I was getting ready to watch Alien: Romulus on Disney Plus when something suddenly occurred to me: I own a foldable phone, and yet I’ve rarely used it to stream anything.
I know — it’s pretty crazy. When it comes to watching movies and shows, the best foldable phones would seem to enjoy a pretty big advantage over other devices.
Compared to conventional phones, foldables can expand their screens giving you a more expansive viewing area. And while tablets offering bigger screens, too, they’re not always as portable as a device you can fold shut and tuck into your pocket.
With that in mind, I wanted to confirm whether foldable phones really delivered on the promise of enjoying streaming content.
With my Galaxy Z Fold 5, I sat down to watch things using YouTube, Disney Plus and Twitch to see just what foldable phones bring to the viewing party, compared to other phones and tablets.
The pros of streaming video on a foldable device
You can’t talk about streaming on a foldable phone without first concentrating on the interior display and what kind of difference it makes. As you can probably guess, having a bigger screen is a major improvement, especially if you’re comparing it to a standard phone flipped into landscape mode.
But it’s not just the big screen that makes foldable phones so appealing. The bigger advantage, at least to me, is being able to split your phone’s screen over a larger area.
For Instance, I was able to watch Tom’s Guide’s YouTube video about the iPhone 16e while jotting down ideas in the Samsung Notes app. I could even have up to three different apps open at once with ample space for each. For someone with a short attention span, that’s a boon.
Then again, you can do that kind of multitasking on tablets, too. So how does a foldable phone measure up to a tablet? I found it to be a much better option than a tablet for streaming on the go.
In my experience, a tablet is something you have to plan to carry with you. If you’ve got an iPad (10th Gen), for example, you have to consciously remember to take that with you in a way you don’t with a phone. I’m not going to walk out the door without my Galaxy Z Fold.
Not only that, tablets can be quite awkward to tote around, particularly when it comes to the larger screen models that might enjoy an advantage over foldables. I’d be very nervous about whipping out a tablet on public transportation, especially if I don’t have a seat. A foldable phone is easier to take out of your pocket and put away.
As for the actual streaming experience, I found that YouTube worked best on my Galaxy Z Fold 5, as that app is optimized for foldables. This was primarily due to the Flex mode, which allowed me to essentially use half the phone as a stand while the video played on the other. However, it seems that other apps just don’t work with the feature as well as they should.
The cons of streaming video on a foldable device
Nothing is ever a perfect solution, and I ran into more than a few issues with using the Galaxy Z Fold 5 as a streaming device. Unlike with YouTube, not every app is optimized for a foldable screen.
For instance, on Disney Plus, there are massive black bars at the top and bottom of the screen so that the video streams in the proper aspect ratio. You can zoom in to reduce the size of those bars, but it cuts out what’s happening on the sides of the scene — a less-than-ideal viewing experience.
When watching a movie at the proper aspect ratio on my Galaxy Z Fold 5, it really took up the same viewing area as I would see if I watched that same movie on my iPhone 15 Pro Max, check out the photo below to see what I mean.
At least Disney Plus functions properly on the Galaxy Z Fold 5 — something I can’t say for the Twitch app. While the actual video looked fine on my foldable, the app’s interface just really doesn’t function as you would like when it comes to chat.
When you try to type anything into the Twitch chat app, the keyboard hides the other comments, making it hard to follow the conversation or check your spelling. Not only that, the keyboard won’t sync with the Twitch emotes, meaning you can’t use a channel’s emojis without having to close the keyboard, making it a lot more effort. Not only that, Flex Mode simply doesn’t work as it should do.
But the biggest issue I faced when streaming video on a foldable was that it’s really a task that requires some sort of stand so that you can keep the phone propped up without sacrificing half the screen for Flex Mode.
Maybe future foldable phones can include a built-in stand, but until then, I’ll just have to turn to one of the best Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 cases that includes a stand as a feature.
Final thoughts
With my testing wrapped up, will I be using a foldable phone over my other tech to stream shows? Honestly, the answer isn’t a straight yes or no, but there’s one area that stands out to me. When it comes to YouTube or when I want something playing on the background, the Galaxy Z Fold 5 is ideal.
However, for anything else, the issue is that many developers just don’t seem to have properly embraced the foldable form factor to take advantage of the larger display.
The experience of streaming video on a foldable isn’t terrible by any stretch, but it feels like it could be more immersive with apps designed specifically for the larger interior panels that phones like the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Pixel 9 Pro Fold have to offer.
This is only my experience, and no one exists in a vacuum, so let me know if you’ve been using a foldable phone recently. Do you swear by it as an entertainment device, or do you find it to be a bit of a letdown?
