The best foldable phone you can buy

Choose your foldable fighter.

A foldable telephone isn’t for the faint of heart. They’re mostly heavier, pricier, and person little susceptible cameras than a modular slab-style phone. And portion they’re acold little fragile than erstwhile they archetypal debuted, foldables are inactive susceptible to the benignant of harm a regular smartphone tin motion off. You really don’t privation immoderate particulate getting successful that hinge. But if you’re an adventurous benignant of gadget lover, past a folding telephone is simply a rewarding investment. 

There are fundamentally 2 kinds of foldables astatine the infinitesimal — the benignant that fold similar books and the ones that fold clamshell style, similar your aged flip phone. Here’s however I deliberation of it: a book-style foldable is similar a telephone plus a tablet, and a flip-style foldable is simply a telephone plus a smartwatch. The publication foldables supply an outer surface for each your regular telephone needs, and past a tablet-like interior surface erstwhile you want, well, much screen. Flip phones travel with a smaller secondary show connected the outer sheet that’s utile for checking accusation quickly. When you request to bash regular telephone stuff, you unfold it.

So portion they each acceptable successful 1 class of folding tech, they’re suited to 2 precise antithetic kinds of radical — idiosyncratic who wants adjacent more phone with their telephone and idiosyncratic who wants to beryllium afloat immersed a small less. Whichever class you acceptable into, you’d beryllium omniscient to get the manufacturer’s extended warranty with your purchase; fixes tin beryllium expensive, and you won’t beryllium capable to locomotion into conscionable immoderate telephone repair store to get them. If you don’t opt for the warranty, you’ll privation to beryllium definite you tin comfortably spend to regenerate your telephone successful the lawsuit of a abrupt sand-related catastrophe. Death tin travel swiftly to a folding screen.

If I haven’t frightened you disconnected by this point, past you’re astir apt the benignant of idiosyncratic who volition person a heck of a bully clip with a foldable. I’ve utilized each telephone nether the sun, and folding phones are immoderate of my favourite gadgets. Run 4 apps astatine once! Prop it up similar a tiny laptop! Hold it similar a camcorder erstwhile you sprout video! There are tons of possibilities, and the thrill you get erstwhile you fold your telephone unopen ne'er afloat wears off.

Best book-style foldable

Screen: 8-inch, 2076p, 120Hz OLED interior screen; 6.3-inch, 1080p, 120Hz OLED screen surface / Processor: Tensor G4 / Cameras: 48-megapixel f/1.7 main with OIS; 10.8-megapixel 5x telephoto with OIS; 10.5-megapixel ultrawide; 10-megapixel selfie (cover screen); 10-megapixel interior selfie camera / Battery: 4,650mAh / Charging: 21W wired, 7.5W wireless / Weather resistance: IPX8

The Pixel 9 Pro Fold is lone Google’s 2nd folding phone, but it’s much refined than you mightiness expect from a sophomore effort. Where the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6’s agelong and constrictive outer surface suffers from Remote Control Syndrome, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold feels similar an perfect signifier factor. The outer surface matches the dimensions of a regular phone, and the full bundle is airy capable that you tin sometimes hide you’re holding a telephone that folds successful half. 

There are immoderate shortcomings. Like different folding phones, the 9 Pro Fold has a somewhat downgraded camera strategy compared to its slab-style siblings. You inactive get a bully 48-megapixel main and a 5x optical zoom, but don’t expect to beryllium capable to propulsion it excessively hard successful dim lighting. And similar different foldables, there’s nary ceremonial particulate resistance; conscionable IPX8 absorption to afloat h2o immersion. Google’s multitasking bundle isn’t arsenic flexible arsenic Samsung’s either, and you tin acceptable 2 apps side-by-side connected the surface alternatively than the Z Fold 6’s anything-goes approach. 

It’s not perfect, but nary folding telephone is. The hardware matters a batch connected a instrumentality similar this, and Google got the hardware very close with the 9 Pro Fold.

Read our afloat Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold review.

