Best foldable phones 2024: the top folding smartphones right now (2024)

The best foldable phones are more than just a novelty, they give you two devices for the price of... well, two devices. For the premium, you get the coolest device around, a phone that can do what no iPhone can do. You get a phone and a tablet, or a compact communicator like nothing you've used before.

There are two types of foldable phones, the 'flip' and the 'fold.' It's not a coincidence that Samsung– the longest player in the foldable market– coined the names that set the stage for every folding phone to follow.

Samsung's latest foldable phones have finally arrived, and it's no surprise they deserve spots on our best foldables list. In fact, the Galaxy Z Fold 5 is such a strong performer, with blazing speed and the best software experience among any foldable phone, that we're naming it the best foldable phone you can buy.

For clamshell flip phones, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 is an excellent device, but we prefer the style and more versatile options of the Motorola Razr Plus. It's a close race, and both are great flip phone buys, so if you're curious about a compact and find a great deal, you can't go wrong with whichever you find appealing.

The Google Pixel Fold is also a great pick if you want a simpler Fold, or prefer Google's style of Android to Samsung's more flashy and feature-packed designs. It can't quite match Samsung's blazing speed and newly improved cameras on the Fold 5, but you get great images and wondrous photo editing on the Pixel Fold's big screen.

This list may be changing soon. We're expecting a new foldable phone from OnePlus, the so-called OnePlus Open, though rumors now suggest OnePlus may be holding the phone back to improve the display quality. No rush, the competition is tough and we only want to see the best foldable phones hit the market.

Best foldable phones 2023

The Galaxy Z Fold 5 is in a class by itself, with huge power, a huge internal display, and more features than you'll know what to do with. Samsung has been making foldable phones longer than any other maker on this list, and it shows in the refinement and polish on the latest Fold 5.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 stuns onlookers every time we unfurl the huge display within. That 7.6-inch span makes it more of a small tablet than a phone, and you'll probably use the big inside screen more than the narrow cover display. That's the whole idea of the foldable phone, and once you enjoy playing games or even writing notes on the inside screen, you won't go back to flat phones.

The Google Pixel Fold software is a bit more simple, but the Galaxy Z Fold 5 still holds its own with S Pen stylus support, better color options, and tons of Samsung additions like DeX, which lets you make your smartphone into a desktop computer with a keyboard, mouse and monitor.

The Z Fold 5 prioritizes being a tablet, so if you're looking for a big screen that you can carry anywhere, this is the phone for you.

Read our full Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 review

The Motorola Razr Plus (or the Razr 40 Ultra outside the US) is more than just thebest flip-style phoneyou can buy, it’s an entirely new category of smartphone, offering more than any handset before it. With the phone shut, it's a compact miniature communicator, a pocket mirror, and a palm-sized map.

That external display isn't a gimmick, and it isn't low-quality. It's big: big enough to type on the keyboard with ease. Big enough that you're not just getting driving directions, you're reading the street names on the map.

The Razr Plus is the most fun phone that you can buy right now; it's the most unique experience you’ll have with any smartphone. Just like the original Razr, this is going to redefine smartphone design and unleash a deluge of copies. Flip phones are about to have a big moment.

Even when the Razr Plus is bad, it’s good. The cameras aren’t great, but you can create such unique angles and shots that you might forgive the blur. Battery life could be better, but that’s because the extra screen is going to draw extra power. It’s a worthwhile trade.

If you’re bored with the incremental updates and minor tweaks you got with your last new phone, the Razr Plus will shake up your expectations for what a smartphone can be.

Read our full Motorola Razr Plus 2023 review

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 is the follow-up to one of the coolest phones Samsung ever made, and probably the first flip phone to change our minds about recommending the new flip phones. There was really only one glaring flaw with the older Flip 4, and that was the tiny cover display, but Samsung has thankfully added a bright new screen on the outside for your viewing pleasure.

If you need a high-performing phone that can fold compact, you won't find a faster flip than the Galaxy Z Flip 5. Motorola's Razr Plus may be more stylish, but it's still using last year's chipset inside, and not the newer Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 ('for Galaxy,' of course).

We wish there were better cameras on the Galaxy Z Flip 5, and maybe better battery life, but it still outpaces the competition in both, and Samsung has the most experience when it comes to foldable phones, so the software is polished and ready for fun.

Read our full Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 review

The Google Pixel Fold arrives a little late to the foldable party but it's a smartphone/tablet combo that mostly delights, and it earns a place among our ranking of thebest Foldable Phones.

From its construction, including its precision hinge, to its high-resolution screens, the Pixel Fold is a well-thought-out Android phone that's equally at home as a small-screen, but thick, 5.8-inch phone or, unfolded, as a 7.6-inch mini tablet.

The large bezel around the main screen might give pause, but it quickly fades into the background. Even the unavoidable crease down the middle is somewhat less prominent than the crease on competing foldable phones. When you fold the Pixel Fold, the two sides meet with nary any visible space between them.

Google's Android software is more simple and elegant than Samsung's stuffed One UI skin, but apps generally look better on Samsung's foldables. Google really needs to update Android to play nicer with the big screens.

Google also stumbles when it comes to the pricing, and $1,799 / £1,749is a lot to pay. You're essentially getting two premium devices in one here, and Google is asking you to pay for that.

Read our full Google Pixel Fold review

A capable pair of rear-facing cameras – fronted by a 50MP sensor – can be used for snapping selfies, thanks to the N2 Flip's huge 3.26-inch portrait cover display, while the 4,300mAh battery keeps the phone powered up for a day without worry and recharges rapidly thanks to 44W fast charging.

As well as undercutting Samsung on price, Oppo's debut clamshell foldable also matches its rival on an impressive four years of OS updates and five years of security updates.

Read our full Oppo Find N2 Flip review

Far later to market than Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 4, with similar internals, the Honor Magic Vs is a great alternative for those after a book-style foldable for a little less than the category leaders.

Another big hook is the phone's expansive 7.9-inch main display, enshrounded by an elegantly simply four-piece hinge which Honor claims is rated for up to 400,000 folds.

MagicOS 7.1 (which this device launches with) offers up to three-app simultaneous multitasking, but Samsung's implementation is more elegant and offer stylus support in all markets, whereas Honor's rival only boasts this feature on a China-only special edition.

The cameras deliver pleasing versatility but fall short when it comes to consistency and image processing.

Even with these shortcomings, however, the Magic Vs still feels pretty well-rounded in makes for a good placeholder until it's successor – the Honor Magic V2 – truly makes it to market. US and Australian buyers need not apply, sadly.

Read our full Honor Magic Vs review

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