This year was supposed to be a paradigm-shifting one, where we go from the plebeian flat and rigid phone screens to getting a taste of the future where we will fold and roll and unfurl like the benevolent video-guzzlers we are. The first future-fetchers, however, turned out to be... how to euphemise it... uninspiring. 

There are only two upcoming foldable phones from brand-name manufacturers that have actually reached a retail stage and you can potentially hope to grab from a retail shelf sooner or later. Both the Galaxy Fold and Mate X are big bulky contraptions that look ...