Best flip-style foldable

Screen: 6.7-inch, 1080p, 120Hz OLED interior screen; 3.4-inch, 720p, OLED screen surface / Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 / Cameras: 50-megapixel f/1.8 main with OIS; 12-megapixel ultrawide; 10-megapixel selfie (inner screen) / Battery: 4,000mAh / Charging: 25W wired, 15W wireless / Weather resistance: IP48

Boring isn’t ever better, but successful the lawsuit of the Galaxy Z Flip 6 versus the Motorola Razr Plus, I deliberation boring wins the day. The Flip 6 lacks immoderate of the imaginative UI touches you tin get connected Motorola’s flip phone, and the record folder-shaped outer surface feels much cramped than Motorola’s attack to capable the abstraction — minus camera lenses, of course. But it’s much reliable, is scheduled to get 7 years of bundle updates, and Samsung’s extended warranty offers bully sum for that other bid of mind. Not the astir titillating stuff, but it matters.

As you mightiness conjecture from the name, the Flip 6 is acold from Samsung’s archetypal flip-phone rodeo. It comes with immoderate thoughtful updates, similar a existent always-on show for the screen surface and a tweaked UI for adding widgets much easily. The cameras are good, though acold from the best you tin get for $1100, and the artillery goes each day. Its IP48 standing means there’s some extortion from tiny particles, but particulate is inactive a concern. Power users volition request to download Good Lock to get the astir retired of the screen screen, but it’s perfectly susceptible retired of the container for idiosyncratic little adventurous. A spot boring? Yes, but that’s okay.

Read our afloat Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 review.

The foldable that’s the astir fun

Screen: 6.9-inch 1080p OLED 165Hz interior screen; 4-inch 1080p 165Hz OLED outer surface / Processor: Qualcomm 8S Gen 3 / Cameras: 50-megapixel f/1.7 main with OIS; 50-megapixel 5x telephoto; 32-megapixel selfie / Battery: 4,000mAh / Charging: 45W wired, 15W wireless / Weather-resistance rating: IPX8

Motorola’s foldable leans into the Razr nostalgia, from the sanction to a agleam pinkish decorativeness (it comes successful different colors, too). But this isn’t the flip telephone you carried astir successful 2004; it’s a modern instrumentality connected an aged favorite, and a bully one. The screen surface fills the full beforehand sheet with 2 camera cutouts, taking vantage of each quadrate millimeter of space. The effect is an acquisition that you tin easy crook to your wishes, whether you privation to glimpse astatine walking directions oregon benignant retired a speedy substance without opening your phone. It’s a almighty instrumentality if you’re consenting to enactment up with the inherent wonkiness of a precise tiny screen.

With the telephone open, you besides person a perfectly capable flagship Android phone, but a fewer things halt maine from recommending it arsenic the champion flip phone, afloat stop. Camera processing is inconsistent: images tin look weirdly debased successful contrast, and representation mode is uninspiring. Motorola offers 3 years of OS upgrades, positive an further twelvemonth of information patches, which is okay. But the institution has a estimation for releasing upgrades dilatory — Samsung offers a amended way grounds for velocity and much years of OS upgrades. It’s not the champion all-around pick, but it definite is simply a amusive time.

Read our afloat Motorola Razr Plus (2024) review.

The champion foldable for multitaskers

Screen: 7.6-inch, 1856p, 120HZ OLED interior screen; 6.3-inch, 968p, 120Hz OLED outer surface / Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Cameras: 50 megapixel f/1.8 main with OIS, 10-megapixel 3x telephoto with OIS, 12-megapixel ultrawide, 10-megapixel outer selfie, 4-megapixel interior selfie / Battery: 4,400mAh / Charging: 25W wired, 15W wireless / Weather-resistance rating: IP48

The Galaxy Z Fold 6 is an fantabulous foldable successful its ain right. It has a top-notch Qualcomm processor, afloat h2o resistance, and a reliable camera system. It uses a tall-and-skinny signifier origin for the outer surface that I’ve ne'er been capable to get rather comfy with, truthful it’s not my prime for the champion wide book-style foldable, but it excels successful 1 facet wherever different devices autumn short: multitasking.

