The Best Folding Phones
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You may be scoffing as you read this. The best folding phones? Really? Aren't those just gimmicks? I'm here to tell you they're pretty darn useful. And yes, there are now quite a few of them, so you have options. Folding phones are an evolution of the traditional single-screen slab of glass we've all been using for nearly two decades—and we might even see a folding iPhone in the future.
They predominantly come in two forms: a folding flip phone or a folding booklike phone, enabling you to either relive the glory days of small phones or expand your multitasking options while on the go. A folding phone is a personal decision—arguably even more than a traditional smartphone, since it hinges on what style you prefer (heh). I have tested almost all of them, and my colleague Simon Hill has helped test models specific to the UK and other markets. These are our favorites.
Check out our other mobile buying guides, including the Best Android Phones, Best iPhones, Best Cheap Phones, Best Samsung Phones, Best Google Pixel Phones, Best Motorola Phones, Best Phones With a Headphone Jack, and Best Phones You Can't Buy in the US.
Updated May 2025: We've added the Motorola Razr 2025 series and Oppo Find N5.
Things to Know Before Buying
Folding phones are more fragile than normal phones. Folding phones have more parts than a traditional smartphone, not to mention a hinge. Companies advertise how many folds these devices have been tested for—usually around 200,000 or 500,000 folds—but a single drop can be incredibly damaging. They are not as dust-resistant and some aren't as water-resistant (almost none of them are IP78-rated), so you'll want to be especially careful. Use a case, and it might be worthwhile to invest in the manufacturer's device care policy.
Don't remove the built-in screen protector. Most of these folding phones have a film over the inner screen. You might be tempted to remove it, but don't—it can damage the display. There are usually instructions in the packaging instructing you not to remove it, and how to care for your device.
There's a small learning curve to the software. Flip-style folding phones are fairly straightforward, but booklike folding phones that double as tablets have new multitasking tricks that will take some getting used to if you want to make the most of them. I recommend taking some time to run through these features so you understand how they work.
They're expensive. Do you need one? Nobody needs a folding phone. If you think you're someone who will benefit from them, know that they're frequently discounted during big sale events like Black Friday, and you can also knock a few hundred dollars off if you trade in an eligible device.
Which Type of Folding Phone Is for You?
Folding flip phones are for people who want a compact device. Think of a normal phone you can fold in half. That's pretty much what you get, plus a screen on the front to monitor widgets and texts. This does mean you can flip the phone to answer a call and flip it shut to end one—super cool. You can put the phone at a 90-degree angle and some apps will adapt to show controls on the bottom, and important details at the top like in video calling apps, or when watching videos on YouTube, though this depends on the phone. Folding flip phones typically have mediocre battery life and the cameras are not as good as their nonfolding counterparts.
Folding booklike phones are for people who want the big-screen experience. Are you constantly watching full-length movies on your phone? Or do you always find yourself jumping back and forth between two apps? Then these are for you. They have good battery life and better cameras (though not as good as nonfolding phones), but they're far more expensive. They're thick and heavy, though we're seeing newer models that are surprisingly thin. Still, you may have a hard time fitting them in your pockets.
My Favorite Folding Features
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Whichever style you go for, my favorite feature of folding phones is the ability to see the viewfinder on the external screen and snap a selfie with the high-quality rear cameras—just set the phone down slightly folded so it stays upright, and there's usually a button you can click in the camera app to send the preview to the external screen. You can usually trigger the shutter hands-free with a palm gesture. (Motorola's new Razr Ultra lets you start and stop video recordings with hand gestures, too!) It's excellent when traveling and you want to take a photo of yourself next to a point of interest in the background.
Many of these phones offer similar functionality with translation—Samsung and Google, for example, both let you show your words translated on the external screen so the person you are speaking to can see it, and then they can tap a button on the screen to have the phone start translating their words, which you'll see on the internal screen. It's a much nicer system than using Google Translate on a candy bar phone.
Best Flip Phone
Flip phones are already eye-catching because they look so different from the candy bar style of smartphones. But Motorola took things further with the Razr Ultra, the most fashionable smartphone today (8/10, WIRED Recommends). You can buy it in Alcantara, with a sustainably sourced wood back, a leather-inspired finish, or a satin-esque look—they all look and feel fantastic. It's stronger too—Motorola has improved the phone's durability with an IP48 rating for some dust protection, a titanium-reinforced hinge, and Gorilla Glass Ceramic for stronger displays.
