Why Samsung’s folding smartphone might prove more than just a fad

With the Galaxy Fold, Samsung has become the first major manufacturer to launch a phone with a folding screen – it might just be useful enough to tempt consumers

Description:Eric Risberg/AP/REX/Shutterstock

By Holly Brockwell

Samsung’s launch this week of the Galaxy Fold sent shockwaves through the internet, with many people outside the tech industry seeing a folding smartphone for the first time. The reaction has been as divided as the phone’s hinged chassis, with one side professing starry-eyed love for the device’s innovative functionality and the other decrying its price and perceived gimmickry.

The Galaxy Fold isn’t the first folding smartphone to market but it is the first one from a high-profile brand, and as such it …