The best foldable phone is two devices in one. You can buy a big tablet foldable like the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold, which gives you a phone and mini tablet that you can fit in your pocket. Or, choose a flip foldable like the Motorola Razr Plus 2024, which snaps closed and gives you a whole new experience with the versatile cover display. Either way, a foldable phone is more than just a smartphone with a crease.
Foldable phones have to offer more, because they are much more expensive, sometimes even more than buying a phone and a tablet separately. The best foldable phone has to be perfect - and that means durable enough to last through years of opening and closing.
I've reviewed all of the best foldable phones you can buy in the US and here are my favorites from the larger foldables to the smaller flips. I've included budget options, and I've even tested the cameras to find the foldable that defies the rule that foldable phones can't take great pics.
If you want the best phone overall, foldable or flat, check out my list of the best phones you can buy.
The best foldable phones
Here are our top picks for the best foldable, the best flip phone, and the best choice for folks looking for a bargain
The best foldable phone
The Pixel 9 Pro Fold is the biggest foldable I've reviewed, and its combination of amazing design, fantastic photo features, and advanced interface, plus all the wild AI, make it the best foldable you can buy overall.
The best bargain foldable
The OnePlus Open was the most affordable foldable phone when it launched, and now it costs even less but still holds its own against the best I've reviewed. But if you can afford it, the new Apex Edition in Crimson is the prettiest phone I've ever seen.
The best foldable phone cameras
The Galaxy Z Fold 6 is too narrow on the front for my taste, but in my camera testing it beat the other foldable phones and produced images that are nearly as good as the Galaxy S24, making it the top foldable camera phone.
The best flip phones
The best flip phone
The Galaxy Z Flip 6 isn't as exciting as the competition, but it's the most powerful, the most durable, and the one I'd trust in my pocket for the next few years. It feels solid and looks great, and it fits in anywhere.
The best looking flip phone
The Motorola Razr Plus 2024 won me over immediately with its stellar looks, bright color options, and huge cover display. Some questionable AI keeps it from being my favorite, but it's a great flip phone and sure to stand out.
Best foldable phones 2024
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We've reviewed all of the best foldable phones you can buy; here are specs and everything you need to know to choose your favorite
The best foldable phone
The Pixel 9 Pro Fold is the first foldable I've reviewed that feels completely normal no matter how you use it. The cover display is the exact same as the screen on the Google Pixel 9, no more and no less. The inner display is the largest screen ever stuffed into a foldable phone at the time.
No matter how you use it, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is easy and satisfying. It has some AI tricks that are incredibly useful, other photo AI tools that are almost magical, and some photo Reimagine tools that can be downright scary. However you feel about AI, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is definitely the best phone to give all of Google's AI advances a try.
The cameras on the Pixel 9 Pro Fold are decent, with excellent zoom on par with the best camera phone. The image quality isn't quite as good as I'd hope for such an expensive phone, but I can definitely see that foldable cameras are getting better.
The Pixel 9 Pro Fold isn't quite as powerful as the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, and it isn't as stylish as the OnePlus Open, but it has the right combination of slim design, advanced features, and amazing screen quality to make it my favorite foldable phone for 2024.
Read our full Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold review
The best bargain foldable phone
The OnePlus Open gives us everything we want in a foldable phone that we weren't getting before. It has great cameras, especially for portraits and selfies. It also has the best design of any big foldable phone, especially if you're willing to pay a bit more for the OnePlus Open Apex edition, which comes in a Crimson Shadow Color and includes 1TB of storage inside. .
In classic OnePlus fashion, the OnePlus Open is a flagship killer, so you get great specs, especially when it comes to the phone's performance and the great displays, inside and out. You also get a cool design, all for a lower price than most competitors. Don't be scared off by the phone's price tag, OnePlus is making it easy to get an even bigger discount if you have any phone to trade.
The OnePlus Open admittedly comes with some compromises that you won't find on a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6. It isn't water resistant, while Samsung's phone can take a dunk under water. It doesn't have S Pen support, or a ton of great productivity features, like Samsung has.
That doesn't matter, because the OnePlus Open is built right, while the Samsung Fold just feels wrong. It's too narrow when closed, while the OnePlus Open feels perfect. If you want a tablet foldable phone for less, there's only one to consider.
