Samsung has unveiled its third generation of foldable phones, the Galaxy Z Fold3 5G and the Galaxy Z Flip3 5G, at an online Unpacked event. The company says the Fold3 opens into a 7.6-inch screen and is the first foldable to support its S Pen stylus, while the Flip3 closes into a smaller clamshell with a cover screen four times larger than the one on the model before it. Both go on sale on 27 August in markets including the United States, Europe and Korea, at USD 1,799.99 and USD 999.99.

Much of the release is about durability, which is the objection foldable phones have struggled to answer. Samsung says the two are its first foldables with IPX8 water resistance, use a new aluminium frame and stronger cover glass, and have a main screen about 80 per cent more durable than earlier models. It says the hinge was tested by the certification firm Bureau Veritas to withstand 200,000 folds.

The foldable recast as a work device

The interesting part is who Samsung now says the phone is for. The company highlights support for Microsoft Teams and an Outlook layout that shows one email while previewing others, alongside the S Pen and a new taskbar — the pitch of a device for working, not only for watching. Dr TM Roh, who heads Samsung's mobile business, calls the pair a way to give users the flexibility a fast-moving world demands.

Two hundred thousand folds is a laboratory result, and water resistance is a rating rather than a promise about a phone's third year. The price is still close to a laptop's, and the question the launch leaves open is whether a phone that unfolds replaces the laptop for real work or simply sits beside it. Samsung is betting that the foldable, once a curiosity, has become the working device an executive actually carries.