Best Foldable Phones in 2026: Book Folds, Flip Phones and Budget Options Ranked

Foldables stopped being a novelty a while ago. Creases are less visible, hinges are rated for hundreds of thousands of folds, and prices — while still steep — have started coming down at the entry end of the category. This list covers both book-style folds (a phone that opens into a small tablet) and flip phones (a phone that folds in half to shrink its footprint), because they solve genuinely different problems and shouldn't be ranked against each other as if they were competing for the same buyer.

How We Rank These

Book-folds and flips are ranked separately in spirit, even though they appear on one combined list — we've ordered by overall quality within each phone's own category rather than forcing a flip phone to compete on inner-display specs it was never designed to have. As with our camera phone rankings, availability doesn't affect a phone's position here, but we tell you clearly, every time, exactly where you can and can't actually buy one.

1. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is the foldable that finally feels fully resolved rather than a work in progress. The inner crease has practically disappeared, the whole phone is thinner and lighter than any previous Fold, and a 200MP main camera closes most of the gap that used to separate foldables from flagship slab phones. S Pen support remains unique to Samsung in this category. It's expensive and the battery is merely good rather than great, but as an all-round package nothing beats it.

2. Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold

The Pixel 10 Pro Fold pairs a similarly minimal crease with what's simply the best camera system on any foldable — Google's computational photography translates directly onto the larger sensor array here. Gemini's AI features feel genuinely built for the bigger canvas rather than stretched to fit it, in a way rival software skins haven't quite matched.

3. Huawei Mate X6

The Mate X6 is thinner than either phone above it — 4.6mm unfolded — and pairs that with a genuine 4x periscope telephoto, hardware most foldables skip entirely to save space. The catch is availability: Huawei phones aren't officially sold in the US, UK, Canada, or Australia, so this is a phone for buyers in Europe, the Middle East, or Asia, or those willing to import with no local warranty.

4. Vivo X Fold5

The X Fold5 is, on paper, the most impressive engineering on this entire list — 4.3mm unfolded, 217g, the thinnest and lightest book-fold anywhere, with a class-leading 6,000mAh battery packed into that slim body. It just isn't sold in the US, UK, or EU at all, officially available only in India and a handful of Asian markets. If you're in one of those regions, it's an easy recommendation; everyone else would be importing.

5. Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7

Moving to flip phones: the Galaxy Z Flip 7 remains the benchmark. A genuinely useful cover display, a hinge that's survived years of iteration to feel dependable rather than delicate, and Samsung's usual update commitment. It's the flip phone to buy if you're not sure which flip phone to buy.

6. Motorola Razr Ultra (2025)

Motorola's Razr Ultra takes a different approach to the flip formula — a larger 7-inch inner display than the Z Flip 7's, running at up to 165Hz versus 120Hz, plus full third-party app support on the cover screen rather than a curated widget-only experience. The cover display itself is a similar size to Samsung's, but Motorola lets you actually run apps on it, not just glance at notifications.

7. Tecno Phantom V Fold2

The Phantom V Fold2 won't match the polish of anything above it, but it's a genuinely credible book-fold at a fraction of Samsung or Google's asking price — a 2K LTPO inner display and a real triple-50MP camera system, all for under £750. It's proof the category doesn't require flagship-tier spending to be usable.

Which Should You Buy?

For a book-fold with no availability compromises, it's the Z Fold 7 or the Pixel 10 Pro Fold — pick based on whether you prefer Samsung's ecosystem and S Pen or Google's camera and AI software. If budget is the deciding factor, the Phantom V Fold2 gets you into the category properly for under £750. For flip phones, the Z Flip 7 is the safe, excellent default, and the Razr Ultra is the pick specifically if you want to actually use the cover screen as a phone. The Mate X6 and X Fold5 are both genuinely superior hardware to everything else here on paper — but only worth chasing if you live somewhere they're actually sold, or you're comfortable importing.