While it didn't start off well, Samsung is proud of the final design of the Galaxy Fold. It was quite a journey getting here, the company published a short account of how its first foldable phone came to be. Over 1,000 prototypes were made out of various materials, anything from foam board to fabrics was used. The design team looked at existing foldable objects you use day to day - from books to wallets. Eventually, they settled on an inward folding design. This maximized the protection of the Infinity Flex Display. Samsung engineers also worked on distributing the weight of the phone...
Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_takes_a_look_back_at_how_the_galaxy_fold_was_designed-news-40160.php
