Best foldable phones 2025: Expand your horizons with these bendy handsets

While sales of “regular” smartphones have slowed in recent years, the foldable market is experiencing exponential growth. It’s the most vibrant and exciting area of an otherwise staid sector.

Picking out the best foldable phone is a tricky process, however. On the one hand, there are more and more manufacturers turning out stunning handsets, and the level of choice has never been better. On the other, this is far from a mature market. There’s a degree of compromise that needs to be accepted with each foldable device, so you’ll need to choose carefully.

Here’s our guide to buying a foldable phone, starting with advice on choosing the right type of foldable handset for you. We’ll then dive into the particulars and recommend some top picks.

Best foldable phones: At a glance

How to choose the best foldable phone for you

There’s a lot to consider when shopping for a new foldable phone. Straight off the bat, your budget will need to be pretty generous – several of our choices are among the most expensive phones on the market.

Even before that, you’ll need to consider what you actually want from your foldable phone. Here are some key points to consider before we get down to our recommendations.

What’s the difference between foldable phone types?

There are two main types of foldable – a compact clamshell design, and a full-size, book-like version. They have very different characteristics, not to mention price ranges, so it’s important to clarify the differences.

The compact foldable style is intended for those who want their phone to occupy the smallest space possible in their pocket or bag, without giving up the perks of a regular smartphone experience. These clamshell foldables tend to be much cheaper, having dropped to around the price of a regular flagship smartphone.

The full-size foldable type is for those who want the maximum screen space possible without having to lug a tablet around with them. Full-size foldables are the most expensive smartphone variety on the market, selling for around double the price of a regular flagship phone.

Do foldables have external screens too?

Compact foldables tend to have internal displays that are the same size and shape as a large “regular” smartphone. Full-sized foldables have significantly larger and squarer internal displays that are closer to compact tablets.

In addition, both foldable types tend to have secondary displays on one of their outer surfaces. Compact foldables give you a small square screen for quick heads-up information, while full-size foldables give you a whole smartphone screen, letting you use them as normal without the need to unfold them.

Are foldables good at taking pictures?

You may have heard that foldable phones aren’t among the best camera phones on the market, and that’s certainly been the case until relatively recently. That might surprise you given the cost of some of these phones, but it’s a simple matter of space constraints in this relatively new phone design.

While “standard” smartphone internal design has been settled and optimised to within an inch of its life, foldable manufacturers are still figuring out the best way to squeeze all those components into a hinged device. Most foldable phones to date have had to compromise on camera quality as a result.

Things have improved a lot, however. Manufacturers are engineering their way to a solution, and some of our foldable picks below take very good pictures indeed. The days of foldable photography compromise may well be in the past.

What about the battery life?

Another area where foldable phones have famously struggled is battery life. There’s less space for batteries in those futuristic bendy bodies, but two (often large) displays to drive.

Again, this is much less of a concern with newer foldables. More efficient components, increased battery sizes and clever software optimisation means that most newer foldables should get you through a full working day without a problem.

Should I buy one SIM-free?

Generally speaking, we would always recommend buying a phone outright where possible. You can use any SIM you like, and sell your phone with the minimum hassle come upgrade time. With foldables, however, doing so will involve a significant outlay.

Some of the phones listed below will cost you more than £1,500, which is a lot. If that sounds too expensive, it might be more feasible for you to keep an eye out for a decent contract deal. As always, add up the total cost of a contract and compare it to the cost of buying the phone outright.

How we test foldable phones

We test our foldable phones in much the same way as we test any regular smartphone. This process involves running a number of CPU and GPU benchmark tests, primarily involving the Geekbench 6 and GFXBench applications found in the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. We can then compare these scores against similarly priced rivals.

Our review process also involves putting a foldable phone’s displays (there are nearly always two) through a rigorous test process. With both screens we use the DisplayCAL software in conjunction with a display colorimeter to give us a precise reading of how accurately they reproduce colour, as well as allowing us to work out their maximum brightness and contrast levels.

The final benchmark test we run relates to a foldable device’s battery life. Here we employ our own bespoke video rundown test, which involves playing a looping video through the VLC media app, with flight mode enabled and the screen set to 170cd/m² brightness. When the phone runs out of power and shuts down we’ll charge it back up, open the VLC app and note the timestamp indicating how long the video ran for before shutdown.

Less scientific, though no less thorough, are our foldable phone camera tests. Throughout our time with the device, we put each camera through a variety of everyday shooting scenarios, incorporating scenic, low-light and indoor shots, as well as shooting multiple videos in a variety of modes.

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The best foldable phones you can buy in 2025

1. Honor Magic V3: Best full-size foldable

Price when reviewed: £1,349 | Check price at Amazon

Honor’s Magic foldables have always been nipping at Samsung’s heels but with the launch of the Magic V3, the Chinese brand finally pulls into the lead. The headline feature here is the incredibly slim design – 9.2mm thick when folded and a ridiculous 4.35mm unfolded – but even beyond the impressive build quality, the Magic V3 is an improvement across the board.

