The seven top foldables to buy

2023’s Honor Magic V2 was already thinner and lighter than much of the 2024 foldable competition, but the newer Honor Magic V3 takes that to the next level. It’s even slimmer, now just 9.2mm and, with a weight of 225g, it’s the first foldable to truly enter candybar smartphone territory, and it’s noticeable in everyday use.

The Magic V3 feels like a regular smartphone when it’s folded, complete with a fully specced out 6.34-inch OLED screen that sports flagship tech including a 120Hz LTPO refresh rate and a whopping peak brightness of 5000nits. You could happily use the cover screen and ignore the inner panel completely – though that’s not exactly the point.

That’s especially true with the Magic V3’s internal screen, which is easily one of the best around. The crease, while still present, is incredibly shallow at 78um – for comparison, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 has a depth of 217um in its crease, so it’s a huge improvement. Not just that, it matches the spec of the cover screen including that same impressive peak brightness. Safe to say it’s an absolute joy to use, with a big 7.92-inch canvas perfect for browsing and split-screen multitasking.

Despite its industry-leading design, the Magic V3 boasts a 5150mAh silicon-carbon battery that’s much larger than any other book-style around right now, and that leads to impressive battery life, with our reviewer usually getting around seven hours of screen-on time out of the device before needing a top-up. And, with 66W wired charging support, you can get a full charge in just shy of an hour. There’s also 50W wireless charging if that’s more your thing.

The Magic V2 runs the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor as much of the competition, which unsurprisingly leads to rapid everyday performance when coupled with a healthy 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage as standard.

The only potential weakness is Honor’s MagicOS 8 software, which offers quite the departure from stock Android 14. While there are handy elements like XL folders on the home screen, MagicOS lacks the polish and finesse found in the likes of the OnePlus Open, and it’s not quite as capable in the AI department as the Z Fold 6 either.

All that, and it’s still £100 cheaper than the likes of the Z Fold 6 and Pixel 9 Pro Fold in the UK. What more do you want?

Reviewer: Lewis Painter

Full review: Honor Magic V3 review

If you’ve got your heart set on a clamshell-style foldable, the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra should be of serious consideration. The Razr 50 Ultra takes the clamshell experience to the next level with a large 4-inch pOLED exterior display with a super-smooth 120Hz refresh rate.

The cover display is large enough not only to run widgets like the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 but any Android app you like, allowing you to control smart home tech, reply to incoming messages and get directions from Google Maps without having to unfold the display. It not only cuts down on how often you’ll have to open the phone, but the folded form factor makes it comfortable to use too.

That’s not to say that you’ll always be using the external display, especially with a tall, narrow 6.9-inch pOLED display found within. It’s super smooth at 165Hz, and boasts LTPO tech that allows it to intelligently adapt the refresh rate depending on what you’re doing, and with a peak brightness of 3000nits, it can handle even bright sunlight with ease.

The Razr 50 Ultra’s redesigned hinge mechanism also manages to reduce both the visibility and the tactile feel of the crease on the inner display to a point where it’s not really an issue.

The cameras have had a serious upgrade this year, with a dual 50MP setup in place of dual 12MP sensors from the Razr 40 Ultra, though Motorola has ditched the ultrawide for a new 2x telephoto lens. Given the selfie-focused nature of clamshell foldable, it makes sense, and it’s still available on the slightly cheaper Razr 50 if you can’t live without an ultrawide lens.

The use of the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 means it’s not quite as powerful as the Samsung alternative, but in real-world use, there isn’t much in it at all. It runs just as quickly in everyday use, and although foldables aren’t really designed for sustained gaming, it can handle casual gaming without issue.

The 4000mAh battery is an improvement on the Razr 40 Ultra’s 3800mAh cell, and even with a larger cover screen, it’s capable of lasting all day with around five hours of screen on time before needing a top-up. Thankfully, with 40W wired charging and 15W wireless charging, you’ve got plenty of charging options available.

Reviewer: Lewis Painter
Full review: Motorola Razr 50 Ultra review

If you’re on the hunt for a book-style foldable with superb software, you’ll find no better than the OnePlus Open.

