7 Of The Best Foldable Phones, According To Consumer Reports

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

Foldable smartphones have become a unique piece of tech that is far more usable than people expected them to be. Companies like Samsung, Google, and Motorola deserve a lot of love for spearheading the development and mass adoption of this technology, while the mere fact that Apple itself is dabbling in a foldable smartphone for the next generation of iPhones makes it clear that these unique hybrid devices are here to stay. It helps that most of the popular foldable smartphones on the market have enjoyed rave reviews from numerous sources. 

Consumer Reports usually serves as the go-to for most tech nerds to figure out whether a device is worth purchasing, and nothing gives tech buyers more confidence than the coveted "CR Recommended" badge. So, to help break down the best options in the emerging foldable smartphone segment for this list, we considered both types of folding phones – traditional clamshell phones or smartphone-tablet hybrids — as long as they were a "CR Recommended" device.

Samsung has always been at the forefront of hardware innovation, and its work on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 exemplifies this in spades. Over the years, they've perfected the design of this book-style foldable, with the Fold7 being the epitome of all their experience and hard work. The design of this phone is the first thing that will strike you — when unfolded, the Galaxy Z Fold7 boasts a thickness of just 4.2 millimeters, making it one of the thinnest foldable phones in the market. It also ensures that the phone doesn't feel too bulky in your pocket in its folded state. With a weight of just 7.58 ounces, it won't even feel like you're carrying a device that can unfold into a bona fide tablet!

The screen itself is vibrant, larger, and better-looking than before. The foldable Low-Temperature Polycrystalline Oxide (LTPO) AMOLED screen looks gorgeous, boasting a refresh rate of up to 120Hz, a brightness rating that peaks at 2,600 nits, and support for HDR10+ content, which makes this smartphone even better for watching your favorite movies and TV shows. Samsung hasn't skimped out in the camera department either, as the existence of a whopping 200MP main camera should make this clear as day. This is accompanied by a 12MP ultrawide and a 10MP telephoto lens, letting you take amazing pictures.

Are there some issues? Definitely. Samsung dropped the S-Pen support for this model, which is a bummer. The 25-watt charging speed is also abysmally slow, especially given that the 4,400mAh battery is similar to the previous model. However, if you're willing to deal with these minor caveats, then you can't go wrong with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7, which starts at $1,364.99.

Google hasn't been sitting on its laurels either, expanding the Pixel smartphone lineup with a competently designed book-style foldable that comes equipped with all its well-known software optimizations. The Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold received the "CR Recommended" badge of honor, but it's one of the heavier, bulkier, and more expensive foldable phones. At 9.1 ounces, it's definitely on the heavier side for a smartphone, and at 10.8 millimeters thick (in its folded state), this device is a bit bulky to carry around. But the biggest hurdle for most users is probably the phone's $1,799 asking price.

As we found out in our review of the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, though, one of the device's biggest perks is its IP68 rating. Unlike other foldable phones on the market that have to settle for a slightly outdated IP48 durability rating, Google has clearly gone the extra mile to ensure this hybrid design doesn't need to come at the cost of your device's protection. 

The camera is also superb and lives up to the Pixel's reputation for clicking amazing photos. The 48MP main camera, a 10.8MP telephoto lens, and the 10.5MP ultrawide are great enough as is, but the Pixel's camera also comes with unique features to make the foldable's camera that much more intuitive, including features like Dual Screen Preview — which lets the subject see the viewfinder's frame on the cover screen — and Made You Look — a unique cartoon meant to amuse the person being clicked while capturing their attention.

Motorola is another player that has made its mark in the realm of foldables, focusing solely on the sleek, nostalgic clamshell design that many people covet when they're in the market for a foldable smartphone. The $799.99 Motorola Razr Ultra is their flagship foldable, boasting a beautiful design courtesy of its 7.2-milimeter thickness and feeling great in one's hand, given that it boasts a perfect weight of just over 7 ounces. The hinge — a part that many foldable smartphone enthusiasts are a bit paranoid about — is reinforced with titanium, ensuring that this part won't perturb you throughout its lifetime.

Another highlight is the unfolded screen, which boasts a superb level of quality. It's yet another foldable LTPO AMOLED — in a similar vein to that of the Samsung Galaxy Fold7 — that supports a massive palette of 1 billion colors, along with industry-leading features like support for 165Hz, support for both Dolby Vision and HDR10+. The peak brightness rating of 4,500 nits is a neat touch to round off the overall package. The Qualcomm SM8750-AB Snapdragon 8 Elite guarantees the highest level of performance, while the 4,700mAh battery is reliable enough to last for longer than a day on a full battery. It helps that the 68-watt wired charging means that you won't have to wait too long for this phone to reach a hundred percent battery capacity, anyway.

One puzzling design choice was the addition of a separate AI key on the Motorola Razr Ultra. While most instances of artificial intelligence tech in phones are largely non-intrusive and fairly reliable, Moto AI doesn't match the standards of its competitors. The AI image generator is middling at best and deeply problematic at worst, and photo editing with this tech is nothing to write home about.

If you trust Samsung and its smartphone offerings but don't want to carry around a bulkier, book-style foldable phone, then the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7 will be more up your alley. This phone's clamshell design is beautiful, in no small part because of the quality of both the cover and main display. Both these AMOLED displays boast a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz and are very bright, reaching up to 2,600 nits.

