From the clunky brick phone to the sleek and stylish foldable, mobile phones have come a long way in just a few short decades. In particular, the journey from flip phones to foldable smartphones is a story of innovation and evolution.

First introduced in the late 1980s, the early flip phones were designed for convenience, allowing people to make calls and send messages with a flip of the wrist. They were designed to be compact, durable, and easy to use, and they quickly became a staple of the mobile world.

Due to technological advancements, foldable phones have evolved from flip phones, providing all the advantages of their predecessors and much more. These devices feature a flexible display that can be folded in half, allowing for a larger screen size when the device is open and a more compact form factor when it is closed.

Phones have come a long way since their inception and continue to evolve at a rapid pace. From the convenience of early flip phones to the versatility of modern foldable smartphones, Real Research, an online survey app, attempted to gather opinions on this through a survey on flip phone preferences.

Here are the key findings of the report on flip phone preferences:

  • 87.93% of the survey respondents have owned a flip phone
  • The purpose of using flip phones for many (46.78%) is mainly for making and receiving calls
  • The majority (52.24%) own the newest innovation of flip phones, called foldable smartphones

Flip Phone Preferences

Flip phones became popular in the late 1990s and lasted until the early 2010s. During this time, 87.93% of the survey respondents owned a flip phone. Among the brands they owned are the Motorola StarTac (38.46%), the Motorola V300 (23.92%), and the Samsung SGH-D900 (12.93%).

Brands-of-flip-phones-owned-by-the-respondents
Figure 1: Brands of flip phones owned by the respondents

Their purposes for using flip phones are mainly for making and receiving calls (46.78%), texts (18.36%), and storing contacts (12.41%). And the features of the early flip phones that are most appealing to them are the following: compactness (19.55%), ease of use and accessibility (13.03%), durability (12.99%), and long battery life (12.36%).

Foldable Smartphones

The survey report reveals that more than half of the respondents (52.24%) now own the newest innovation of ‘foldable smartphones.’ Moreso, 22.05% used to own one, while the rest (25.71%) still don’t.

In detail, 31.15% have the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip, 30.2% have the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold, and 18.11% have the Oppo Find N.

Also Read: Customer Thoughts Regarding Samsung Products

Brands-of-foldable-smartphones-owned-by-the-respondents
Figure 2: Brands of foldable smartphones owned by the respondents

Foldable smartphones have a lot of features to offer, but for the majority (14.93%), their resistance to dust and water is the most appealing. Others, however, find their flexible design (12.37%), the bigger display (11.37%), and their ability to multitask (8.54%) the most advantageous.

Also Read: Over 47% Use Smartphones Before Going To Bed

Most Common Problems With Foldable Smartphones

Despite these features, others still encounter problems with the new foldable smartphones. These include battery draining (27.6%), overheating (26.89%), and display malfunction due to continuous opening or closing (19.99%).

Thus, they look forward to improvements in upcoming flip/foldable smartphone models, like better camera quality (30.61%), improved battery life (24.52%), and increased durability (18.77%).

A Battle on Regular vs. Flip Phone Preferences

In terms of performance and functionality, most (33.77%) find flip/foldable smartphones much better than regular smartphones. 29.38% say they are somewhat better, while 24.89% say they are about the same.

Old-phone-models-that-should-return-according-to-respondents
Figure 3: Old phone models that should return according to respondents

Lastly, the survey on flip phone preferences asked respondents what other phone models they thought should return. Responses are sliding phones (33.97%), rugged smartphones (27.18%), and keyboard smartphones (24%).

Also Read: Over 57% Feel They Are Addicted to Their Smartphone

Methodology

Survey TitleSurvey on Flip Phone Preferences
DurationJanuary 30 – February 06, 2023
Number of Participants10,000
DemographicsMales and females, aged 21 to 99
Participating Countries Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Benin, Bolivia,… Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, China, China (Hong Kong) China (Macao), China (Taiwan), Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Greanada, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Ivory Coast, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Libya, Lithuania, Malaysia, Maldives, Maluritania, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar [Burma], Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, Zimbabwe.