Rumor has it that Apple will announce the iPhone Ultra at its upcoming September 9 event, making it the first iPhone to sport an "ultra" moniker. We're not expecting it to push the boundaries of battery technology or camera prowess, but it is slated to do one big thing that no other iPhone has (intentionally) done: fold in half.

This is going to drive a huge boost in sales for foldable phones, a category that has consistently grown since the first models arrived in 2019, but hasn't seen a particularly massive tentpole release like this one yet. Of course, as with anything Apple makes, you'll only get what Apple gives you, and rumor has it that Apple is announcing only one size and shape this time around.

But Android foldables, which have been around for eight years now, have had time to develop and branch out. Android offers a substantial choice of manufacturers, shapes, sizes, and capabilities that Apple simply can't offer. If foldable phones are looking like your next big purchase, here are many reasons you should choose an Android-powered one.

What is a folding phone and how do they work?

Folding phones usually come with two displays: an inner display and an outer display. The inner display is made of special ultrathin glass that can bend (unlike normal glass) and is reinforced with a preinstalled screen protector. The phone's frame is split into two halves connected by a specialized hinge, allowing you to open and close the phone.

The foldable inner display is a special type of flexible OLED panel that's built to bend, too. A specialized hinge holds everything together, keeping dust and water out of the phone. It's a true marvel of engineering, and some foldables are even extremely durable, as proven by my Honor Magic V6 torture test.

Both the inner and outer displays work the same way a regular smartphone touchscreen does. You can open apps on either of them, allowing you to choose the size of the "canvas" you want to view them on.

What types of folding phones exist (and why would someone want one)?

The leaked image of the iPhone Ultra above shows what's known as a book-style foldable. When a book-style phone is closed, its size and shape are similar to those of a standard smartphone, so all your favorite apps look and feel nearly identical to those on your existing smartphone.

Opening a book-style phone doubles its size, turning it into a small tablet that lets you get more done without switching to a laptop or other computer. I work on the go quite a bit, and a folding phone makes it easy to get most of my work done efficiently. I rarely watch videos on my phone, but when I do, the extra-large inner display is a real treat.

Because of the large size, multitasking is one of the best features of a book-style foldable. You can run two or three apps side by side on these phones, and even put apps in floating windows, like on a laptop OS. Plus, the taskbar on the inner display makes it feel even more like a multitasking beast, similar to a laptop OS (like Windows or macOS).

Book-style foldables come in many sizes and shapes, though most are slightly taller and narrower than your average smartphone when closed. Google began its foldable journey with a shorter, wider model, but made the next three entries a bit taller.

Meanwhile, Samsung just introduced its first shorter, wider model (the Galaxy Z Fold 8), and Apple's iPhone Ultra is rumored to use this same size and shape. Shorter, wider models are best for video content and feel a lot like holding a small TV when unfolded.

Apple's iPhone Ultra is said to come in just one shape and size, while Android foldables offer tons of different sizes, shapes, and form factors. You can even get tri-fold foldables!

While book-style foldables get the bulk of the attention, flip-style foldables were better sellers for a few years. Phones like the Motorola Razr 2026 series look like a slightly taller normal smartphone when opened, then fold into a perfectly pocketable half-sized phone when closed.

These phones solve the issue of overly large phones while still giving you the flexibility to use a small screen for things like notifications and messaging, then a larger screen when you need it. We generally recommend Motorola's Razr flip phones over Samsung's Z Flip line because Motorola's outer screen is more capable, and the company's designs are far more interesting.

Flip phones are also wonderful for photos and videos thanks to their shape. It's easy to bend a flip phone at a 90-degree angle and use it as a "tripod" to take group photos. You can also use this same shape and hold it sideways to take video like a classic camcorder.

Do folding phones have any downsides?

Folding phones offer unique form factors and ways to interact with your favorite apps, but not everything is a win-win. When shopping for a book-style folding phone, the first thing you'll probably notice is the price. Yeah, there's quite a bit of sticker shock here, and that's mainly because this is a two-in-one device. Think of it as buying a phone and a tablet at the same time, and you'll understand.

Flip-style phones are typically priced the same as traditional flagship phones but tend to have one fewer rear camera. Even Motorola's Razr Ultra line doesn't have a third camera on the back, despite the higher price.

Both flip and book-style foldables are often a bit less powerful than top-tier traditional flagship smartphones. The problem is that there's not as much space in these phones for cooling, since they have to be thinner than a traditional phone to avoid feeling like a brick when closed.

Lastly, durability. Folding phones got a bad rap pretty early on when the original Galaxy Z Fold's inner display would spontaneously break, but those problems have generally been solved. There's always a chance the folding glass could break, but these phones have undergone so many years of evolution and hardening that such a failure is almost unheard of.