Its approach to foldable tech is genuinely useful, with elements like Open Canvas multitasking software that lets you use three apps in full-screen mode with ease, a handy app toolbar that can display over other apps, the ability to close the foldable and carry on what you were doing on the cover screen with a swipe and much more. It is a great experience, and one that we hope other foldable manufacturers emulate in future.

It also helps that the OnePlus Open has pretty impressive hardware on offer. While the likes of the Z Fold 6 and Pixel Fold offer a tall-and-narrow and short-and-squat cover display respectively, the OnePlus Open sports a regular 6.3-inch 20:9 display with all the premium bells and whistles you’d expect from a flagship display, including an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate, impressive peak brightness of 2800nits and a pixel-packed resolution.

This all means there’s no compromise using the cover display in place of the larger internal one for anything from replying to texts to casually scrolling on Instagram.

Of course, it’s all about the foldable inner display, and OnePlus has knocked it out of the park here too. There’s a much shallower central crease than the competition, so much so that it’s hard to see unless you’re looking at it off-angle, and there’s barely any change in tactile feedback as you run your finger over it. That makes the 7.86-inch OLED panel an absolute joy to use.

That stellar performance continues with the camera setup, boasting a trio of rear lenses that, unlike most of the competition, are all designed specifically for use in foldables. That translates to strong performance from not only the 48MP primary and ultrawide sensors, but the 64MP periscope lens in particular, delivering great shots at 3.5x, 6x and although images are pretty terrible at the full 120x, it does a good job up until the 25x mark.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is starting to get a little long in the tooth, but it still performs pretty well in everyday tasks. Throw in fast 67W SuperVOOC charging with a charger in the box and OnePlus’ signature volume slider, and you’ve got a very tempting book-style flagship that costs less than others on the market at £1,599 – it’s just a shame it’s not readily available on contract in the UK, making it a hefty upfront purchase.

Reviewer: Lewis Painter

Full review: OnePlus Open review

Samsung continues to dominate the foldable market in 2024 despite increased competition from the likes of OnePlus, Motorola, Google and others.

Samsung’s latest edition of its flagship foldable – the Z Fold 6 – offers a few key changes for the first time in a few years, with a slightly wider (but still narrow) 6.3-inch OLED cover screen, flat edges and squared-off corners to give it a look not too dissimilar to the Galaxy S24 Ultra.

These are welcome changes that make the Z Fold 6 feel more like the premium bit of foldable kit that it is. It’s still relatively chunky (12.1mm) and heavy (239g) however, and Samsung has yet to deal with the infamous crease on the 7.6-inch inner screen, remaining one of the more noticeable options around, so there’s still room for improvement.

Importantly, it boasts the custom Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy and boosted cooling capabilities that make it, along with the Flip 6, the most powerful foldables around right now, making light work of high-end gaming, split-screen multitasking and just about anything else we could throw at it during testing.

That custom Snapdragon chipset also helps to power Samsung’s Galaxy AI experience, with a sprawling number of AI-powered features available on the foldable. It ranges from simple tasks like rewriting texts and emails in different styles to more advanced capabilities like real-time translation in phone calls and the ability to transcribe recordings. Throw in seven years of OS upgrades and it’s an experience that’ll only get better over time.

The 4400mAh battery remains the same as last year, and that means that battery life is only okay. It’ll get you through lighter days of use just fine, but on heavier days, you’ll likely need a top-up during the day. And, with relatively slow 25W charging, it takes well over an hour to fully charge.

Reviewer: Lewis Painter

Full review: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 review

Editor’s Note: The newer Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold is now available, and we’re currently testing it. It’ll likely replace the Pixel Fold as our recommendation here, but we can’t say for sure just yet.

It’s finally here, Google’s first foldable phone. The Google Pixel Fold sees the big tech brand jump on the folding device bandwagon, and there is a lot to like.

Google has come close to nailing the design with its first folding phone, offering a combination of displays that makes it ideal for use in many scenarios. The 5.8-inch screen on the outside is more than large enough to accommodate regular phone use, while it opens up to reveal a 7.8-inch display that offers a more expansive canvas but without feeling awkward to navigate.

