We are at a point in the world of smartphones where things seem to have plateaued. You know, we get incremental upgrades every year for just about every smartphone series we’ve known over the years. Things have been getting stale.
Unless you’re looking at the very low end of the market, chances are that whichever smartphone you can pick up today will have a good display, get you a good camera for your photography and videography needs, have sufficient memory and storage capacity, have a capable battery to last you an entire day and then some more, offer some performance levels you’ll be fine with and, pretty much, offer a user experience that you can put up with.
That is why, in recent years, the rise of the foldable smartphone, which tries to keep things interesting and far from the staleness described above, has been a sight to behold. A smartphone that has a display on the front and the back? A smartphone with foldable “glass”? A smartphone that is a normal-size phone for one second and a tablet the next?
There’s the small matter of what exact problem foldables are trying to solve but, that’s a little complicated and it’s a question whose answer is neither clear cut nor available, depending on where you sit and who you ask or expect an answer from.
The answer we can give you, however, is one to a question you may ask if you have the money to afford one – let’s not kid you, foldables don’t come cheap! What foldable smartphone(s) can you buy in Kenya? As of mid-2023, the following devices are the most recent from their respective makers that are available officially in the Kenyan market in that form factor:
1. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4
There is no better posterchild for the foldable smartphone in the world right now than Samsung’s foldables lineup. The Galaxy Z Fold4, the latest in its series, is also the most superior foldable Samsung has to offer.
Given that its steep pricing kicks out almost everyone who’d be tempted to own it, it is not a surprise that, to the world, it is not the most popular foldable from the Korean device maker. Priced at just under Kshs 260,000 in Kenya when it launched last year, the Galaxy Z Fold4 has been the choice of the who’s who in Kenya, starting with the President and it is not hard to see why.
Beyond the striking beauty and sense of class it brings its owners (let’s be very honest, the who’s who of Kenya aren’t buying this device for its features and specifications but because it is expensive and they can), it is the fourth iteration and, as such, brings with it everything that Samsung has learned in its foldable smartphone-making journey. It is still thinner than an ordinary phone when it is not opened out and still doesn’t fold fully flat, like other foldables on this list.
There’s a smaller “phone-like” 6.2-inch display which is what you can always use when the device is in its “natural” folded state. Unfold it and it opens up to an expansive 7.6-inch canvas that will let you read articles and magazines in a way you’ve never enjoyed them on a smartphone before as well as, if you’re down for it, make for a very good navigation tool when you’re out and about in your car. The latter use case sounds reasonable and silly at the same time because I don’t understand how you’d have a phone costing a quarter of a million Kenyan shillings and not have a proper in-car navigation system.
An under-display camera makes for a “wow” factor in a smartphone in the early 2020s but that surprise is easily diluted by the revelation that you’d prefer the 10-megapixel counterpart on the cover screen instead as the 4-megapixel shooter on the main screen is grainy and, just outrightly bad.
2. Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4
While its sibling the Galaxy Z Fold4 is the one you’d desire, the Galaxy Z Flip4 is likely the one you can afford or you’d want to go for. It looks good (way better than the Fold), it is just the right size and won’t overwhelm you when handling it and, well, its price is just about right.
For just under Kshs 100,000, the Flip4 can be yours in Kenya if you take advantage of a sales promotion going on at the time of publication. Other retailers (beyond the official one) will have it at around the Kshs 140,000+ price tag it had at launch. That’s still over Kshs 100,000 less than the Fold4. Little wonder that the Galaxy Z Flip series is outselling the Fold all over the world.
The flipping mechanism, which it borrows from the flip phone of old, has been implemented in interesting ways. You get two displays, one when the device is closed and a bigger display when you flip it open.
While the Galaxy Z Flip4 remains largely unchanged from its predecessor the Z Flip3 and you may ask whether it is just wiser to find that old model and save some money, you’ll want the increased battery capacity on the Z Flip4. Samsung flagships and battery life aren’t exactly the best of buddies and the fact that Samsung is mean with its accessories – there’s no charger in the box, just a USB cable – means that you’ll need to spend a little more if you’re to enjoy the device’s fast charging capabilities. It’s just 25W but, hey, at least it’s something, right? Also, the people who are likely to buy this doll phone don’t exactly care about those things, right?
