GoKawiilvivo
Booklet foldables are an interesting paradigm. They’re unbelievably pricey, premium products that offer a whole new take on the smartphone form. However, the perceived wisdom is that you have to accept a few compromises to make it all work.
Smaller batteries and less screen-on time due to the thin frame, performance throttling due to the cramped internals, trade-offs in IP ratings due to the hinge mechanisms, and a smaller, less well-equipped camera setup to avoid an unbalanced weight in hand. You name it, and there’s probably a believable excuse for why a $1,700 foldable doesn’t quite compete with the very best hardware specs you’ll find in an Ultra flagship that costs $500 less. Still, it’s a price some are willing to pay for the form factor’s less conventional perks.
However, the new vivo X Fold 6 has upended that old adage, offering some seriously long battery life and impressive camera capabilities at a price that makes Google and Samsung look like they’re overcharging. Not only are the specs impressive on their own, but the X Fold 6 has exposed a serious lack of progress at the heart of the most popular Western foldable phones.
Are Google's foldables still competitive? 18 votes Yes, software still wins 6 % No, the hardware doesn't keep up 78 % I'll wait for the Pixel 11 Pro Fold to decide 11 % I'm waiting for Apple's foldable 6 %
Failing to embrace new battery tech
Joe Maring / Android Authority
Let’s start with one of foldables’ biggest pain points: battery capacity. If you bought the latest Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold or Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, you’d be looking at modest 5,015mAh and far more disappointing 4,400mAh cell capacity, respectively. Samsung’s battery size is particularly disappointing and hasn’t meaningfully improved since 2019’s original Z Fold.
Once again, the magic is the introduction of silicon-carbon batteries, which allows vivo to pack a colossal 7,000mAh cell into its similarly sized flagship foldable. That’s a bigger battery than you’ll find in Samsung’s Galaxy S26 Ultra.
It continues to baffle me why Google and Samsung have been reluctant to jump into silicon-carbon; perhaps they are biding their time and waiting for the technology to mature. But while they wait, others are moving quickly to offer far longer endurance on similarly priced phones. Case in point, Motorola’s latest foldables sport Si-C batteries, allowing them to surpass the competition as well.
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