The best folding phones in 2024: the 6 best you can buy

Tushar Mehta / Digital Trends

Folding smartphones are a reasonably mature marketplace successful 2024. When they first launched, foldables were futuristic and exciting, albeit buggy. With time, they person been refined and improved to cater to mundane use. Their prices are gradually decreasing arsenic nan exertion advances, but they still stay costly purchases, making it important to make nan correct buying decision.

Currently, location are 2 types of folding smartphones disposable connected nan market. The first type resembles a regular non-folding phone, but tin beryllium unfolded into a larger tablet-like device. The 2nd type is akin to nan classical Motorola Razr clamshell phones, wherever a normal-sized telephone tin beryllium folded successful half to go much compact and pocketable. Although some usage nan aforesaid surface and hinge technology, they cater to different needs.

In nan future, different styles will apt arrive, but for now you must take which of these 2 designs champion suits your lifestyle. Whichever you choose, those first fewer weeks and months pinch your caller folding smartphone are exciting, fun, and genuinely transformative. Now, let’s get you to that shape pinch our database of nan champion folding phones you tin bargain successful 2024.

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold

The champion folding phone

Why you should bargain this: Google is simply a comparative newcomer to nan foldable market, but its second-generation foldable is already nan champion you tin bargain successful nan U.S.

Who's it for: Anyone who wants nan champion all-around foldable telephone experience, including a nosy and versatile camera, fantabulous design, and a superb screen.

Why we picked nan Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold:

Google's second-generation Pixel 9 Pro Fold defies its comparative inexperience pinch folding phones acknowledgment to a slew of improvements focused connected fixing each of nan problems pinch nan first-generation. After an overhaul of astir parts of nan experience, nan Pixel 9 Pro Fold ticks almost each nan boxes and steals nan champion foldable telephone crown from Samsung.

The Pixel 9 Pro Fold features nan aforesaid premium build arsenic nan remainder of nan Pixel 9 lineup, but astatine 10.5mm, it's thinner than astir of nan foldable phones connected this list. This makes it acold much comfortable to usage everyday, and it feels akin to utilizing nan iPhone 15 Pro Max successful a case. The satin aluminum chassis is cool to nan touch, sandwiched by 2 Gorilla Glass Victus 2 panels connected nan beforehand and rear. The second has a matte decorativeness that adds to nan premium consciousness of nan Pixel 9 Pro Fold.

The beforehand show is simply a 6.3-inch OLED Actua Display that's perfectly sized for regular use, but nan 8-inch Super Actua OLED show connected nan wrong is nan existent logic to bargain nan Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold. It's awesome for watching videos, playing games, and browsing apps, and Android's package smarts make it ideally sized to multitask pinch 2 apps unfastened broadside by side.

The camera connected nan Pixel 9 Pro Fold belittles its Pro moniker, arsenic it's not nan aforesaid arsenic nan Pixel 9 Pro, contempt its overmuch higher price. The triple camera setup features a 48-megapixel superior sensor, a 10.5MP ultrawide camera, and a 10.8MP telephoto camera pinch 5x optical zoom. It's amended than that of nan Galaxy Z Fold 6, but it's not arsenic bully arsenic Google's non-folding flagships.

The Pixel 9 Pro Fold is powered by Google's Tensor G4, which seems to amended connected galore of nan capacity issues pinch nan first Pixel Fold. It delivers flawless capacity pinch nary overheating concerns moreover erstwhile gaming extensively and is paired pinch 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. The 4,650mAh artillery delivers betwixt three-and-a-half to 5 hours of surface clip connected a azygous charge, while 21 watts charging intends it'll return astir 90 minutes to recharge to full. This is astir nan aforesaid clip arsenic nan Galaxy Z Fold 6, but almost double nan velocity of nan OnePlus Open.

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6

The champion folding telephone runner-up

Why you should bargain this: Samsung still makes 1 of nan champion large folding phones around, pinch powerful specs, improved cameras, and a refined creation pinch improved durability.

Who's it for: Anyone who wants a tablet and smartphone combo successful their pouch that tin besides return fun, vibrant photos.

Why we picked nan Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6:

Samsung has been successful nan foldable crippled longer than almost everyone else, and successful nan U.S. market, it's easy made nan astir folding devices truthful far, pinch each loop adding thing new. As pinch erstwhile generations, nan Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 doesn't make immense changes, but it continues to refine what Samsung has already perfected. Unfortunately, Google's improvements this twelvemonth pinch nan Pixel 9 Pro Fold relegate nan Galaxy Z Fold 6 to a runner-up position, but it's still an fantabulous telephone that you should perfectly consider.

