Originally published on 1.28.23

Last month, when I found myself in need of a second phone for the sake of my own sanity, I dreaded buying another iPhone. My opinion from my column “iThink we’ve hit a wall” still stood. There was no way I was paying anywhere from $500-$1,100 for the same old, same old.

What I wanted was a foldable phone. Something that could either expand to a large canvas so I could get things done or shrink away so I could almost lose it in my pocket. But paying upwards of $1,000 for the burgeoning Samsung Galaxy Z class of smart phones was a tough pill to swallow.

That is until I caught a glimpse of the plentiful used market. I was incredibly skeptical going down this path because durability is still a big question mark. But at such an enticing price — a less than one-year-old Galaxy Z Flip 3 for $250, which is one fourth of its original cost — and considering the fact that 64% of our readership surveyed said they wouldn’t own a folding phone, I was willing to test the waters so you didn’t have to.

The main question I got asked during my first month of ownership — right after, “Can I flip it?” — was about its durability. I was worried about a loose or grinding hinge, bubbles in the display crease, scratches on the inside display’s ultra thin glass and any other unthinkable problem that could come from what I thought was such a fragile mechanism.