The Nubia Flip 2 5G foldable has made its first appearance at MWC 2025, and it's got quite a legacy to uphold. The original Nubia Flip 5G stunned everyone last year by offering a foldable phone for a mere $500. But it seems as though a lot can change in a year.
The big news is again the price: €699. That's 200 euros more than the original Nubia Flip cost, but it's still cheaper than any other foldable phone. Even limiting our scope to just flip foldables, the Motorola Razr 2024 is still 100 euros more, and a Razr Plus 2024 or Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 will set you back over a grand. And as you'll see, there are good reasons for this price increase.
Nubia has overhauled the design of the Flip 2, with the phone weighing 193 grams compared to the original's 208 grams (6.81 ounces vs. 7.34 ounces). This weight drop has been managed by improvements to the hinge mechanism, aluminum frame and toughened glass. The Nubia Flip 2 can apparently survive a drop of up to 1.2m, but that's presumably only if you have the phone's delicate inner screen safely folded away.
The inner display is a 6.9-inch OLED model like the original Nubia Flip's, but this time rated at a brighter 1,200 nits. The bigger news on the display front is the redesigned 3-inch rectangular external panel. Not only is this rated for 900-nits of brightness, it's larger and more conventionally shaped than the more distinctive (but less practical) circular display of the last model.
With its new shape, Nubia says the Flip 2 can now use "almost all" apps on the cover screen, similar to the Motorola Razr 2024. I saw it running TikTok, the camera app and messaging apps, but I have no reason to doubt it being able to run other apps as well.
On the topic of cameras, the Nubia Flip 2 gets improved photography. The 32MP selfie camera double the resolution of the original Nubia Flip's front camera, while a 50MP main rear camera returns from the previous model.
Taking advantage of the new hinge and the larger outer display, the Nubia Flip 2 now offers a preview mode to show what's in the camera viewfinder on both screens, as well as hovering/hands-free photography. This works by letting the user partially bend the phone and stepping away to snap a pic.
AI is of course present and correct. Common features such as translation for calls and in-person conversations are available, alongside a wallpaper generator that was shown off in the announcement presentation. Nubia's also added AI Pets, meaning you get your choice of a puffer fish, tiger, cat, dog or llama that will greet you when you fold the phone. How exactly these relate to the other AI services isn't clear.
Gemini should be coming to the Nubia Flip 2 too, as ZTE promised all its internationally-sold mobile devices will gain support for Google's AI from March.
To finish off our specs run-down: a Dimensity 7300X drives the Flip 2, which is not a flagship-grade chip but makes sense given the lower pricing. On the battery front, you get a roomy 4,325 mAh battery with 33W charging.
The Nubia Flip 2 has given up a significant part of its price advantage compared to other flip foldable phones. But this hasn't been done for the sake of it — upgrades to the outer display and durability alone are arguably enough to justify the increase. And depending on how powerful the new chipset proves to be, or how useful the software upgrades are, that could still make the new phone as great a value proposition as the first Nubia Flip.
With the Galaxy Z Flip 7 and new Moto Razrs likely to arrive in the coming months, we're likely on the cusp of big changes to our best foldable phones guide. And if Nubia's changes pay off, the Flip 2 could just inherit the spot that the cheap and cheerful original model managed to grab.
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