The 4-inch OLED screen on the front lets you add more content than ever, like multiple widget panels, so you don't need to open the phone up as frequently. Once you do, though, you'll enjoy a super bright and colorful 7-inch AMOLED screen. All the top-end specs are here, from the powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset to drive all your apps and games to 512 GB of storage if you need lots of space. The 4,700-mAh battery is better than prior versions but will still only get you through a full day with average use. At least there's fast charging, wired or wireless.
The 50-megapixel main camera snaps nice photos, along with a reliable 50-megapixel ultrawide, and while this is the best camera system Motorola has made, it's still not as up to par as those from Samsung, Apple, and Google. Still, I love being able to take a selfie with the phone closed and see a preview with the front screen, and my wife loves it when I take a picture of her because she can see a preview of herself on the other side of the phone and can correct my poor angle. Video capture is significantly better too, with Dolby Vision support that makes clips look sharp, colorful, and not too grainy in low light.
You'll hear a lot about Motorola's AI features on this phone—there's even a dedicated “AI” button—but the long and short of it is that most of these features aren't very helpful. Pay Attention is the only one I've found myself using due to the nature of my job, and it starts a recording with real-time transcriptions and an AI summary at the end, but most flagship phones can do that these days. Don't buy it for Moto AI, buy it because it's a flipping cool Razr.
Specs External display: 4-inch, 165-Hz LTPO, pOLED Internal display: 7-inch, 165-Hz LTPO, AMOLED Processor and RAM: Snapdragon 8 Elite with 16 GB RAM Storage: 512 GB and 1-TB options Battery: 4,700 mAh Cameras: 50-MP main camera, 50-MP ultrawide, 50-MP selfie camera Updates (from date of manufacture): Three OS upgrades, 4 years of security updates Extras: 68-watt wired charging, 30-watt wireless charging, IP48, fingerprint unlock, Gorilla Glass Ceramic, Dolby Vision video capture Carrier compatibility: Works on all three major US networks Best Folding Phone
In hindsight, I may have been a little harsh in my Pixel 9 Pro Fold review (6/10, WIRED Recommends), but that was largely because I felt like $1,800 should get you hardware at least as good as that on the cheaper Pixel 9 Pro, which is an excellent phone. Brushing this aside, this is still the booklike folding phone I prefer using out of all the options sold in the US. The external screen is wider than what you get with Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold6 and feels nearly identical to a normal smartphone. It's not the thinnest folding device out there, but it's pretty slim in its own right, which makes holding it more manageable than ever. Open it up, and you're also getting one of the largest inner screens we've seen to date at 8 inches, which makes it an iPad Mini, right?
My main gripe is that there are some lesser features compared to the non-folding Pixel 9 Pro series. For example, the triple camera system here is great, but the results from the telephoto and ultrawide are noticeably not as sharp as the photos captured on the cheaper 9 Pro devices. I also do not like that Gmail now requires you to flip the phone to landscape mode to show the more useful two-pane view; this wasn't an issue with the first-gen Pixel Fold. You might even have issues charging this thing on a wireless charging stand. These are, on the whole, minor gripes, but they might matter when splurging this much cash on a phone.
Still, it's hard to stay away from this improved piece of hardware and the Pixel software, with all of the smart features that Pixel phones are known for. I just watched Call Screen block a spam call as I wrote this, and I'm constantly using Assistant Voice Typing to quickly send accurate messages without tapping on the virtual keyboard. I've got more details about these features in our Best Google Pixel Phone buying guide, but keep in mind that Google will likely introduce the Pixel 10 Pro Fold in August.
Specs External display: 6.3-inch, 120-Hz OLED Internal display: 8-inch, 120-Hz LTPO, OLED Processor and RAM: Tensor G4 with 16 GB RAM Storage: 256 and 512 GB options Battery: 4,650 mAh Cameras: 48-MP main camera, 10.5-MP 5X telephoto, 10.5-MP ultrawide, 10-MP front camera, 10-MP inner selfie camera Updates (from date of manufacture): Seven years of software updates Extras: Wireless charging, IPX8, fingerprint and secure face unlock, NFC Carrier compatibility: Works on all three major US networks
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Best Budget Folding Phone
If you want to test the folding phone waters, there's no better option than the Razr 2025 (8/10, WIRED Recommends). It's sometimes shocking that this flip phone is just $700. It has the same titanium-reinforced hinge as the Ultra and an IP48 dust- and water-resistance rating, and while the rest of its specs might not be as flagship-grade, notably the MediaTek Dimensity 7400X chipset, it still doesn't feel all that different from the Ultra. The battery capacity is slightly smaller, but you can still get a full day of use out of it; there's a hefty 256 GB of storage, and the screens are similarly bright, sharp, and colorful, though they're slightly smaller.
