Best foldable phones of 2026

I have been writing about phones for a while now, and honestly, I am always astounded by how foldable phones have changed in recent years. While foldables might have started as something of a gimmick, they have shot up in quality over recent years.

However, this improvement is something of a double-edged sword, as it means that there are more and more models to choose from. This can make it harder than ever to find the best device for you and to know what to look for in the first place. But I and the rest of the Tom’s Guide phones team have reviewed and tested all of these devices, learning that it's the little things that really make a great foldable phone.

Right now, the Moto Razr Fold is our top pick, dethroning the Galaxy Z Flip 7, although that remains our best flip-style foldable phone.

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Samsung will likely update its line-up in just a few months with the Galaxy Z Flip 8 and Galaxy Z Fold 8, while the iPhone Fold could end up becoming the dark horse later in the year. But enough future talk. Here's how the list of the best foldable phones stands today.

Meet the expert

Meet the expert

John Velasco

I'm the senior editor for mobile at Tom's Guide, where I've been working since 2023. I've been covering mobile tech for 16 years in total, reviewing early foldables like the Kyocera Echo and Sony Tablet P. While those early models got me excited for foldable phones, it took several years before the best foldable phones were perfected. Not only do they have interesting form factors, but foldable phones have extra utility you don't quite get in your typical slate phone; like how they're better vlogging by folding them over to use their rear cameras while seeing yourself on the display.

The best foldable phones you can buy today

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Best foldable phone overall

The Motorola Razr Fold stands out as the closest thing to a true laptop replacement I’ve carried, thanks to its balance of robust durability, big usable screens, and all-day stamina. After a week of testing, I’m convinced there’s finally a foldable that delivers on the promise of doing it all—without forcing you to compromise in any single area.

Durability is front and center: the Razr Fold uses a stainless steel teardrop hinge that feels solid every time you open or close it, and its IP48 and IP49 ratings mean you don’t have to baby this phone around water or dust. You can treat it like any flagship, tossing it in a bag or taking it on the go, without that underlying anxiety that usually comes with fragile foldables.

Display versatility is where the Razr Fold really flexes. The main 8.1-inch screen is the biggest you’ll find on any phone and looks fantastic for movies or multitasking, while the 6.6-inch outer display is large enough for real work—not just glancing at notifications. Both screens make it easy to run multiple apps or quickly jump between tasks, something that became second nature during my daily use.

Performance hasn’t been short-changed, either. Powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 processor, the Razr Fold zipped through heavy multitasking—at one point, I had four apps running side by side and didn’t notice a hiccup. Battery life is a highlight: in our Tom’s Guide battery test, it lasted 14 hours and 44 minutes, and I consistently found the battery above 35% by bedtime, besting most flagships I’ve tested.

Cameras are strong for a foldable, with triple 50MP sensors covering main, ultrawide, and telephoto duties, plus AI-assisted processing that keeps images sharp. That said, Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 7 still claims the high ground for camera hardware with its 200MP sensor and 8K video. On software, Moto’s AI tools make life easier but don’t match the Pixel 10 Pro Fold’s Magic Cue or Ask Photos features.

But for anyone ready to invest in the most well-rounded foldable, this is the one I’d recommend.

Read our full Motorola Razr Fold review.

Best flip foldable

After falling short the last couple of years trailing Motorola, Samsung makes a stunning return to the top with the Galaxy Z Flip 7. All of this is due to the bigger hardware upgrades it's been given over previous years, along with a strong emphasis on the software. You get an incredibly powerful foldable phone without any price increase.

First and foremost, its larger 4.1-inch Flex Window display stretches from edge-to-edge, which I really enjoy using when paired with its rear cameras to capture selfies and record vlogs — which also helps when its main 50MP camera works well under different conditions.

In my Galaxy Z Flip 7 vs Razr Ultra (2025) photo shootout, I mention how low light continues to be a strong category for the Z Flip 7. Not only does it produce brighter images, but also more detail. Any camera enthusiast will also appreciate the rich camera software it offers, thanks to its manual modes.

Samsung also finally brings DeX support to the Z Flip series for the first time, and I cannot tell you how it's long overdue. It simply adds more to its package with that desktop PC-like experience when I connect it to an external monitor. And lastly, you get the full AI experience thanks to its new Galaxy AI features and the multimodal AI experience of Gemini Live.

