The best foldable phone you can buy

A foldable phone isn’t for the faint of heart. They’re generally heavier, pricier, and have less capable cameras than a standard slab-style phone. And while they’re far less fragile than when they first debuted, foldables are still susceptible to the kind of damage a regular smartphone can shrug off. You really don’t want any dust getting in that hinge. But if you’re an adventurous sort of gadget lover, then a folding phone is a rewarding investment.

There are basically two kinds of foldables at the moment — the kind that fold like books and the ones that fold clamshell style, like your old flip phone. Here’s how I think of it: a book-style foldable is like a phone plus a tablet, and a flip-style foldable is a phone plus a smartwatch. The book foldables provide an outer screen for all your regular phone needs, and then a tablet-like inner screen when you want, well, more screen. Flip phones come with a smaller secondary display on the outer panel that’s useful for checking information quickly. When you need to do regular phone stuff, you unfold it.

So while they all fit in one category of folding tech, they’re suited to two very different kinds of people — someone who wants even more phone with their phone and someone who wants to be fully immersed a little less. Whichever category you fit into, you’d be wise to get the manufacturer’s extended warranty with your purchase; fixes can be expensive, and you won’t be able to walk into just any phone repair shop to get them. If you don’t opt for the warranty, you’ll want to be sure you can comfortably afford to replace your phone in the event of a sudden sand-related catastrophe. Death can come swiftly to a folding screen.

If I haven’t scared you off by this point, then you’re probably the kind of person who will have a heck of a good time with a foldable. I’ve used every phone under the sun, and folding phones are some of my favorite gadgets. Run four apps at once! Prop it up like a tiny laptop! Hold it like a camcorder when you shoot video! There are tons of possibilities, and the thrill you get when you fold your phone shut never fully wears off.

Screen: 8-inch, 2076p, 120Hz OLED inner screen; 6.3-inch, 1080p, 120Hz OLED cover screen / 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 inner selfie camera / Battery: 4,650mAh / Charging: 21W wired, 7.5W wireless / Weather resistance: IPX8

The Pixel 9 Pro Fold is only Google’s second folding phone, but it’s more refined than you might expect from a sophomore effort. Where the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6’s long and narrow outer screen suffers from Remote Control Syndrome, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold feels like an ideal form factor. The outer screen matches the dimensions of a regular phone, and the whole package is light enough that you can sometimes forget you’re holding a phone that folds in half.

There are some shortcomings. Like other folding phones, the 9 Pro Fold has a slightly downgraded camera system compared to its slab-style siblings. You still get a good 48-megapixel main and a 5x optical zoom, but don’t expect to be able to push it too hard in dim lighting. And like other foldables, there’s no formal dust resistance, just IPX8 resistance to full water immersion. Google’s multitasking software isn’t as flexible as Samsung’s either, and you can fit two apps side-by-side on the screen rather than the Z Fold 6’s anything-goes approach.

It’s not perfect, but no folding phone is. The hardware matters a lot on a device like this, and Google got the hardware very right with the 9 Pro Fold.

Screen: 6.7-inch, 1080p, 120Hz OLED inner screen; 3.4-inch, 720p, OLED cover screen / 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

The Flip 6 lacks some of the imaginative UI touches you can get on Motorola’s Razer Ultra, and the file folder-shaped outer screen feels more cramped than Motorola’s approach to fill the space — minus camera lenses, of course. But it’s more reliable, is scheduled to get seven years of software updates, and Samsung’s extended warranty offers good coverage for that extra peace of mind. Not the most titillating stuff, but it matters.

As you might guess from the name, the Flip 6 is far from Samsung’s first flip-phone rodeo. It comes with some thoughtful updates, like a true always-on display for the cover screen and a tweaked UI for adding widgets more easily. The cameras are good, though far from the best you can get for $1,100, and the battery goes all day. Its IP48 rating means there’s some protection from small particles, but dust is still a concern. Power users will need to download Good Lock to get the most out of the cover screen, but it’s perfectly capable out of the box for someone less adventurous. A bit boring? Yes, but that’s okay.

