The best foldable phones to buy in 2023

By now, you probably know all about the Galaxy Z Fold series from Samsung, and if you missed the recent announcement of the latest iteration, the Galaxy Z Fold 5, it probably won't take you too much time to learn everything new about it. Why? Well, because Samsung has mostly stuck to very incremental changes with this year's generation.

That is not necessarily bad news though, as the Galaxy Z Fold series was already one of the best book-like foldable phones on the market. The lack of any major changes also means that it is a rather safe choice for buyers, especially if you are upgrading from an older generation like the Z Fold 2 or Z Fold 3.

Contrary to previous years, it was the Galaxy Z Flip 5 that had the projectors pointed at it this year, instead of its bigger brother the Z Fold 5. The reason for this could be summarized by simply saying it offered more improvements over the previous generation, but more specifically it was because of the larger new cover display, which is eye-catching to say the least.

With the new 3.4-inch (vs1.9-inch) of the cover display, users can now interact with specifically tailored widgets including Favorite contacts, Samsung Wallet, Weather, Clock, Voice recorder, Daily Steps, Stocks, and even control settings such as sound, brightness, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, AirPlane mode, and more.

One thing to note, however, is that the price has increased compared to the last generation, although the base storage has also been bumped from 128GB to 256GB, so it kind of balances itself out.

In 2023, Motorola decided to split its clamshell Razr foldable into two models — the Motorola Razr Plus and simply the Motorola Razr. The one with a "Plus" is, as you probably suspect, the more expensive and better equipped. And Motorola has definitely done a great job this time around to finally create a foldable phone that's more or less well rounded, with no major issues or downsides.

If you enjoy Motorola's near-stock Android software, if you want a less visible hinge on your foldable phone, and the Razr Plus' cool slick design, then you will like this one. Especially if you find it with some discount to soften that $1,000 price tag.

The Razr Plus (2023) comes with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, 8GB RAM, a 6.9-inch OLED display with a 165Hz refresh rate, and a 3800 mAh battery. Of course, we can't forget to mention the new and eye-pleasing 3.6-inch cover display that's also capable of high refresh rates and you can access certain apps on.

This is the newest big foldable phone on the block, and one of the best foldable phones for a reason. The OG Oppo Find N was the surprise of the season, with its new concept of what a foldable phone should look like. It improved on the OG Galaxy Z Fold concept by being more pocketable while keeping key functionality and practical features. The second generation is now better than ever. Its looks closely resemble other Oppo flagships, which means the phone is more conservative, and when closed, it doesn't stand out so much from the regular phones.

The Oppo Find N2 has a 7.1-inch LTPO AMOLED folding display with a 120Hz refresh rate. The display is almost a perfect square, but unlike the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4, it is wider, making it better suited for entertainment. The cover screen is a 5.5-inch AMOLED panel which is also wider than Samsung's. This means it doesn't have the Galaxy's weird tall aspect ratio and feels and looks more like any regular smartphone screen.

As for the other specs, this device packs a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor, a 50MP triple-camera system, and a 4,520mAh battery. This smartphone is definitely worth your time to consider, as it looks to have excellent built quality and offer good value for money. Unfortunately, for now, it is only available in Asia and select markets in Europe, but we hope in time the Oppo Find N2 will come to other markets too.

The foldable tech has been improving in the last couple of years. Foldable smartphones were somewhat fragile in the beginning. Now things have changed and current foldable phones are way more durable. For the Z Fold 4, Samsung promises the device is durable enough to survive a minimum of 200,000 folds – more or less 5 years if you fold and unfold it 100 times a day. Americans check their phones on average 344 times per day, according to a survey by Reviews.org on smartphone usage for 2022. That's around 122,000 checks a year. But checking doesn't mean interacting with it – you can check the outer screen of the Samsung foldable for notifications, texting, or even a brief scroll through social media, without ever unfolding the phone.

The moral of the story – a foldable phone like the Z Flip 4 and the Z Fold 4 should survive for around five years of regular usage. Good enough for today's standards.

It depends on which foldable vs which traditional phone. The camera has no interaction whatsoever with the folding mechanism, and is like any other smartphone camera. If it has a higher megapixel count and better features, image processing and color calibration, it will be better no matter if it's on a foldable phone or a standard smartphone. The only thing is that some folding phones may lack the space for a periscope lens or some other special lens though. If we talk about selfies, some foldable phones like the Z Fold 4 can deliver even better results given the fact that you can use the phone's rear camera to take a selfie.