The creation isn't a immense alteration from nan Galaxy Z Fold 5, but location are immoderate further refinements pinch Samsung's engineers managing to shave down nan dimensions. It's only 12.1mm heavy erstwhile folded, somewhat bigger than different foldables, but not dramatically so. It's besides 14 grams little than nan Fold 5, making it wide thinner and lighter than erstwhile generations and easier to transportation around, comparable to nan iPhone 15 Pro Max successful position of pocketability.

The screens dwell of a somewhat upsized 6.3-inch screen surface that's easier to usage pinch 1 manus than nan Fold 6. There's besides a ample 7.6-inch show erstwhile you unfastened up pinch telephone and some screens travel pinch Samsung's Dynamic AMOLED 2X tech and 120Hz refresh rates. The telephone is afloat compatible pinch nan S Pen stylus (though it doesn't travel pinch one), making it a bully prime for sketching erstwhile mixed pinch nan larger soul screen.

It shouldn't astonishment you that nan specs connected nan Fold 6 are apical tier, pinch nan latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor pinch 12GB of RAM, putting it connected par pinch different Samsung flagship phones for illustration nan Galaxy S24 Ultra. Naturally, it's faster than nan Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 connected nan Fold 5, and for illustration nan erstwhile device, you're capable to tally aggregate apps astatine erstwhile crossed nan soul show and multitask. It besides handles gaming without immoderate hiccups, and you tin get 256GB retention successful nan guidelines exemplary and up to 1TB if you request much room.

The camera isn't arsenic potent arsenic nan ones connected nan Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, but it's still thing to scoff at. It's very akin to nan camera capacity of nan Fold 5, pinch a 50-megapixel main camera, a 12MP wide-angle camera, and a 10MP telephoto pinch a 3x optical zoom, which again, is nan aforesaid arsenic nan Z Fold 4. Pictures are colorful, pinch Samsung's HDR punching up reds, greens, and blues. There's besides a 10MP selfie camera connected nan beforehand cover, and a 4MP Under Display Camera (UDC) that takes passible selfie photos and does OK successful video calls.

The 4,400mAh artillery will springiness you astir 1 time of use, but you whitethorn struggle to get overmuch much than that pinch immoderate unexpected powerfulness drain aft games and watching videos. The 25-watt accelerated charging isn't very accelerated compared to nan 45W velocity you get pinch nan Galaxy S24 Ultra, but it'll beryllium quicker than nan 15W wireless accelerated charging.

Christine Romero-Chan / Digital Trends

OnePlus Open

The champion replacement folding phone

Why you should bargain this: For a institution conscionable getting into nan folding instrumentality business, OnePlus has deed a location run. The OnePlus is innovative and nosy to use.

Who's it for: Anyone who wants a unsocial telephone experience.

Why we picked nan OnePlus Open:

The OnePlus Open is simply a singular instrumentality that has managed to seizure nan attraction of galore people. It is nan company's first foldable instrumentality and it has been built pinch meticulous attraction to detail. The usage of titanium and different materials has made it lightweight and compact erstwhile folded, making it a awesome prime for those who are looking for a much portable and user-friendly device.

One of nan standout features of nan OnePlus Open is its high-quality screen and soul display. The screen show is astir nan size of a emblematic smartphone, making it very easy to use. The anti-reflective furniture connected nan soul show is simply a awesome addition, making it much comfortable to usage than different foldable devices for illustration nan Google Pixel Fold, which has a highly reflective soul display. The wide creation of nan OnePlus Open is rather charismatic too, and it has been well-received by those who worth aesthetics and design.

In position of performance, nan OnePlus Open is simply a top-notch instrumentality that is tin of handling moreover nan astir demanding tasks pinch easiness — thanks to its Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor. It comes equipped pinch nan latest hardware and software, and nan personification interface is intuitive and easy to navigate. The artillery life is besides impressive, lasting for hours connected a azygous charge. And erstwhile you request to recharge, nan 67W wired charging is among nan fastest you'll find connected a folding telephone today, moreover if it's not adjacent to nan 80W charging from nan OnePlus 12.

Overall, nan OnePlus Open is simply a awesome prime for those who are looking for a high-quality, well-built, and user-friendly foldable device. Its lightweight and compact design, mixed pinch its high-quality show and awesome performance, make it a awesome finance for anyone who values value and innovation.

Christine Romero-Chan / Digital Trends

Motorola Razr (2024)

The champion inexpensive folding phone

Why you should bargain this: If fund is your superior concern, but you still want to return advantage of a much compact foldable shape factor, this whitethorn beryllium nan instrumentality for you.

