watching an unboxing video for the Galaxy Fold and the guy is raving about how "This is the future!!!" "Will this get to the point where it can replace a laptop???"
https://youtu.be/VSqkL31w69k
Meanwhile MS dithers about Andromeda.
I don't think this is the future at all. People said 3D was the future of movies (it wasn't) and VR is the future of gaming (also isn't). It's like in movies set in the future where we have all the flying cars and stuff, yet in the real world technology just doesn't progress that fast or even get adopted at all.
A foldable phone may be good, but it's still just a communications device. It'll still only be used by the same apps for the same use cases. So yes, if you use your laptop mainly to consume information and don't really do anything productive on it then it *could* replace that. But otherwise, it's just taking two existing devices and trying to fuse them together.
If Apple can build upon the Fold and have another iPod moment (something truly disruptive and new) then that could be the way forward, but it also won't be cheap. With phones getting more and more expensive the latest tech may soon only be available to those with the money.