Update: so the Samsung Galaxy Fold has issues and it's release has been delayed, while the Huawei Mate X is claimed to still be on-track for June.
Foldable phones are the big new smartphone trend of 2019 (aside from 5G phones, of course, though some will be both). In fact, plenty have been announced.
The Samsung Galaxy Fold and Huawei Mate X are the biggest two foldable phones announced, but the world's first foldable was actually the Royole FlexPai. We've been hands on with all three.
But there are also rumored handsets, such as the Motorola Razr V4, so there's plenty to get excited about and you can read about all of these foldable phones in one place here.
It's not all smooth sailing though, with the Galaxy Fold developing issues which potentially could have a knock-on effect on the rest of the foldable phones.
So settle down, read on, and start saying goodbye to your old rigid handset, because the future is (maybe) flexible.
Samsung Galaxy Fold
Image credit: Samsung
The Samsung Galaxy Fold dazzled us during the Samsung Galaxy S10 launch on February 20, but the world had to wait until April 15 before the South Korean manufacturer allowed the first members of the media (including TechRadar) to gets hands on the with the device.
Initial impressions were good. Sure it's big, bulky, heavy and extremely expensive, but it worked. The interface was slick, the multi-tasking excellent and the 7.3-inch folding screen is just plain cool.
However, just as excitement was building towards the Galaxy Fold's April 26 release in the US, a number of review units broke which has led Samsung to delay the Galaxy Fold.
We're now waiting to see when (if at all) Samsung will actually put the Galaxy Fold on sale – hopefully having addressed the screen issues faced by some of the early units.
The Galaxy Fold has both a 4.6-inch HD+ Super AMOLED screen on the front and a foldable 7.3-inch QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED display on the inside, essentially letting you use the device as both a phone and a tablet.
It supports three-app multi-tasking and allows you to seamlessly move from one screen to the other, with whatever content you were viewing switching between them as you open or close the larger display.
It has a 4,380mAh battery, 12GB of RAM, 512GB of storage and a high-end Snapdragon 855 chipset. Cameras? The Galaxy Fold has six: a 16MP lens and a pair of 12MP lenses on the back, a 10MP camera on the front, and a dual-lens 10MP and 8MP pairing on the inside, visible when using the large foldable screen.
However, it's not cheap, coming in at $ 1,980 / €2,000 (around £1,515 / AU$ 2,760).
This could be the first of many foldable Samsung phones, as the company has also patented a number of others, including one that you wear.
- Read our hands on review of the Samsung Galaxy Fold
Huawei Mate X
Image credit: TechRadar
As Samsung seemingly struggles with its early Galaxy Fold units, things are apparently still on track for a June launch of the Huawei Mate X foldable phone.
The Huawei Mate X is a slightly different take on the foldable phone, as it technically has one screen, but it can be folded down from an 8-inch display to a pair of smaller ones, with a 6.6-inch screen on the front and a 6.4-inch one on the back.
That means the displays are larger than the ones offered by the Galaxy Fold, and the small screens also have much less bezel than Samsung's take.
The overall aesthetic is striking, with the screen wrapping around the body of the handset, although we do worry about its durability as it's open to the elements and in danger of easily being damaged.
The Mate X also has a 4,500mAh battery with fast charging, a triple-lens camera, a high-end Kirin 980 chipset, 8GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, and it supports 5G.
It looks set to be even more expensive than the Galaxy Fold though, coming in at €2,299 (around $ 2,600 / £2,000 / AU$ 4,770).
As with Samsung, Huawei looks to be fully embracing the foldable future, as it has said that half of its flagship phones could be foldable in two years.
- Check out our hands-on Huawei Mate X review
Motorola Razr V4
Image credit: Motorola
Motorola is rumored to be rebooting the Razr brand with the Motorola Razr V4, and rather than an old-fashioned clamshell design, it will apparently fold.
Patents have shown how it might look, which is to say, basically like you’d expect a modern take on the Razr to, with a flexible screen rather than a hinge.
The handset was rumored to be landing sometime in February, but that didn't happen.
However, during a press briefing at MWC, Motorola's vice president and general manager Anthony Barounas, said: “If you go around the stores today, for me the phones all look the same. It’s difficult to see if it’s a Motorola, or [another brand]. How we differentiate to the consumer, show them something really different, that’s where foldables comes in.
"And that’s where Motorola also has a very big investment. I can’t say much but we have one franchise that will have a very big impact there.” So that's close to a confirmation that something foldable is coming at some point.
However, like most foldable phones it will probably be expensive, with a rumored starting price of roughly $ 1,500 (around £1,170, AU$ 2,010).
While that's expensive it significantly undercuts some others, and we might know the reason for that, as according to one report it has a mid-range Snapdragon 710 chipset (along with 6GB of RAM and either 64GB or 128GB of storage).
LG
Image credit: TechRadar
The latest news on a foldable LG phone comes from Kyle Yoon, senior product manager for LG Mobile, who, during a briefing, said:
“When it comes to foldable, [the day will come] when we’ll all have a foldable device. That’s only if the Play Store has [apps in] a native resolution in those ratios, if the price of foldables will come down – we want to deliver a device more people can use that’s affordable and [offers] more content with 5G. We’re focused on that first but foldables… yes, we will have those devices.”
