Presbyopia, or age-related farsightedness, affects most people after 40, making it difficult to read small text on phones. To help those with ageing eyes, we tested three flagship smartphones: the Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, and Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold. Our focus was on visual clarity, readability, accessibility features, and usability for ageing eyes.
The iPhone 17 Pro Max features a 6.9-inch OLED display, the smallest of the three, but is noticeably lighter. Changing font size and adding bold text was simple via Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size. The built-in Magnifier app, launched by triple-clicking the side button, proved useful in dim lighting for reading menus. However, the Display Zoom feature only worked consistently on the home screen and native apps, and occasionally triggered accidentally in a bag or pocket.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold are folding models that unfurl to an 8-inch tablet-like screen, offering more screen real estate. Both have 120Hz refresh rates for smooth scrolling. Their larger displays reduce the need for zooming, making text more readable without breaking formatting in apps and web pages. Accessibility shortcuts for text-to-voice were easy to set up on all three phones.
We tested reading emails, texts, and articles before and after zooming, in sunlight and dim indoor lighting. We also evaluated typing comfort, weight when held at arm's length, and battery life impact from using accessibility features—none was significant. The folding phones' larger screens provide a natural advantage for ageing eyes, but the iPhone's lighter weight and effective magnifier make it a strong contender for Apple users.