The cover screen's bezels have also been reduced in comparison to previous models, making it even more aesthetically pleasing to look at. It's a shame that the functionality of this external display is lacking in comparison to its closest competitor, Motorola. Aside from a few choice apps — like Google Maps, WhatsApp, and Spotify, to name a few — Samsung's selection of applications that work on the cover screen is very limited. To make things worse, it even lacks app continuity between the outer and inner screens, which is present across all competitors... and the Galaxy Z Fold7, too!

Still, this is a minor issue in the grand scheme of things. For $799.99, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7 is easily one of the best value-for-money foldable phones on the market. The armor aluminum body is no joke and helps this phone survive horrid falls with nary a scratch — a huge perk, given how a protective cover will be tricky to fit on this smartphone, as is. A 50MP main camera and a 12MP ultrawide help you click amazing photos, although the lack of a zoom lens may be disappointing for some. Despite this phone using a slightly less powerful Exynos 2500 as opposed to the widespread Snapdragon chip, you'll barely notice any problems on the performance side of things.

If the astronomical price point for the Pixel 10 Pro Fold — which is the most expensive device on this list, by the way — isn't feasible, then you're far better off with the regular Google Pixel Fold instead. Instead of costing an arm and a leg, all you need to shell out is $599.99 for the 256GB version or $649.99 for the 512GB variant. The screens are an obvious highlight, with both the regular and tablet OLEDs reaching a refresh rate of 120Hz and supporting HDR visuals, which is upgraded to HDR10+ for the inner screen. The cover screen languishes around 1,200 nits while the unfolded variant stays around 1,000 nits, which is bright enough for regular use. Just prepare yourself to get used to the very noticeable screen crease and the ugly bezels of this display in its unfolded state. It doesn't help that the phone is certainly on the heavier side, with its weight skirting dangerously close to the 10-ounce mark.

This is the price you must pay to use a foldable phone with an exceedingly sturdy build. The aluminum frame feels great to hold, while the hinge is satisfying to use and makes it clear that Google didn't skimp out when it came to reinforcing this critical part of the phone. The Google Tensor G2 chip guarantees excellent performance, while the 4,821 mAh battery helps this phone chug along for the entire day and still have some charge to spare. Finally, it would be impossible to highlight a Pixel's strengths without mentioning the quality of this foldable phone's cameras. With a triple lens setup that consists of a 48MP main camera and two 10.8MP ultrawide and telephoto lenses, you can take some breathtaking pictures with the Google Pixel Fold.

We can't say that the Motorola Razr+ is outright affordable, given its $999.99 price tag. It doesn't help that this clamshell foldable uses a mid-range Qualcomm SM8635 Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 processor, although you shouldn't experience any major slowdowns barring a bit of jagged movement at first when you reboot the device. The 4,000 mAh battery isn't anything to write home about either, to the point where it may struggle to stay on for the entire day if your work involves a lot of heavy-duty smartphone use. Thankfully, the 45-watt charging speed is fast enough to power the device from 0 to 100 percent in less than an hour, so this shouldn't be too big of an issue to deal with.

What you get for this price is a smartphone with two state-of-the-art AMOLED displays that are as beautiful as they come, boasting support for a color palette spanning a billion shades, an admirable 165Hz refresh rate, and support for both Dolby Vision and HDR10+. It helps that the crease in the internal display is barely noticeable, which is a perk that anyone interested in a foldable phone with a beautiful screen would be looking out for. Meanwhile, Motorola's industry-leading cover screen features mean that you can operate almost any app on your phone on this external display, with the added benefit of seamless app continuity.

The Qualcomm SM8635 Snapdragon 8s processor is competent enough to ensure that performance is smooth on this device, while the combination of two 50MP lenses — a main wide camera and a telephoto lens — lets you click surprisingly competent photos. You may miss an additional ultrawide lens, but that's a small price to pay for such a gorgeous device.

Samsung is no stranger when it comes to releasing budget devices for people from all walks of life, and this same design ethos has carried over to their foldable offerings, too. The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7 FE (short for Fan Edition) is the best option for people who are interested in a foldable smartphone but don't want to pay an astronomical price to own such a device. For $599.34, you can get your hands on your very first clamshell foldable and gauge firsthand whether this design is a worthwhile one to invest in.

It helps that Samsung has packed a ton of quality features into this affordable package. The design is beautiful and durable in equal measure, with the sturdy hinge and aluminum armor frame protecting this device from any severe drops. Both AMOLED displays look great and support a peak brightness rating of 2,600 nits. The inner screen has a refresh rate of 120Hz and supports HDR10+, while the cover screen has a competent 60Hz display. Just keep in mind that the limitations we've talked about regarding the Flip7's external display apply to this model, too.

The 50MP main camera, 12MP ultrawide lens, and 10MP selfie camera all combine to augment the quality of this phone's photography, even if its performance in low-light conditions is lacking. Unfortunately, we can't extend the same praise for its battery life, which is aggressively average. Expect to charge your phone at least once daily with medium to heavy usage. Charging speed isn't anything to write home about either, with the 25-watt connection taking one and a half hours to charge this phone to full. Clearly, this area is where the affordable Galaxy Z Flip FE cuts the most corners.

All foldable phones listed here have a score of 70 or higher on Consumer Reports and have received the illustrious "CR Recommended" accolade. Along with this, they've also enjoyed positive reviews from numerous noteworthy publications, including scores of 4 out of 5 stars or 8 out of 10 points at the very least from websites like CNET, Digital Trends, Tech Advisor, SammyGuru, Mashable, GSMArena, PCMag, TechRadar, Engadget, WIRED, Android Central, Trusted Reviews, Stuff, and Tom's Guide.