Who's it for: Anyone who wants a no-hassle foldable smartphone experience.

Why we picked nan Motorola Razr (2024):

The latest successful Motorola's Razr foldable lineup continues to build connected everything we liked earlier pinch a unsocial and compact flip design, tin performance, and minimalistic features. The creation is eye-catching, pinch various agleam colour options on pinch a vegan leather back. There's besides an improved hinge creation that's smaller and smoother pinch a larger 3.6-inch pOLED screen surface that now incorporates an always-on display, dissimilar nan previous generation. You besides don't person to interest astir really to usage multitasking features because it's a folding flip telephone that runs Android, truthful you tin usage it conscionable arsenic you would a regular device.

The soul 6.9-inch FHD+ surface is agleam and eye-catching, capable to deed 3,000 nits successful nonstop sunlight and coming pinch a 120Hz refresh rate. The dual rear cameras are decent though not exceptional, pinch a 50-megapixel main shooter and a 13MP ultrawide camera. There's besides a 32MP selfie camera. Specs are besides a bump up, pinch nan telephone boasting a MediaTek 7300x processor pinch 8GB RAM and 256GB soul storage. It handles good and has a virtual RAM characteristic for much intensive usage. Battery life pinch nan 4,200mAh artillery should past you astatine slightest a afloat day.

That said, location are immoderate insignificant drawbacks including Wi-Fi connections dropping somewhat frequently, nary support for reverse wireless charging, and only 3 years of OS upgrades supported. These are reasonably insignificant drawbacks successful nan strategy of things, particularly erstwhile taking into relationship nan truth that nan Razr 2024 costs hundreds of dollars little than nan Z Flip 6.

If you're looking for a sleek and clamshell foldable that's easy to usage and affordable, nan Motorola Razr (2024) could beryllium nan cleanable prime for you.

Christine Romero-Chan / Digital Trends

Google Pixel Fold

The champion compact folding phone

Why you should bargain this: It's a powerful folding telephone pinch a cleanable banal Android acquisition and multitasking capabilities. It's besides noted for having a short and wide screen screen, which immoderate mightiness beryllium seeking.

Who's it for: Anyone who wants a foldable telephone pinch a normal-feeling screen display.

Why we picked nan Google Pixel Fold:

The Pixel Fold is Google's first introduction into nan foldable, but it won't beryllium nan last. The Pixel 9 Pro Fold is expected to beryllium correct astir nan corner, pinch Google holding a Made by Google arena connected August 13. In nan meantime, you don't admit nan Z Fold 6's constrictive screen show aliases for illustration a cleaner, much banal Android experience, past nan Pixel Fold could beryllium a bully action for you. It boasts a short and wide screen screen, which sets it isolated from akin handsets connected nan market.

The Pixel Fold's 5.8-inch OLED screen show looks stunning and is akin to astir smartphones, truthful it's comfortable to usage and type on. Due to its size, it is besides easy to usage one-handed, and location is nary spread erstwhile nan instrumentality is closed, arsenic seen connected nan Z Fold 5. On nan inside, nan instrumentality features a 7.6-inch soul OLED show that is positioned successful scenery predisposition by default, but tin beryllium rotated to image orientation. Both screens person a 120Hz refresh complaint and are sufficiently agleam for outdoor use. However, nan soul show tin beryllium rather reflective owed to nan built-in integrative surface protector.

Like nan Pixel 8 Pro, nan Pixel Fold is powered by Google's ain chip. In this case, it's nan Tensor G2 spot and it besides comes pinch 12GB of RAM. It has 2 retention capacities — 256GB aliases 512GB. Thanks to nan G2 chip, nan instrumentality is powerful capable to grip mundane tasks pinch easiness and is highly responsive. Google's cutting-edge AI and computational photography processing techniques guarantee that you get fantabulous results pinch photos. As for nan camera, nan Pixel Fold boasts a 48MP main camera, a 10.8MP ultrawide camera, and a 10.8MP telephoto camera pinch 5x optical zoom. The screen show has a 9.5MP selfie camera, while nan soul show has an 8MP selfie camera. You tin besides usage nan rear camera successful Rear Camera Selfie mode to return high-quality selfies erstwhile nan instrumentality is unfolded.

The Pixel Fold comes pinch a 4,821mAh artillery that lasts for astir a afloat time pinch mean to dense use. Charging speeds tin scope up to 30W, but Google does not supply a powerfulness adapter, truthful you will request to usage your own. While wireless charging is supported, its max speeds of 7.5W are a small underwhelming, and location is nary reverse wireless charging feature.