Prior to that, we'd heard rumors that LG has a foldable phone in the works, and that’s on top of the company having mentioned "smartphones featuring different form factors" in a recent set of financial results, and having patented a foldable phone concept.
The company has also made a foldable TV already, so it seemingly has the expertise. In short then, while nothing is yet confirmed it seems like the question of a foldable LG phone is 'when' not 'if'. Though the company doesn't seem in any hurry to launch one.
In the meantime, it has announced the LG DualScreen, which is a device that can clip on to the LG V50 ThinQ to add a second 6.2-inch screen. This is far from a true foldable phone, but it's better than nothing.
TCL
Image Credit: TechRadar
TCL might not be a name you'd expect to be among the first to launch a foldable phone and, well, you'd be right, because it's probably not going to sell a foldable handset under any of its brands (which include BlackBerry and Alcatel) until next year.
But the company has shown off a foldable concept device at MWC. This has a 7.2-inch 2048 x 1536 AMOLED display and four rear cameras, but we're not convinced the final foldable will have those specs, as one of the key features appears to be a relatively affordable price.
The company didn't get into specifics, but for it to substantially undercut the likes of the Galaxy Fold and Mate X, we'd expect worse specs than that.
Apple
Image credit: TechRadar
While not likely to arrive as imminently as some on this list, Apple could well have a foldable phone of its own in the works.
Rumors of one first emerged in late 2017, with the claim that it would launch in 2020. We’ve also seen Apple patents for a folding screen more than once, so Apple is clearly at least exploring the idea.
If folding phones prove practical then we’d expect Apple will get involved eventually, but the company usually waits for tech to be polished rather than aiming to be first, so we might not see one for a while.
Sony
Image credit: TechRadar
As with Apple, Sony also looks to be working on – or at least toying with – a foldable phone.
Evidence for this comes from a Sony patent, detailing both foldable and rollable smartphones. Of course, patents don’t always become products, but with much of the rest of the industry looking in this direction it would be no surprise if Sony is too.
However, we wouldn't expect one imminently, as the company has just announced a bunch of new phones at MWC 2019 and a folding handset wasn't among them. Instead, it seems focused on 21:9 screens, as seen on the likes of the Sony Xperia 1.
Royole FlexPai
Image credit: TechRadar
The first foldable phone to be announced was actually the Royole FlexPai.
Currently you can only buy it in China (unless you’re happy with a developer version), and it’s not cheap at $ 1,300 (around £1,000 / AU$ 1,825).
You might want to hold off on that import too, as in our hands-on review we found that it was both very slow and had a very slow camera. In short, it seems like little more than a proof-of-concept.
Xiaomi
Image credit: Xiaomi
A Xiaomi folding phone has been teased in several brief videos. They show a device with two folding hinges, rather than a single central fold.
Don't get too excited just yet though, as this is little more than a concept device for now.
As while Lin Bin, the co-founder of Xiaomi, has posted on social media that the "Xiaomi double folding mobile phone is coming," he also said "if you like it, we will consider making a mass production machine in the future."
Xiaomi was at MWC 2019, showing off devices such as the Xiaomi Mi 9, but its folding phone was nowhere to be seen.
Image credit: TechRadar
Google could also be getting into the foldable game, as the company has patented several foldable designs.
These are likely a long way off being finished products, but show for example a screen that would fold down on itself when not in use, and a phone with three folds, which allows the screens to stack on top of each other when folded.
Oppo
Image credit: Brian Shen
Oppo has shown off a foldable concept device that looks a lot like the Huawei Mate X, as you can see in the image above.
However, we don't know anything about the specs yet and you probably won't be able to buy this any time soon if at all, as the company has said it will wait and see whether consumers take to foldable phones before mass producing one.
ZTE Nubia Alpha
Image credit: TechRadar
ZTE isn’t being left out of the folding action either, as the firm has announced the Nubia Alpha, a phone with a 4-inch foldable screen that you can wrap around your wrist.
The phone lands in China on April 8 and is set to cost €449 (about $ 510, £390, AU$ 710). A release in other parts of the world is expected on or soon after that date.
Additionally, ZTE has patented another foldable device, this time with a more conventional clamshell design, so if you don't want to wear your phone then ZTE may have a more suitable option for you sooner or later.
- Read our hands-on Nubia Alpha review
Energizer Power Max 8100S
Image Credit: TechRadar
Energizer is not a company we'd have expected to be among the first to launch a foldable phone, but it is, at least in prototype form.
Shown off behind glass at MWC 2019, the Energizer Power Max 8100S has a smartphone-sized screen when folded and a tablet-sized one when unfolded.
Folds aside, the highlight of this phone is likely its 10,000mAh battery, but it also has a 48MP main camera, a 12MP secondary lens and a 24MP selfie camera, plus a Snapdragon 855 chipset and 8GB of RAM. However, it's not currently clear if or when you'll be able to buy it.
Vivo iQOO
Vivo has launched its own sub-brand, iQOO, in order to hit the foldable phone market. It's early days for the device, with the only hint of its existence being several renders leaked online, but that's a lot more than some other foldables.
One edge the iQOO foldable phone has, if the leak is to believed, is that it will launch at around CNY7,000, or roughly $ 1,000, £800, AU$ 1,450. If this is correct – which is a big if, of course – it will be a lot cheaper than the prices of most other similar devices.
- There are lots of 5G phones coming soon too