The exception is the cameras. I've been happy with the photos I've captured with the Razr, but it struggles in high-contrast scenes with too many shadowy areas or over-exposed highlights. It can look a little over-sharpened, and colors are not as accurate as what you get on the Razr Ultra. The ultrawide camera isn't as good, and video quality also greatly suffers, particularly in low light. Still, you're getting a delightfully designed flip phone at a reasonable price, and the best improvement here is that performance is no longer choppy like on previous Razrs.
Specs External display: 3.6-inch, 90-Hz LTPS, pOLED Internal display: 6.9-inch, 120-Hz LTPO, AMOLED Processor and RAM: MediaTek Dimensity 7400X with 8 GB RAM Storage: 256 GB Battery: 4,500 mAh Cameras: 50-MP main camera, 13-MP ultrawide, 32-MP selfie camera Updates (from date of manufacture): Three Android OS upgrades and 4 years of security updates Extras: 30-watt wired charging, 15W Qi wireless charging, IP48, fingerprint sensor Carrier compatibility: Works on all three major US networks The OG Folding Phones
Samsung is the stalwart brand in the folding phone game, whether you opt for its Galaxy Z Fold6 or Flip6 (7/10, WIRED Recommends)—that's right, we're already on its sixth generation. If you're worried about durability and repairability, these Samsung phones are the safest choice on the market, with exceptional build quality and reliability, though they're the most expensive.
The Fold6 has an improved, wider front screen that feels like a normal smartphone, but not as much as the Pixel 9 Pro Fold or the Honor Magic V3 (see below). At least it's decently lightweight. Open it up, and the 7.6-inch screen is a treat. Samsung has stuffed a lot of AI features inside, my favorite of which is Sketch to Image, which lets you draw on your photos to have AI generate a picture based on your sketch. I don't find multitasking as easy as on older phones like the OnePlus Open, and the aspect ratio still restricts some apps from showing a multi-pane view, like Gmail, unless you rotate the phone to landscape.
The Flip6 is much easier to recommend to anyone. It folds well, and the improved hinge design feels more responsive and durable. I prefer the larger front screen on the Motorola Razr Ultra, which generally feels easier to customize and use than Samsung's approach. Otherwise, the Flip6 remains a great folding flip phone with long software support, great cameras (better than Motorola's!), and excellent performance. Just remember to carry a power bank, as it won't last a full day of heavy use.
Samsung's next-generation folding phones, the Galaxy Z Flip7 and Galaxy Z Fold7, are expected to arrive in July. I recommend waiting to see what's new.
Specs Flip6 Fold6 External display: 3.4-inch, 60-Hz, AMOLED 6.3-inch, 120-Hz LTPO, AMOLED Internal display: 6.7-inch, 120-Hz LTPO, AMOLED 7.6-inch, 120-Hz LTPO, AMOLED Processor and RAM: Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 with 12 GB RAM Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 with 12 GB RAM Storage: 256 or 512 GB options 256, 512 GB, or 1 TB options Battery: 4,000 mAh 4,400 mAh Cameras: 50-MP main camera, 12-MP ultrawide, 10-MP selfie camera 50-MP main camera, 10-MP 3X telephoto, 12-MP ultrawide, 10-MP front camera, 4-MP inner selfie camera Updates (from date of manufacture): Seven years of software updates Seven years of software updates Extras: IPX8, fingerprint sensor, NFC, wireless charging IPX8, fingerprint sensor, NFC, wireless charging Carrier compatibility: Works on all three major US networks Works on all three major US networks
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Best Folding Phone Outside the US
You can import it into the US and hope it works perfectly fine on your carrier, but the Honor Magic V3 is the best booklike fold for anyone in the UK, Europe, or other markets where the phone is sold (8/10, WIRED Recommends). It's one of the world's slimmest folding phones, and that means using the external screen feels pretty normal, like a single-screen device (that's good!). Open it up, and you get a 7.92-inch expansive screen. These displays are gorgeous, and Honor wins out on other basic functions too, like great battery life, a solid triple camera system, and amenities like wireless charging.
Where it falls short is software. Honor has made strides in improving it since its predecessors, but there are still some quirks, like weird transitions between the front and inside screens. The software support on this phone also doesn't last as long as what Google and Samsung offer, which is a shame considering it's nearly as expensive.