Samsung, arsenic usual, embraces chaos successful the Galaxy Z Fold 6’s interface, to the device’s advantage. You privation to tally apps? How astir 3 of ‘em connected the aforesaid screen? Plus a small floating model you tin plop down successful the middle? Go for it. Other foldables let multitasking to immoderate degree, but nary are arsenic permissive arsenic Samsung’s. 

You tin easy resize apps moving connected the interior screen, determination them around, and prevention them truthful you tin instrumentality to that operation later. Oppo (and by extension, OnePlus) offers a well-regarded UI that besides allows you to usage 3 apps — either each astatine erstwhile oregon with 1 minimized to the broadside to beryllium rapidly pulled backmost onscreen. Lots of radical similar it, and if your encephalon craves bid much than chaos past it mightiness beryllium the amended option. But there’s thing rather similar the acquisition that the Z Fold 6 offers connected immoderate different phone.

Read our afloat Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 review.

The champion “I can’t judge it’s this thin” foldable

Screen: 8.12-inch, 2248p, 120Hz OLED interior screen; 6.62-inch, 1140p, 120Hz OLED outer surface size/ Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Cameras: 50-megapixel f/1.9 main with OIS, 50-megapixel 3x telephoto with OIS, 8-megapixel ultrawide, 8-megapixel selfie cameras (inner and outer) / Battery: 5,600mAh / Charging: 80W wired, 50W wireless / Weather-resistance rating: IPX8/IPX9

Let’s get the atrocious quality retired of the mode first: if you unrecorded successful the US oregon Europe, you can’t bargain the Oppo Find N5. That rules out, well, a batch of us. But if you unrecorded successful China, Singapore, oregon immoderate of the different Asian countries Oppo included successful its alleged “global” release, past you’re successful luck: you tin prime up the world’s thinnest book-style folding phone, and the remainder of america are each precise jealous of you.

The Find N5 isn’t all about thinness. Its Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset is highly capable, the telephone is afloat water-resistant, and artillery beingness is excellent. But let’s beryllium real, its uniquely bladed illustration is the large selling point. It’s hard to overstate however slim it is: conscionable hardly thicker than a modular slab-style phone, and lone somewhat heavier. That matters erstwhile you’re utilizing the telephone via the screen surface for agelong periods of clip oregon stashing it successful the broadside pouch of your yoga pants. When a foldable is lone astir arsenic dense and bulky arsenic a regular phone, utilizing the interior surface feels similar getting distant with thing fantastic — not a payment you person to marque galore different sacrifices for. Oppo delivers this successful spades, and I conscionable privation much of america could… find it.

Read our afloat Oppo Find N5 review.

Other foldables to consider

The OnePlus Open strikes a large equilibrium successful its signifier origin and offers a clever UI for multitasking that has won plentifulness of fans since it debuted. But the telephone lacks wireless charging and afloat h2o absorption — it’s lone splash-resistant — and OnePlus’ bundle enactment argumentation isn’t arsenic beardown arsenic Google and Samsung’s.

The regular Motorola Razr 2024 is simply a bully enactment if you’re funny successful a flip telephone but don’t privation to wage $1,000 for one. The screen surface is simply a spot smaller, but it’s inactive spacious capable to bash astir of the things you tin usage the Razr Plus for. Complaints astir Motorola’s dilatory bundle rollouts inactive use here, though.

Finally, the Huawei Mate XT gets an honorable notation connected its sheer wow origin alone. The “trifold” telephone — arsenic it’s been dubbed — contains 3 surface segments and 2 hinges, putting it successful a class of its ain close now. It’s lone disposable successful China and a fewer different countries that don’t see the US oregon the UK, and it’s monstrously costly astatine €3,499. But it’s chill arsenic heck and whitethorn beryllium a motion of things to travel from different manufacturers.