Those users will, however, be blown away by Flex Mode (nowadays called FlexCam), a software implementation that sees users able to take photos with the phone opened like a laptop i.e. the hinge not fully extended. Place it somewhere, move back a few steps and, bam! All of you are in the group selfie (the device has gestures to make sure of that). Even better, you get to use the better back cameras. If it’s someone else taking a photo of you, you can use the secondary display as a viewfinder. You know, just like those vlogging cameras. That sounds like something the girlfriend you’d gift this phone – in pink, no less – would fancy, right?
3. Tecno Phantom V Fold
Tecno’s first foldable smartphone effort, the Phantom V Fold, is quite something. I’ve only had limited hands-on with it but was, at a private demo by someone from the company, impressed by the device’s feature set. It does look good in person when you see and hold it. The photos don’t do it much justice. Even better, it folds out almost completely.
At the Kshs 150,000 it was going for at launch as per our own maths (since Tecno wouldn’t give us the price inclusive of VAT), it is about Kshs 100,000 cheaper than the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 and similar in pricing to the Galaxy Z Flip4. That pricing works very much in its favour and it’s likely why Tecno did things the way it did. For anyone considering a foldable smartphone for what a foldable smartphone is able to offer and not just to show where they rank in this life thing in their circles, the Phantom V Fold makes the most financial sense. It’s the most reasonable buy.
However, with it, you get a first-generation product that is likely to still go through further iterations down the line to make it better. You also don’t get the water resistance rating (IPX8) that you get with the two latest Samsung foldables.
4. Oppo Find N2 Flip
Just launched in the Kenyan market, Oppo’s first flip foldable is an interesting device. It differentiates itself from the Galaxy Z Flip4 above, its biggest competitor not just in Kenya but everywhere in the world, by having a different hinge design that ensures that it folds completely, leaving no gap and also ensures that it almost eliminates the dreaded crease.
Its overall design and looks are almost similar to the Z Flip’s which makes it quite a hard sell given its Kshs 130,000 pricing. On a bad day, that is within the Galaxy Z Flip4’s ballpark. On a good day, like it has been with the sales going on at the time of writing this, Samsung’s latest foldable flip is going for a whole Kshs 96,000. Given Samsung’s reputation in the market and being a pioneer when it comes to foldables, you can already deduce which way buyers will likely be inclined to go.
The Find N2 Flip does a good job trying to match its hardware with the software, for instance with the FlexForm mode going toe to toe with Samsung’s FlexCam. However, some differences like only the main 6.8-inch display getting 120Hz refresh rate and not going all the way to 2K like Samsung and the cover display having limited functionality create room for the device’s improvement in a future version while also exposing it to the competition. At least, its cameras and beefier battery and fast charging cover those misgivings adequately and make this a solid alternative.
5. Huawei Mate XS 2
Going for a staggering Kshs 280,000 at the time of publication, Huawei’s Mate XS 2 foldable smartphone, its second take on the form factor, is the most expensive foldable smartphone officially available for purchase in Kenya. And, that is a drop of about Kshs 5,000 from what it went for at launch back in October last year.
That is a steep price to pay for Huawei’s version of Android which is devoid of all the Google apps that usually come pre-installed on smartphones thanks to the restrictions that the Chinese company has to work with. Whether it is worth it is the big question and, in our opinion, one with an easy answer. A dated version of Android (version 11) and a processor from the Galaxy Z Fold4’s predecessor make it a big ask for from Kenyans and isn’t one we can recommend.
Is it fancy? Yeah. Will it turn heads when you whip it out to take photos at a wedding reception? Also yeah. Is it worth the trouble, though? I mean, for the cost of one Mate XS 2, you can bargain your way to two Phantom V Folds, right?
Now that you know, where are you spending your money when considering a foldable?