Read our full Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 review.

Best camera foldable phone

Note: While there is a vast difference in pricing, the Galaxy Z TriFold is now available for users who want even more fold in their phone. But until the TriFold hits this list, the best big Samsung foldable remains the Z Fold 7.

Notebook style foldable phones aren't known for their pocketable sizes. Yet, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is a work of art sporting an unbelievable thin construction that's skinnier than most slate phones.

What's equally as remarkable is the main camera it's been given, a 200MP sensor that's matched only by the Galaxy S25 Ultra. It makes such a difference because of how good it performs under broad conditions. From capturing portraits with incredible detail, to how it brightens shots under low light, it's the foldable phone known for its cameras.

Still not convinced about how it's one of the best camera phones around? My colleague Richard Priday compared it to last year's Z Fold 6 to uncover any differences.

But it doesn't stop there because just like the Z Flip 7, the Z Fold 7 has a robust camera interface — like pro video that lets you tune many of the settings. My colleague Mark Spoonauer was really impressed by the macro performance from its 40MP ultrawide camera, while its support for 8K video recording gives extra room for creativity.

Beyond the camera, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is one powerhouse of a foldable phone backed by its fast Snapdragon 8 Elite performance, brilliant looking displays, and more AI features that have been optimized for the foldable form factor.

And if the Z Fold 7 isn't enough foldable for you, then you can look forward to Samsung officially launching the Galaxy Z TriFold in 2026. It'll only be available in limited markets, and likely cost a lot even for a foldable, but aside from some Chinese competition that isn't sold in the U.S., it's looking like a completely unique experience.

Read our full Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 review.

Best AI foldable phone

Google's foldable game has made a massive leap in quality with the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, especially with its IP68 rating — a first amongst notebook style foldable phones. There’s a lot more to love about the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, including how it continues to have one of the brightest displays on a foldable that we've tested.

In my colleague's Pixel 10 Pro Fold review, Mark mentioned how it's a "versatile foldable phone with impressively vibrant displays, a durable design and better battery life than the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 for $200 less." He also goes on to praise the new AI features that Google introduces with the phone, like Auto Best Take and Magic Cue.

Google also introduces several more AI tools that lean on generative AI for help. For example, you can use Ask Photos to easily make complex photo edits by simply speaking or describing what changes you want to make. Over on the productivity side, Google improves the way it handles multi-tasking by dynamically shifting the layout of an app in split screen mode.

Other advantages it has over the Galaxy Z Fold 7 include its powerful 5x telephoto zoom camera and its much longer battery life. Considering it's $200 less than its rival, it certainly proves it has a ton of value.

Read our full Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold review.

Best foldable phone battery life

Motorola remains in the best foldable phones discussion thanks in part to how the Razr Ultra 2025 takes flip phones to a new level — putting it into flagship territory for the sheer amount of upgrades it packs. While its overall design language remains the same, a new titanium reinforced hinge and more color options makes it feel incredibly sturdy. And yes, it still has an outer screen that's much larger than other devices.

It's not just the screens where the Motorola Razr Ultra 2025 excels. I'm glad that Motorola reverts to a more logical dual-camera setup that ditches the telephoto camera of the previous Razr Plus 2024 and swaps it in for a 50MP ultrawide paired with the 50MP main sensor.

What's even more impressive about the design is that it isn't any larger or heavier, but somehow Moto's able to cram in a bigger 4,700 mAh battery that makes it the longest lasting foldable phone that I've tested. On top of that, the Snapdragon 8 Elite effectively makes it the most powerful flip phone too.

There's also a substantial improvement to the software experience, as Moto AI is properly available from the start. Even though its toolset isn't as robust as the Pixel 10 Pro Fold or Galaxy Z Fold 7, it's a marked improvement over previous Razrs. The only downside here is that you're paying much more now for all of these benefits, plus it has a short 3 years of software support.

Read our full Motorola Razr Ultra 2025 review.

Best cheap foldable phone

Motorola has long proven that foldable phones can be cheap. With this year's iteration, the Razr (2025) continues to prove it's the best cheap foldable around with its hardware and software upgrades — all while still keeping its price under $700

Although the design remains unchanged for the most part, the brighter color options give the flip-style phone a bit of charm. With its flip-phone design, it feels incredibly well built, including its hinge. If that's not enough, the design is also IP48 rated to give it some water and dust resistance.

