Had this phone since it first came out and love it. Does everything plus more. Phone camera is great and battery life is good as well.

In this conclusion to our Samsung Galaxy Fold review we answer the most burning question: Is this phone worth $1,980?...

Update, Aug. 10, 2020: The Galaxy Z Fold 2 is here. Read our ongoing coverage. Our Galaxy Fold review, originally published Oct. 3, 2019, follows.

The Galaxy Fold makes a convincing case for foldable phones, but wait for Samsung and others to fix inherent problems that keep it costly and plague the screen.

The Galaxy Fold's extra-large display is excellent for watching videos, photos and reading, and it makes for an excellent second screen; It proves that a foldable phone can be truly useful and not just a gimmick.

Design problems abound; Its 7.3-inch screen is too fragile and the 4.6-inch display is too small to be effective; Battery life is short; Multitasking could become more intuitive; At $1,980, the Fold is overpriced; It lacks water- and dust-resistance; The huge screen notch and thick bezel make it feel cheap, despite the cost.

Even though the fact it folds is incredible, the Galaxy Fold is too bulky, breakable and expensive to recommend. The fact both screens are awkward sizes for most smartphone tasks means you have a delicate prototype of the possible future of phones.

The future arrived too early for the Galaxy Fold – astonishing, but also too expensive and too fragile to recommend

It folds in half!, Great performance, Top battery life

It’s £1,900, Internal display easily permanently marked, Both screens are awkward sizes

The Galaxy Fold fails at everything it sets out to do. It's a bad smartphone and a bad tablet. The front screen is too small for phone duties like typing and reading. The interior screen is too small for tablet apps and split-screen apps, and it's the wrong aspect ratio for media.

Samsung took a risk and tried something different. You at least have to give the company that., Some games are pretty good on the larger Fold display.

The front screen is too small for phone duties, the inner screen is too small to be a tablet., The display is exceptionally delicate, and I had constant anxiety that I was going to break it., Samsung didn't put any effort into the software.

The Galaxy Fold is a sign of things to come, but you should wait for the next one

Speedy performance; Solid multitasking features; The 7.3-inch expansive screen is great for reading; watching videos; Good battery life; Folding it up is satisfying

Expensive; The front screen looks ugly and is too small; Worries about durability haven't been assuaged

When it comes to smartphones, Samsung has a tenacity like no other brand can even attempt. Back in 2012, the South Korean tech giant introduced the Galaxy Note which was a first of its kind. This handset was ginormous for its time even though it packed a mere 5.3-inch display.

As much as the Galaxy Fold is a look at what the next wave of smartphones might be, at this stage it’s hard to recommend that anyone, aside from those who simply must have the first-gen of everything, actually spend nearly £2000 on it. It’s impressive in a number of areas: great battery life, nice and productive software that actually makes some use of the bigger display and there are certain situations where having a tablet in smaller form-factor work.

Genuinely innovative form-factor; Great battery life; Galaxy Buds in the box; Loads of cameras;

It’s too delicate; Outer display feels too limited; It’s better as a tablet than a phone; Cameras aren’t class-leading;

There's no doubt that there's room for the Galaxy Fold to evolve, to improve on the experience. We originally questioned the tablet-esque size of the display and thought we wanted a phone that got more compact like the new Moto Razr , but the Samsung's glorious big display experience sells itself...

Huge display is vibrant and sharp; Good battery life; Cameras everywhere; Sensible software adaptation; Galaxy Buds in the box; Engineered to fits neatly into a pocket

Cameras aren't class-leading; Exterior display is too small; Display notch feels unnecessary; Screen crease is visible from some angles; Very expensive