Read our full OnePlus Open review
The best foldable phone cameras
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 is the most feature-packed foldable phone you can buy - by far. It has so many options for running multiple apps in multiple windows, with productivity tools and shortcuts added throughout the system. It really is a power-user's foldable phone, and it's perfect for business use.
I'm not a big fan of the slimmer cover display, which Samsung says makes the phone easier to use one-handed while closed. Still, the power and performance of the Galaxy Z Fold 6 are undeniable. This is the fastest foldable you can buy, and it's not even close.
The Galaxy Z Fold 6 also has the best cameras of all the foldable phones I've tested. Samsung's camera modes shine when I'm taking food photos, or nature close-ups. You won't be disappointed with the images you get from this phone, unlike previous generations of foldable phones.
With all of that, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 also supports Samsung's S Pen (if you buy the Fold version that is softer on the inner display), so this is the only foldable for folks looking for a drawing tablet on the inside, and not just a bigger display. It's one of the most expensive foldable phones, but it offers more than all of the rest.
Read our full Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 review
The best flip phone
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 is the most powerful and reliable flip phone you can buy. It may not be as fun as the Motorola Razr Plus 2024, but it feels much more durable and powerful, and Samsung's AI features are surprisingly fun and useful.
In fact, the Galaxy Z Flip 6 is the rare Samsung phone that I wish included even more of Samsung's advanced software features. Samsung offers so many options and customizations that it can be hard to keep track of them all. Thankfully, Samsung's Bixby is the best voice assistant to help use your phone, and Samsung's other AI features, like the writing assistants, can be a useful tool, without crossing any AI red lines (so far).
The Galaxy Z Flip 6 is Samsung's most refined flip phone design yet, and it feels remarkably solid. Other flip phones make you wonder if they'll break after a few thousand flips or so, but the Samsung feels like it will last as long as my knuckles can bend it.
The colorful options look much better in person for the Z Flip 6, so check them out if you can, or just stick with the unique, textured black that you can only buy online. It's a very cool look.
Read our full Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 review
The best cover display
The Motorola Razr Plus 2024 had one job: to be just a bit more cool than the Razr from 2023. It mostly succeeded, thanks to an even larger cover display, bright new color options, and useful shortcuts and features that make it fun to use.
The Razr Plus 2024 should be my favorite flip phone of the year, but Samsung had the edge in durability and performance, especially when it came to the cameras. Still, the Razr Plus 2024 is very fun to use and show off, and it's a phone that stands out in a crowd in the best way. Wait until you get to hang up on someone, or hang up on all social media.
The Motorola Razr Plus 2024 will win you over the moment you snap it closed, and again every time you open up that humongous, bright display.
My only real complaint about the Razr Plus 2024 is the lack of guardrails on Motorola's AI features, especially the AI wallpaper generator. With more AI coming, we'll have to keep a close eye on whether Motorola's AI can become a bit more respectful.
Read our full Motorola Razr Plus 2024 review
How to choose the best foldable phone for you
First decide if you want a foldable phone that opens into a larger tablet display, or a foldable phone that folds into a smaller clamshell device. We have picks for both options.
A tablet foldable phone gives you an outer display that is a little smaller than a normal smartphone, especially if you buy a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 instead of our pick, the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold. The inside display on the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is the largest I've seen on any phone, and it gives you more screen real estate than an iPad mini.
A flip foldable phone gives you an inner display that is larger than most smartphones. The Motorola Razr Plus 2024 has a 6.9-inch foldable display (and so does the Moto Razr 2024), while an iPhone 16 Pro Max has a 6.7-inch display.
How we test the best foldable phones
We've only included phones on this list that we've thoroughly tested, and our testing regiment is deep and detailed. We test every aspect of a phone that you might use from day-to-day, then we dive deeper to discover all of the hidden features.
We test phones for battery life and charging, speed and performance, and especially for camera capabilities. We make sure that phones deliver on their manufacturer's promise. If it says a phone can charge in 30 minutes, we break out the stopwatch.
We've seen every phone around, so we have a good idea of how each model stacks up to one another. We know what you're getting, no matter what you pay. We make sure the phones deliver what we'd expect for the cost.
Once we're done, we don't stop. We keep updating our reviews as we learn more, and as the phones are updated. Our reviews are always fresh, so check back before you buy to make sure you're getting the latest opinion on the best phones you can buy.
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