Battery life is among the best we’ve seen on any foldable, both internal and external displays achieve decent peak brightness and offer strong colour-accuracy and the upgraded cameras capture excellent images in good lighting and crisp 3.5x optical zoom shots. Night shots occasionally end up washed in an unnatural green glow and you can get slightly faster performance and longer software support from Samsung. For this price, however, the Honor Magic V3 is a fantastically well-rounded foldable, and easily the best bang for your buck you can get in the format right now.

Read our full Honor Magic V3 review

2. Motorola Razr 50 Ultra: Best compact foldable

Price when reviewed: £788 | Check price at Amazon

One of the oldest names in the flip phone business has delivered the best compact foldable around in the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra. Despite being cheaper than its predecessor, the Razr 50 Ultra continues to bring the upgrades, with a class-leading 4in external AMOLED display, the first telephoto camera on any UK flip phone, improved durability with IPX8 water resistance and a solid improvement to battery life.

The new 2x telephoto camera is great for capturing striking, vibrant portrait shots (including selfies with the phone closed) and the main camera plucks out plenty of detail, with beautifully reproduced colours. The external display continues to be endlessly useful, allowing you to set any app of your choice to open on the cover screen.

Samsung has longer software support and slightly faster performance but, as a package, the Razr is the clear winner. The external display is more useful, the telephoto camera is a great addition and, best of all, it costs over £100 less than the Galaxy.

Read our full Motorola Razr 50 Ultra review

3. OnePlus Open: Best foldable camera

Price when reviewed: £1,599 | Check price at OnePlus

The OnePlus Open is a seriously impressive full-sized foldable, and if it wasn’t for a couple of glaring omissions (no wireless charging, a mediocre IP rating) this phone would likely be challenging the Galaxy Z Fold 5 as the number one choice.

OnePlus’ design is incredibly slick and attractive, with a minimal display crease, while a clever UI makes running multiple apps side by side extremely easy. It’s even a little cheaper than Samsung’s champ.

The one thing that might make the OnePlus Open a better choice than the Galaxy Z Fold 5 for some people, however, is its camera system. This is arguably the best on any foldable phone (shout out to the Pixel Fold too), with a large 48MP Sony LYT-T808 main sensor and a 3x 64MP telephoto option allied to a 48MP 114-degree ultrawide sensor.

If photography is a priority, the OnePlus Open might just be the best foldable option for you.

Read our full OnePlus Open review

Key specs – Processor: Octa-core 3.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2; Screen: 7.82in, 2,440 x 2,268 (cover: 6.31in, 2,484 x 1,116); Cameras: 48MP, 64MP (3x zoom), 48MP (ultrawide); Storage: 512GB; Operating system: Android 14

4. Motorola Razr 40: Best budget compact foldable

Price when reviewed: £800 | Check price at Amazon

Foldable phones don’t come cheap, but the Motorola Razr 40 is the first example that we would dare to call “affordable”. With an RRP of just £800 (there are plenty of deals around for substantially less) this foldable phone undercuts its more expensive sibling, the Razr 40 Ultra, by £250.

Still, the wallet-friendly price has meant a few compromises. The Razr 40 loses the signature cover display of the Ultra. It also runs on the slowest processor of any foldable, and its camera isn’t the best, either.

However, this cheap compact foldable packs an excellent 6.9in 144Hz OLED main display. Meanwhile, its 4,200mAh battery is even larger than the Razr 40 Ultra’s, and it supports the same combination of 30W wired and 5W wireless charging.

If you’re intrigued by the “foldable” phenomenon but find yourself baulking at the sky-high prices, the Razr 40 is officially the cheapest clamshell on the market right now.

Read our full Motorola Razr 40 review

Key specs – Processor: Octa-core 2.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 1; Screen: 6.9in, 2,640 x 1,080 (cover: 1.5in, 368 x 194); Camera: 64MP, 13MP (ultrawide); Storage: 256GB; Operating system: Android 13

5. Honor Magic Vs: Cheapest full-size foldable

Price when reviewed: £1,400 | Check price at Honor

The Honor Magic Vs gives you a surprisingly feature-rich full-sized foldable experience for £1,400. That’s still very expensive, of course, but it’s £349 cheaper than the Galaxy Z Fold 5.

All things considered, this is a remarkably complete offering with a couple of clever cutbacks helping the company to whittle down the asking price. For example, there’s a big and beautiful 7.9in fold-out AMOLED, but it has only a 90Hz refresh rate rather than 120Hz.

In a similar fashion, the Honor Magic Vs runs on a speedy flagship chip of a slightly older vintage in the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1. The design, while super slim and premium, doesn’t have an IP rating.

Throw in a decent-sized battery and speedy 66W wired charging , and you have a large foldable phone that makes some smart cuts to hit an aggressive price point. If the Galaxy Z Fold 5 is simply too rich for your blood, this is definitely worth considering.

Read our full Honor Magic Vs review

Key specs – Processor: Octa-core 3.0GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1; Screen: 7.9in, 2,272 x 1,984 (cover: 6.45in, 2,560 x 1,080); Cameras: 54MP, 8MP (3x zoom), 50MP (ultrawide); Storage: 512GB; Operating system: Android 13