Folding phones have gone from a novelty to something you see in meetings and on trains.

Apple has just announced its first one, which means a lot more people are about to ask the question.

We sell them, we repair them, and we are fairly picky about which ones we stock. So here is the honest version.

What they are genuinely good at

A folding phone solves one problem very well: it gives you a tablet without you having to carry a tablet.

Reading and documents. If you read a lot, whether that is books, news, long emails or PDFs for work, the bigger screen is a real difference rather than a marginal one.

Doing two things at once. Most foldables let you run two apps side by side properly. Notes open next to an email. A spreadsheet next to a message thread. This is the single most common reason our business customers give for having one.

Travel. One device instead of a phone and an iPad in the bag. If you travel for work, that adds up quickly.

Watching things. Trains, hotels, lunch breaks. Obvious, but it is genuinely nicer.

Flip-style foldables are a different pitch entirely. A Flip is not about a bigger screen, it is about a smaller phone. It folds down to something that fits a jacket pocket properly. If you have ever found modern phones too big, that is the appeal.

Where they make less sense

If you mostly message, scroll and take photos, you will barely open it. A lot of people buy the big screen and then use the cover screen for ninety percent of what they do.

If you work somewhere dusty, carry your phone with keys, or keep it in a back pocket, a foldable is a poor fit. There is more to go wrong and it costs more when it does.

And if you want the best camera, a foldable is rarely it. Even Apple's Duo drops the dedicated telephoto lens compared to the standard Pro Max.

Are they still fragile?

This is the real question, and the honest answer is: much less than they were, but they are still the most delicate phones on the market.

The early generations earned their reputation. Screens failed along the crease, hinges collected grit and stopped working properly, and the factory-fitted screen protector peeled and took the display with it when people tried to remove it. Some of those phones did not survive their first year.

Modern ones are a different proposition. The hinges are better engineered, the panels are tougher, and water resistance has improved dramatically. Apple's Duo carries an IP68 rating, which would have been unthinkable on a foldable a few years ago.

But the fundamentals have not changed. A folding screen is a flexible panel under constant mechanical stress, sitting on a hinge with more than a hundred components in it. It will always be more vulnerable than a sheet of glass on a solid slab.

The faults we still see most often:

Inner screen failure along the crease. Usually a line, a dead strip, or touch that stops responding down the fold.

Debris in the hinge. Sand, grit and pocket fluff get in and either grind the mechanism or press into the panel from behind.

Peeled screen protector damage. The factory-applied protector on a foldable inner screen is part of the display assembly, not an accessory. People peel it off because it looks like it is lifting, and damage the panel doing it.

Cover screen cracks. Far more common than inner screen damage, and thankfully far cheaper to fix.

The bit nobody factors in: what the screen costs

This is where people get caught out, and it is the single most important thing to understand before you buy one.

Replacing the inner folding display is the most expensive repair in phones. In the UK you are generally looking at around £300 upwards for a Flip-style inner screen, and £500 to £600 for a Fold-style one using genuine parts. Samsung's own out-of-warranty pricing runs to around £525 for a recent Fold inner display.

For comparison, a normal flagship screen is usually £150 to £250. So you are paying roughly double, sometimes more, for the same accident.

The cover screen is much more reasonable, typically £150 to £200, because it is conventional glass over a normal panel. If you are going to break one, break that one.

And on the new foldable iPhone: as things stand, Apple has published no repair price at all for the folding screen or the hinge, and no AppleCare price for the device either. The case is priced. The folio is priced. The cover that protects what is inside is not. Pre-orders open in mid October, which means people will be committing to a two thousand pound phone without knowing what a bad drop costs. Any figure you see quoted right now is a guess.

What we would tell you in the studio

Get cover, or be genuinely careful. This is the one piece of advice we would push hardest. On a normal phone, insurance is a reasonable maybe. On a foldable, where one accident can cost £600, it is close to essential. Either take the manufacturer's cover, add your phone to your home insurance, or accept that you are self-insuring a very expensive component.

Use a proper case. Not a slim one. On a folding phone the case is doing real work.

Never peel the inner screen protector. If it lifts, get it replaced professionally rather than picking at it.

Keep it out of sandy and dusty environments. Beaches and building sites are where hinges go to die.

Buy a recent one. This is why we only stock later models. The difference in reliability between the first generations and the current ones is not subtle, and an older foldable can cost more to repair than it is worth.

So, should you?

If you read a lot, work off your phone, travel, or genuinely want a tablet you do not have to carry, a modern foldable is a brilliant device and the technology has finally caught up with the idea.

If you want one because it looks impressive, that is a fine reason too, as long as you go in knowing the repair bill and budget for cover.

What we would not do is buy an early-generation one to save money. That is the version of this decision that goes wrong most often.

Harrison, Calatech