I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately. For years, responsive design has been our go-to solution for crafting web experiences that adapt across devices. But with foldable screens, rollable displays, and dynamic viewports becoming more common, it feels like our old approach is starting to crack under the pressure.
Foldable devices don’t just resize — they reshape. They transform the way we interact with screens. Flipping, folding, and stretching make fixed breakpoints feel rigid and outdated. It’s becoming clear that if we want to create seamless, future-proof designs, fluid design is the way forward.
Dual states: A foldable phone isn’t just one device but two. Closed, it’s a compact phone. Open it and it becomes a small tablet. Your layout has to work perfectly in both states, as well as during the transitions in between.
Dynamic viewports: The user might interact with your site on one panel, spread it across two, or partially fold the screen to multitask. Unlike fixed-width breakpoints, fluid layouts adapt naturally to these continuous transitions. To be fair, this used to also happen on desktop where resizing the browser window is common practice.
New behaviors: Users are already finding creative ways to interact with foldable (think multitasking apps side-by-side or “tent mode” for media). Your designs need to flex and adapt without breaking.