Joe Maring / Digital Trends

Motorola Razr Plus 2024

The champion folding flip phone

Why you should bargain this: Motorola's Razr Plus is simply a beefed-up flip telephone successful position of specs and a existent competitor to nan Samsung's Z Flip 6.

Who's it for: Anyone who wants a powerful telephone successful a compact and mini package that's besides nosy to use.

Why we picked nan Motorola Razr Plus:

The Motorola Razr Plus is decidedly 1 of nan champion compact flip phones successful 2024. It resembles nan Razr Plus 2023 successful design, pinch a vegan leather backmost and a verity of cool colour options. The caller hinge is besides a large betterment — it feels overmuch nicer opening and closing, and it's soft and silent. The Motorola Razr Plus 2024 has awesome IP52 particulate and h2o resistance, arguably a measurement supra nan IP48 you get pinch nan Z Flip 6.

The screens are agleam and colorful, pinch nan screen surface consisting of a larger 4-inch pOLED show pinch 2,400 nits of highest brightness and a 165Hz refresh rate. It's a large betterment complete nan screen surface from past year, and blows nan Flip 6 retired of nan water. The screen surface tin besides tally apps that capable nan full screen, dissimilar nan Samsung, which makes you jump done a number of hoops. It besides yet incorporates an always-on display.

The soul surface is simply a 6.9-inch FHD+ show that tin deed 3,000 nits of highest brightness and has a 165Hz refresh rate, making it faster and much responsive than nan Flip 6. The crease is besides overmuch much minimal than before, which is different bully improvement. Specs are thing to scoff astatine pinch a Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 processor. It's not arsenic bully arsenic nan top-tier Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 spot you tin get connected phones for illustration nan Galaxy S24, but it matches nan capabilities of nan Honor 200 Pro.

Camera capacity gets a sizeable betterment from nan 2023 model, fixing 1 of nan large areas of disappointment. You get a 50-megapixel main camera pinch optical image stabilization (OIS), a 50MP telephoto camera pinch 2x zoom, and a 32MP selfie camera. We liked nan look of almost each nan photos we took connected nan Razr Plus, though they do thin to err connected nan oversaturated side.

Finally, artillery life besides gets an improvement, bumping things up to a 4,000mAh compartment that allows you to usage it comfortably for a afloat time and matching nan size of nan Flip 6. It supports 45W wired accelerated charging, 15W wireless charging, and 5W reverse wireless charging, making it faster to apical up than either of Samsung's latest foldables.

Joe Maring / Digital Trends

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6

The champion folding flip telephone runner-up

Why you should bargain this: Samsung's champion flip telephone comes pinch immoderate cardinal improvements, coagulated cameras, bully performance, and improved durability.

Who's it for: People who want nan champion Samsung clamshell foldable connected nan market.

Why we picked nan Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6:

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 slips to 2nd spot for champion clamshell foldable telephone connected nan marketplace arsenic contempt immoderate invited improvements, nan Motorola Razr Plus takes nan crown. Samsung listened to customer feedback pinch nan improvments successful nan Galaxy Z Flip 6 including nan preamble of IP48 h2o and particulate resistance, a much durable hinge, and improved daze distribution that should each spell toward making your costly foldable past longer. There are besides plentifulness of eye-catching colour option, and wide nan Flip 6 conscionable feels high-quality.

Other changes are comparatively minimal. You get nan aforesaid 3.4-inch AMOLED screen surface pinch a 60Hz refresh rate. The soul surface is besides nan same, but it's still bully pinch a 6.7-inch AMOLED sheet pinch a 120Hz refresh complaint and up to 2,600 nits of highest brightness. A bully alteration is that nan surface crease is little salient than nan 1 connected nan Flip 6, though it's still much noticeable than nan 1 connected nan Motorola Razr (2024). Performance besides takes a bump, pinch a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset pinch 12GB of RAM, much than nan erstwhile generation, and retention options ranging from 256GB to 512GB.

The Z Flip 6 cameras are mostly rather good, though they won't lucifer nan capacity of nan S24 Ultra. You get a 50MP superior camera, aforesaid arsenic connected nan S24 and S24 Plus. There's besides a 12MP ultrawide camera and a 10MP selfie camera. Photos are mostly rather clear, and nan 123-degree section of position connected nan ultrawide sensor lets you seizure a batch much successful nan frame.

The artillery life takes a bully bump up arsenic well, pinch a 4,000mAh compartment making it nan largest Samsung has ever put successful a Z Flip. On nan downside, it's still only a one-day smartphone, but much comfortably so. Charging speeds proceed to beryllium lackluster, pinch 25W wired charging, 15W wireless charging, and 4.5W reverse wireless charging.

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