Microsoft has made a strong enough case for its upcoming Surface Duo smartphone that it’s hard not to compare it favorably to Samsung’s folding phone attempts with the Galaxy Fold series. Both are folding phones so they fit comfortably in that “Who asked for this?” zone of consumer disdain. However, they’re different approaches to the concept and it looks like there’s a good chance Microsoft’s execution could earn a more positive reception than Samsung’s.
Folding phones are almost exclusively associated with negative reactions. They’re more expensive than traditional smartphones. They’re harder to find in the wild which means fewer people get hands-on time with them to decide for themselves. That’s especially detrimental to their public perception because almost all press surrounding the most popular folding phones focuses on the negatives, including the infamously faulty Samsung Galaxy Fold: a product that may have done irreparable damage to the foldable phone market by itself.
Wading into such turbulent waters had to be a daunting task for Microsoft. The risk is only exacerbated by the problems the Windows and Office 365 maker have already experienced as its Windows phones consistently struggled for years until they were finally killed off. Despite this, Microsoft has elected to return to the smartphone market with a wildly expensive, foldable phone… and it’s somehow very exciting. Samsung may have muddied the waters, but perhaps it hasn’t burned the bridge.
The Surface Duo Is A Different Kind of Folding Phone
Samsung’s approach to a folding phone design was to create a screen that folds. It’s ambitious and impressive, but it’s also impractical as it introduces design complications and hardware liabilities that a standard phone screen doesn’t have to deal with. Even if the original Galaxy Fold hadn’t gone through its nightmarish press cycle, just looking at the phone inspires potential buyers with a fear that it’s going to break.
Microsoft has sidestepped this problem entirely with a semantics argument. The Surface Duo isn’t a smartphone with a foldable screen. It’s a smartphone that folds and has two screens. The company has created what amounts to a high-end version of a clamshell flip phone; an extremely high-end Nintendo 3DS. The choice to go with two full displays clearly separated by a visible hinge makes this venture seem much more practical, inspiring confidence in the device’s structural integrity that Samsung’s Galaxy Fold line never has.
Microsoft’s Folding Pitch Is a Better Gimmick Than Samsung’s
Assuming both the Surface Duo and the recently confirmed Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 function just fine (the latter can’t break again… right?), Microsoft’s new phone still has the upper hand due to its software. The company has shown off the ability to spread one app across both screens just as Samsung has with its folding phones. However, the Surface Duo has an impressive option to run two apps in their complete forms simultaneously. Android devices have done picture-in-picture apps before but giving each app an entire screen is an ambitious innovation. “App combos”, as Microsoft calls the feature, are more reminiscent of a productive dual-monitor PC setup, which sounds much better than having a compromised version of two apps running at the same time, as seen in the Galaxy Z Fold method.
The ability to run YouTube and Microsoft Teams, each in full-screen mode, is a really wild feature for a phone to have. That’s fitting though because the inspiration for the Surface Duo seems to be the Surface tablet line. Microsoft seems to have taken the path of making a smaller Surface tablet rather than a folding phone, which might explain the productivity-inclined perspective on this device. This has given the Surface Duo an inspired, purposeful design that comes off as intentional and contrasts dramatically with the decadent, unnecessary, “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should,” vibe expressed by the Samsung Galaxy Fold.