Screen: 7-inch 1224p OLED 165Hz inner screen; 4-inch 1080p OLED 165Hz outer screen / Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite / Cameras: 50-megapixel f/1.8 main with OIS; 50-megapixel f/2.0 ultrawide; 50-megapixel f/2.0 selfie / Battery: 4,700mAh / Charging: 68W wired, 30W wireless / Weather-resistance rating: IP48

The Razr Ultra is the newest and most advanced member of Motorola’s foldable lineup. Compared to the Razr Plus, it boasts a higher-resolution inner screen, Qualcomm’s most powerful mobile processor, double the storage space, and an upgraded selfie camera. The device is also one of the best-looking phones you can buy — the gold-bronze chassis and wooden back panel lend the Ultra a real elegance. When every phone tends to look the same — even in the foldable market — the Razr Ultra stands out in a crowd, which only adds to its charm.

Beyond its appearance, the Ultra is just plain fun to use. The 4-inch outer screen covers almost the entire front of the phone, making it perfect for checking notifications, responding to messages, and taking quick actions such as hailing an Uber. The titanium hinge is also an upgrade over the stainless steel found in the Razr Plus. While the Ultra is enjoyable, it can’t overcome the gripes we’ve had with previous Motorola foldables, like inconsistent camera processing. Meanwhile, Motorola is only promising three OS upgrades and four years of security updates, which is on the shorter side considering the $1,300 retail price.

Screen: 7.6-inch, 1856p, 120HZ OLED inner screen; 6.3-inch, 968p, 120Hz OLED outer screen / 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 inner selfie / Battery: 4,400mAh / Charging: 25W wired, 15W wireless / Weather-resistance rating: IP48

The Galaxy Z Fold 6 is an excellent foldable in its own right. It has a top-notch Qualcomm processor, full water resistance, and a reliable camera system. It uses a tall-and-skinny form factor for the outer screen that I’ve never been able to get quite comfortable with, so it’s not my pick for the best overall book-style foldable, but it excels in one aspect where other devices fall short: multitasking.

Samsung, as usual, embraces chaos in the Galaxy Z Fold 6’s interface, to the device’s advantage. You want to run apps? How about three of ‘em on the same screen? Plus a little floating window you can plop down in the middle? Go for it. Other foldables allow multitasking to some degree, but none are as permissive as Samsung’s.

You can easily resize apps running on the inner screen, move them around, and save them so you can return to that combination later. Oppo (and by extension, OnePlus) offers a well-regarded UI that also allows you to use three apps — either all at once or with one minimized to the side to be quickly pulled back onscreen. Lots of people prefer it, and if your brain craves order more than chaos then it might be the better option. But there’s nothing quite like the experience that the Z Fold 6 offers on any other phone.

Screen: 8.12-inch, 2248p, 120Hz OLED inner screen; 6.62-inch, 1140p, 120Hz OLED outer screen 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 bad news out of the way first: if you live in the US or Europe, you can’t buy the Oppo Find N5. That rules out, well, a lot of us. But if you live in China, Singapore, or any of the other Asian countries Oppo included in its so-called “global” release, then you’re in luck: you can pick up the world’s thinnest book-style folding phone, and the rest of us are all very jealous of you.

The Find N5 isn’t all about thinness. Its Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset is highly capable, the phone is fully water-resistant, and battery life is excellent. But let’s be real, its uniquely thin profile is the big selling point. It’s hard to overstate how slim it is: just barely thicker than a standard slab-style phone, and only slightly heavier. That matters when you’re using the phone via the cover screen for long periods of time or stashing it in the side pocket of your yoga pants. When a foldable is only about as heavy and bulky as a regular phone, using the inner screen feels like getting away with something fantastic — not a benefit you have to make many other sacrifices for. Oppo delivers this in spades, and I just wish more of us could… find it.

Update, June 30th: Replaced our pick for “the foldable that’s the most fun” with the Motorola Razr Ultra 2025. Added the Motorola Razr Plus 2025 and Razr 2025 in the section for “other foldables to consider.” In the “what’s coming next” section, we added information about Samsung’s upcoming Unpacked, which could feature new foldables devices. Finally, we updated this guide to reflect current pricing and availability. Brandon Russell contributed to this post.