The handy choice of displays is matched by the remarkably slim dimensions of this phone, which makes it comfortably pocketable. At just 5.3mm when unfolded, and 12.2mm folded, it’s impressively portable, though not the best by 2024 standards. It’s a tad frustrating that it doesn’t naturally fold completely flat, but that won’t really affect your day-to-day.

Aside from the exciting folding design, you get a typically strong Google Pixel experience across the board. And, that includes the camera. The main 48MP camera offers versatility, when you need a great shot at a pinch, while the 10.8MP 5x telephoto lens is easily one of the most impressive lenses on a foldable. The telephoto deftly enables crisp close-ups and refreshing accurate bokeh effects.

Reviewer: Lewis Painter

Full review: Google Pixel Fold review

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 is perhaps the most well-known clamshell available right now. It’s also ideal if you’re concerned about the fragility of these foldable devices thanks to some much-needed upgrades in durability.

Visually, the Galaxy Z Flip 6 looks very similar to the Z Flip 5 that came before it. However, the hinge is stronger and more impact-resistant this time around, feeling tighter and more stable than most flip phones. The device is also dust-resistant for the first time and about as water-resistant as it gets with its IP48 rating.

The 3.4-inch cover display remains a major upgrade compared to the smaller screen on the Z Flip 4, though this display has been overshadowed by the larger and more useful screen on the Motorola Razr 50. Unfold the device and you’ll find a tall and narrow 6.7-inch inner display with a 120Hz refresh rate that we found to be clear and crisp.

Cameras have also been a major point of improvement this time around, with the Z Flip 6 sharing the same 50-megapixel main sensor as the Galaxy S24 Plus, along with a refreshed 12-megapixel ultra-wide lens. There’s no zoom lens here, but the main camera is a strong performer in pretty much any situation from bright daylight to nighttime and an ultra-wide lens is something rivals like the Razr 50 Ultra miss out on.

The Z Flip 6 is also powered by the same custom version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 found across the rest of Samsung’s line-up, making this one of the most powerful foldables around capable of benchmarking alongside some of the best flagship devices. The foldable is packed with useful Galaxy AI features, including a translation tool that makes the most of its dual-screen folding form factor.

Finally, the battery offers a full day of regular use, though charging it quite slow compared to many devices on the market.

However, if you’re looking for a solid all-round foldable experience, the Galaxy Z Flip 6 delivers with a new, more durable design and improved camera experience.

Reviewer: Cam Bunton

Full Review: Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6

The Motorola Razr 50 is a fantastic entry-level foldable that addresses practically every complaint we had with the Razr 40 while also matching the Razr 50 Ultra in many key areas.

The Razr 50 features a clamshell design, an attractive vegan leather rear and a spacious 3.6-inch 90Hz cover screen, making the outer display more useful than that on the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 at a fraction of the cost. The build quality has improved too, with an IPX8 water-resistance rating and a hinge mechanism that feels just as rigid and premium as that on the Razr 50 Ultra.

The larger cover screen makes it possible to run full-screen apps without unfolding the phone, while the 6.9-inch 120Hz pOLED inner display with an FHD+ resolution and a peak brightness of 3000 nits. The crease is also significantly less noticeable this time around, putting the dip more in line with the Z Flip series.

The cameras have also been given an upgrade, with the dual layout including a 50-megapixel main sensor and a 13-megapixel ultra-wide camera, along with a 32-megapixel selfie camera in the display. This is the same main camera found in the Razr 50 Ultra, producing vibrant and detailed daytime shots with a good amount of natural bokeh.

Powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7300X, this foldable offers solid mid-range performance and comes paired with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage as standard. There are some AI features to get excited about, including the Image Enhancement Engine and Google Gemini access on the cover screen, though its AI features aren’t as expansive as that of the Galaxy Z Flip 6 or even the Razr 50 Ultra.

Finally, the Razr 50 is equipped with a 4200 mAh battery that offers a full day of use and can charge fully in just under an hour. If you’re on the hunt for an affordable foldable, the Motorola Razr 50 won’t disappoint.

Reviewer: Lewis Painter

Full Review: Motorola Razr 50