The Samsung Z Fold 7 Made Me Forget My Laptop—And That’s a Problem

📷 Image source: zdnet.com

The Unfolding Reality

How a week with Samsung’s latest foldable changed my tech habits

I landed in New York with a backpack full of gadgets—laptop, tablet, e-reader, and the usual smartphone. By day three, everything except the Samsung Z Fold 7 felt like dead weight. This wasn’t just convenience; it was a quiet rebellion against the clutter of modern tech life.

Samsung’s latest foldable isn’t just iterating on last year’s model. The Z Fold 7’s hinge snaps shut with a satisfying click, the crease is barely visible, and the outer screen finally feels usable for actual typing. But the real magic? It made me question why I’d been carrying a $1,200 laptop for emails and Google Docs.

The Tipping Point

When a phone replaces your workstation

The moment hit me at a cramped coffee shop in Brooklyn. I unfolded the Z Fold 7 to a 7.6-inch canvas, paired it with a Bluetooth keyboard from my bag, and hammered out a 1,200-word article. No squinting, no frantic zooming—just a legit mini-desktop experience.

Samsung’s DeX mode, which transforms Android into a desktop-like interface, has been around for years. But on the Z Fold 7’s expansive display, it stops feeling like a party trick. I edited spreadsheets, juggled Slack threads, and even did light Photoshop work. The kicker? My MacBook Air stayed untouched in my Airbnb for 72 straight hours.

The Trade-Offs

Where the foldable dream still stumbles

Let’s not pretend it’s perfect. The Z Fold 7 costs $1,799—that’s more than most premium laptops. Battery life is decent but not stellar (I averaged 5.5 hours of active use). And while app developers are slowly optimizing for foldables, Instagram still looks awkward when you unfold the screen mid-scroll.

Then there’s the psychological hurdle. Pulling out a folding phone in public draws stares—some curious, some judgmental. At a Midtown bar, a stranger actually interrupted my podcast playback to ask, ‘Is that the phone from the future?’ Samsung’s marketing team would love that reaction, but it gets old fast.

The Bigger Picture

What this means for the tech ecosystem

The Z Fold 7 isn’t just a phone—it’s a Trojan horse for a post-PC world. Microsoft’s betting big on Android foldables with its new Surface Duo, and Google’s baking foldable optimizations into Android 14. Even Apple’s reportedly exploring folding designs, though knowing them, they’ll wait until they can sell it as a revolutionary invention.

But here’s the rub: For all its brilliance, the Z Fold 7 made me uneasy. If one device can replace my laptop, tablet, and phone, what happens to the ecosystem of accessories, apps, and services built around those separate categories? The convenience is intoxicating, but the implications for tech diversity are murkier.

The Verdict

Spoiled, but not sold

Returning the Z Fold 7 review unit felt like handing back a superpower. For a week, I’d glimpsed a less-baggy, less-fragmented tech life. But I’m not rushing to buy one—not just because of the price, but because it’s still a transitional product. The crease is fading, the software’s improving, but the foldable future isn’t fully baked.

What Samsung has achieved, though, is making the traditional smartphone feel suddenly archaic. After unfolding and refolding this screen hundreds of times, my regular phone now looks like a fossil—a flat, inflexible relic. And that might be the Z Fold 7’s most dangerous trick of all.

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