Stores like uBreakiFix readily have parts to repair them, and phone companies offer warranties and other insurance programs that help cover any potential issues. As someone who has reviewed dozens and dozens of folding phones over the past seven years, I've never seen a phone break in person.

My wife has also been using flip phones for the past four years, and the only time one of hers broke was after being dropped with the phone unfolded. Considering how many traditional smartphones break every day from drops, there's no reason to suggest that these phones are any less durable with regular use.

UGREEN just announced its first line of smart home products, including a trio of cameras (two outdoor, one indoor), a smart speaker, an ePaper smart frame, and an AI-powered NAS to keep everything safe and local.

If there's one thing you need to know from all this, it's that UGREEN has put a lot of thought into this product. From the incredibly easy-to-use hardware design to the cables themselves, the app's features, and the entire UGREEN HomeAgent family is a marvel of planning and execution.

I received the UGREEN HomeAgent HA100 NAS, SynCare PoE Cam OD600 Pro, and SynCare Indoor Cam ID500 Pro ahead of UGREEN's Boston-based event and got to spend some time with these products for this hands-on report. UGREEN is launching the HomeAgent HA100 crowdfunding program on September 4, including a 50% discount for early backers until October 27.

You've never used a NAS like this

As someone with 15 years of professional IT experience, I've spent plenty of time with big ol' NAS boxes in server racks. Usually, they're a pain in the butt to set up, and while they're mostly a set-it-and-forget-it affair, they're rarely designed to be user-friendly. A home NAS has to be very different from this approach, and it's clear UGREEN went back to the drawing board for the HomeAgent HA100.

Everything here is as self-explanatory and user-friendly as you can imagine. I specifically did not read the manual just to see if I could figure it out, and I was able to get the entire package set up in less than 5 minutes once I unboxed everything. A bevy of ports lines the back of the unit, located right underneath the cooling fan with a nifty magnetic filter that's dead easy to remove and clean.

Underneath the simple magnetic lid is a storage bay for three HDDs of your choice. Standard 3.5" models pop in with no screwdriver needed, while a 2.5" drive will need one of the small brackets included in the box. The drives pop in with a satisfying click and are removed with a simple button on top. They can even be locked into place with an included "key," which can be swapped out with a butter knife if you happen to lose it.

My unit shipped with an AI Accelerator unit already installed, but UGREEN sells models without this compute module for a lower cost. Adding an M.2 SSD is a little trickier since you'll have to flip the unit over and install it below, then add some thermal tape to keep things cool, but I imagine most people won't need M.2 performance anyway.

The front of the unit sports a touchscreen that only requires you to select a language to move forward. The unit is paired with the UGREEN NAS app and just requires you to select it from the list of LAN models found on your network. Since this NAS is hardwired to my router, it was as simple as opening the app on my phone and tapping the HA100 in the list.

UGREEN's HomeAgent line supports all Matter-compatible smart home devices, with Zigbee compatibility coming soon. It's also got full voice command support via UGREEN's Uliya agent, which is built into the NAS and can be used immediately since the NAS has microphones and speakers on the unit.

My NAS is located behind my couch, so it's easy to ask Uliya to toggle my lights and switches without having to worry about adding the dedicated speaker to my house, although I may end up getting a secondary speaker for the bedrooms.

Central to this unit's purpose is the all-local-all-the-time philosophy. That AI Accelerator unit is a mini computer that acts similarly to something like Gemini, albeit much more focused than a normal LLM. This one is made specifically for smart home control and to intelligently manage your media.

On the smart home side, it can keep track of familiar faces, understand the difference between a dog and a package, alert you if your chickens get in the front yard (yes, that's a problem for me), or even wake you if your baby starts crying in the middle of the night. I'll need time to assess how well each of these works, but it certainly sounds a lot like the smart home I've long dreamed of.

And with the pictures and video you can store on the NAS (both from smart home cameras and your smartphones), the AI Accelerator will group events, places, people, and other categories similarly to Google Photos, all without requiring you to pay a monthly fee to store data or for processing.

To say I'm extremely excited about these products is an understatement. From the looks of things so far, this does everything I've wanted a smart home to do and then some. Local control and storage are particularly attractive to me, especially since I stopped using Eufy years ago after all those old scandals.

Now, I've got a proper replacement solution that includes all that awesome local processing, plus the ability to control all my other smart home products using just my voice (thank you, Matter), all without requiring an internet connection. Pinch me, because this feels too good to be true, yet here it is in my living room.

Ugreen has a full roadmap for additional upgrades, including Zigbee device compatibility, a suite of additional voice commands the company is building, and more, which it'll be building out as the crowdfunding project continues through the end of the year.