for Screen Rant's tech team, where he covered an Apple beat. Based in New York City, he reviews consumer technology, software, and services. Brady is an expert in iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and macOS — but experiments with Android and Windows as well.