Why are folding phones more popular than clamshell phones?

While vertical folding phones (clamshell) focus on portability, horizontal folding phones (book-style) offer their own advantages, becoming the optimal choice for professional users with high technology requirements.

Two devices in one design

The biggest and most obvious advantage of a book-style foldable phone is its ability to function as two devices in one. When folded, it is a fully functional smartphone, perhaps a little thicker and narrower than traditional models, but still very familiar. Once opened, the user will have a real mini tablet in hand.

For example, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 has an 8-inch wide inner screen, providing a comfortable display space for all tasks, from reading books, editing documents, playing games, watching movies to browsing the web without feeling cramped. Similarly, the Oppo Find N5 (8.12-inch wide screen) also brings this experience with a slight difference in screen ratio, making the feeling of using both the outer and inner screens more natural.

Foldable phones emphasize multitasking over fashion

Photo: Anh Quan

While the designs are different, the core idea remains the same: you get a compact phone when you need it and a big screen when you want it. While clamshell phones prioritize space saving, book-style phones prioritize maximizing the device's functionality.

The foundation for true multitasking

Nowadays, traditional bar phones also have pretty good multitasking capabilities, allowing for split screens or opening a floating video window. However, this experience is still not really ideal for people who often have to work with multiple applications at the same time.

This is where book-style phones make a difference. With a large display area when opened, users can open three apps at once without feeling cramped. Developers are also creating optimal solutions for this type of device: OnePlus introduced Open Canvas, which allows apps to exist outside the display space and slide in and out when needed; Samsung has a similar approach in One UI 8.

Android 16 could also standardize the same feature across the system, making the multitasking experience on foldable devices not limited to opening multiple apps but offering seamless working between them.

Ideal space for creative work and entertainment

A large screen isn’t just great for multitasking, it also makes a huge difference for visual and creative tasks. Editing photos, reviewing blueprints, marking up presentation slides, or reading PDFs all becomes much easier and more precise when your workspace isn’t squeezed into a narrow rectangle.

Better entertainment experience on foldable phone with mini tablet-sized screen

Photo: Anh Quan

Entertainment is also taken to a new level. Watching a movie on the inside screen of a book-style phone is far superior to that of a clamshell. Reading comics, magazines, or comparing two documents... all benefit from the spacious display.

Some devices like the Vivo X Fold5 also support stylus, combined with sharp and bright screens, showing the potential of this product line globally. Samsung's removal of S Pen support on the Z Fold7 is considered a shortcoming for users who are familiar with this feature on previous generations of devices.

Better hardware and technology

Book-style foldable smartphones are often positioned at the top of a company’s product portfolio, and this is evident in their hardware configurations. With more internal space, manufacturers tend to equip the best they have: large batteries, high-end camera systems, and more efficient cooling solutions.

For example, the Galaxy Z Fold7 is equipped with a Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, up to 1TB of memory options, and inherits the 200MP camera system from the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Similarly, the Oppo Find N5 also has 16GB of RAM and a triple camera system tuned by Hasselblad. Even the Vivo X Fold5 has a 6,000mAh battery and an optical system from Zeiss.

Foldable phones are expected to continue to develop further in design and technology in the future.

Photo: Anh Quan

That doesn’t mean clamshells are cut out. They’re still premium devices, but they face challenges in terms of design space. The smaller form factor means there’s less room for large components like vapor chambers, giant camera sensors, or top-of-the-line lens arrays. So for users looking for the best hardware a brand can cram into a foldable, books are often the answer.

Futuristic book-shaped folding phone

If clamshell phones evoke nostalgia, then book-style foldables are a breath of the future. The way the screen unfolds into a tablet, the seamless transition between modes, and the constant experimentation with form factors all add up to a sense of technological excitement.

Innovation in this space isn’t stopping there. Brands are already looking towards tri-fold devices or rollable displays, with Huawei’s Mate XT Ultimate proving that the industry is investing in even more daring, groundbreaking form factors. For those who love the feeling of owning cutting-edge technology, a book-shaped smartphone is just the thing.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/ly-do-dien-thoai-gap-ngang-hut-khach-hon-dang-vo-so-185250906084715065.htm