Despite the subpar benchmark performance scores from its MediaTek Dimensity 7400X chip, my colleague Philip Michaels says that "in real word use, the Dimensity 7400X performs well enough." Additionally, it also helps that Motorola gives it the same Moto AI features that come with the pricier Plus and Ultra models.

There's been improvements to the camera's image processing algorithms that boost it over last year's model. Everything captured by its dual cameras look better, but it's also help that you can practically use the outer screen for selfies. When you get all of this in a package under $700, it's hard to overlook the Razr (2025).

Read our full Motorola Razr (2025) review.

What to look for in a foldable phone

Before you buy a foldable phone, you'll need to consider what that kind of device will be able to do for you that a standard phone can't. With the exception of the $699 Motorola Razr, most foldables still cost $1,000 or more. Unless you really need the extra screen real estate, you may be better off with a phablet or one of the other best big phones that we've tested.

If you do think a foldable phone will help you get more done, though, be sure to pay attention to the device's construction. Early foldable phones like the Galaxy Fold and original Motorola Razr had design quirks that led us to pan those handsets. With the Galaxy Z Fold 2 in 2020, though, Samsung made some critical changes that made the phone more likely to withstand everyday use, and that work has continued with subsequent models. After adding water-resistance to the Galaxy Z Fold 3, Samsung worked on a lighter, slimmer hinge for its latest foldables like the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7.

There are two screens to consider when buying a foldable phone — the larger internal display and a secondary screen, usually on the outside of the device. Find out just what you can do with that exterior screen — can you run full apps or is it just there for notifications and a few other features? And does the screen support something like Samsung's continuity feature where the app you're using on the cover screen is waiting for you when you open the device?

Apart from size — you'll want to make sure a closed foldable phone is something you're comfortable carrying around — you're looking at a lot of the same criteria you'd use to judge conventional phones. That includes the processor, cameras and — especially — the battery life. After all, there are usually multiple screens to keep powered up on a foldable phone.

How we test foldable phones

We test for the best foldable phones the same way we review any smartphone. (See our look at how Tom's Guide tests and review smartphones for a more detailed explanation of our process.) We conduct lab tests, including synthetic benchmarks as Geekbench 5 and 3DMark Wild Life Unlimited to measure graphics performance. We also run a real-world video transcoding test on each phone using the Adobe Premiere Rush app and time the result.

To measure the quality of a phone's display, we perform lab tests to determine the brightness of the panel (in nits), as well as how colorful each screen is (DCI-P3 color gamut). In these cases, higher numbers are better. We also measure the color accuracy of each panel with a Delta-E rating, where lower numbers are better and a score of 0 is perfect.

We run a custom battery test in which we have the phone surf the web over cellular with its screen set to 150 nits of brightness. We then time how long it takes the phone to run out of power. For foldable phones, we conduct this test on the phone's main display.

We also test the cameras on each foldable phone, taking them out into the field to perform comparative shots, usually with another device that features comparable specs. In some cases, that's a foldable phone or another device in the same price tier.

How to choose a foldable phone?

Choosing the best foldable phones boils down to two things: the features matter most to you and your budget.

Notebook style foldable phones, like the Motorola Razr Fold and Galaxy Z Fold 7, offer the most suitable productivity experience thanks to their expansive displays. For example, you can run about 2 to 3 apps simultaneously. Want something that's more portable and versatility for content creating? Then perhaps flip phone foldables are better for you, like the Galaxy Z Flip 7 or Motorola Razr Ultra 2025, which make it easy to use their superior rear cameras with their outer screens.

Now, if your budget is a lot tighter, there are still options for you. There are still very few budget foldable phones, but the Motorola Razr 2025 is a steal for $699 given what it offers.

And finally, do you want the ultimate foldable phone that can replace your laptop? The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 offer a desktop PC-like experience with Samsung DeX, along with the Pixel 10 Pro Fold with its hidden Android 16 desktop mode or the Smart Connect features of the Moto Razr Fold. Plug it into a monitor, pair a mouse and keyboard to it, and then you'll have the ultimate on-the-go laptop replacement.