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Return of the flip phone: Should you pay £1,300 for a phone that reminds you of 2003?

Just like retro fashion and movie reboots, technology has gone back to the future and reinvented the flip phone for the 2020s. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip is no ordinary smartphone – its big 6.7in screen actually folds in half. Without breaking. What a marvel.

The flip phone has been out of vogue for years – we’ve grown used to staring into the void of a flat slab of glass – but the timing of its return couldn’t be better. What better way could there be to seal yourself off from a device that is a constant distraction than shutting it away?

Opened out, it looks like a regular smartphone, but the cutting edge flexible screen means you can grab it from both ends and close it with a snap, like the old clamshell phones. It’s designed for hard use too: it will keep folding in excess of 200,000 times, which is about nine years at 60 openings a day (about average for phone users). The hinge will hold at any angle, like a laptop, but, best of all for women, it fits into the smaller pockets their clothes tend to be lumbered with.

You can see the crease in a certain light and you can feel it with your finger, but the notifications are a revelation: just a little bit of scrolling text that is unobtrusive and easier to ignore than big flashy iPhone banners.

Another bonus is that you can prop up the Galaxy Z Flip like a laptop and shoot selfies, videos and gifs hands-free, and all at once. It’s like having your very own on-demand camera bod, although you still have to provide a modicum of on-screen talent.

So how much is it? The price is £1,300, which doesn’t seem so bad next to a top-tier iPhone. Until you drop it, that is.