My wife asked me what I thought of the Samsung folding phone after the commercial was on. I said it looks great, but as I said to her - the plastic screen is going to be an issue, just as they were back when devices like Palm Pilots and various early touch screen phones all had them. And back then, the plastic screens weren’t getting the same type of use as devices today get, yet you couldn’t get through a year without scratches and marks showing up.
I also think that the hinge is going to be another weak point. Again, I remember friends and colleagues who had Razors back in the day, and the thing that always seemed to break first was the hinge. And much like the plastic screen issues, hinge issues are likely to manifest themselves much quicker, given how many times people will be opening and closing the device daily.
Just think about it - if, and it’s a big if, people only checked their folding phone 4 times an hour, for 16 hours a day, 365 days a year. That’s 23,360 open-close events annually. Factor in that the devices will live in our pockets, with the lint and dirt and other things we carry that will more than likely find their way into the hinge mechanism (not to mention behind the screen) and further cause issues to occur.
It’s a big ask for any manufacturer to get past all the issues that daily life of an internet device faces without failing - even in a non-folding device.