Specs External display: 6.43-inch, 120-Hz LTPO, OLED Internal display: 7.92-inch, 120-Hz LTPO, AMOLED Processor and RAM: Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 with 12 GB RAM Storage: 512 GB Battery: 5,150 mAh Cameras: 50-MP main camera, 50.5-MP 3.5X telephoto, 40-MP ultrawide, 20-MP front camera, 20-MP inner selfie camera Updates (from date of manufacture): Four years of Android OS upgrades and five years of security updates Extras: Wireless charging, IPX8, fingerprint sensor, NFC Carrier compatibility: Not officially supported in the US; available in the UK and Europe
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Other Folding Phones to Consider
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Motorola Razr+ (2025): There is technically a third phone in Motorola's latest Razr lineup: the Razr+ 2025. However, it's nearly identical to last year's Razr+ 2024, with fresh colors and the improved IP48 rating and titanium-reinforced hinge. It sits in an awkward middle ground, though. It's not as affordable as the standard Razr, which offers a pretty nice experience for the money. But it's also not as flagship as the Razr Ultra. It is also the only one of the lineup without the ultrawide camera. I usually love telephoto zoom lenses, but ultrawides are so handy on flip phones for group selfies. If you're considering this model, it's also worth considering the Razr+ from 2024, as you'll see some nice discounts on it throughout the year.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 for $1,000: The 2023 fifth-generation Galaxy Z Flip5 (7/10, WIRED Recommends) is a polished flip-style handset with an IPX8 water-resistance rating and a silent hinge. It closes completely flat without leaving a gap in the middle, and this iteration has a larger cover screen on the front, which lets you look at large widgets like the calendar, weather, step count, and timer—plus notifications with the ability to respond to them via a full-size keyboard—without opening the device up. The newer Flip6 doesn't add many new features—the upgrades are in the software, and the Flip5 has received many of them. Make sure you do not pay anywhere close to MSRP for this phone.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 for $1,250: The Galaxy Z Fold5 (7/10, WIRED Recommends) from 2023 still shares many similarities with the newer Galaxy Z Fold6, though the front screen is not as wide and can be a little annoying to use (apps can feel a bit squished). It's still an excellent, well-built phone, but you should avoid paying anything near MSRP. Wait for a sale.
OnePlus Open for $1,700: I loved the OnePlus Open (7/10, WIRED Recommends) when it debuted in 2023, so I was sad to see the company announce earlier this year that it scrapped plans for a successor. You can't buy this phone from OnePlus or Amazon anymore, but it's available at Best Buy, and you can also find it used. I don't think it's worth the MSRP today, so try to find it at a discount. The Open has the best multitasking system I've seen on a booklike folding phone. I had Gmail and X open in split-screen, and then Slack hidden away at the bottom—you can easily scroll down to see the full-size third app or bring all three into view next to each other. There's no wireless charging support. It also has only an IPX4 water-resistance rating, so I'd be really careful using this near a pool. Take into consideration access to repairability and customer service—Google and Samsung have a wider repair network (at least in the US), and fixing a broken OnePlus might be more troublesome.
Xiaomi Mix Flip for $899: Xiaomi’s first flip phone has a lovely design with excellent displays inside and out, long battery life with fast charging, and flagship-level performance, which makes a nice change as flip phones often have middling specs. It also boasts a solid dual-lens camera, opting for telephoto instead of ultrawide alongside the capable main shooter, which is more useful for most folks. The software lets the party down a little; there’s no IP rating, and it is very pricey, but I had fun with this flip phone. —Simon Hill
Xiaomi Mix Fold 4 for $1,399: Launched only in China like its predecessors, Xiaomi has promised a wider release for the Mix Fold 4 at some point (though not in the US). It’s not much thicker than the Honor Magic V3 above, and the screen crease is more pronounced when you open it. Performance and battery life are impeccable, and it supports fast wired and wireless charging. There’s also a versatile Leica-tuned camera. But it doesn’t feel like a huge upgrade over last year’s Xiaomi Mix Fold 3. —Simon Hill
Oppo Find N5 Flip: You can think of this as the spiritual successor to the OnePlus Open. (Both companies are owned by BBK Electronics.) Sadly, it isn't available in the US, UK, or Europe. It's the world's slimmest booklike foldable at just 3.6 millimeters thick when open. The displays are excellent, it has top-end specs like the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor at its heart, not to mention 80-watt wired charging for speedy top-ups. The cameras aren't as great, though, and Oppo's software is still clunky and buggy.
Nubia Flip 5G for $499 (£500): This supercute flip foldable has a stylish circular screen on the front. The Nubia Flip 5G (6/10 WIRED Review) is the most affordable foldable we have seen, outside of discounts for other models. Sadly, the front screen is not very practical, and this is a distinctly average performer with limited processing power and battery life. The software is also dated, and we have concerns about Nubia’s update policy. But for folks keen to try a foldable on a limited budget, the Flip 5G is a way to do it. —Simon Hill
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