Best Foldable Phone
Phones are great, but having a mini-tablet display on demand is just as tantalising. But who's the best foldable phone to invest your time and money in? Find out in this Editor's Choice story.
(This article is one of 16 parts in our Tech Awards 2025: Editor's Choice content series.)
If only you could whip a mini-tablet out of your pocket and put it away just as easily without carrying an additional gadget. Guess what? That's what book-style foldable phones are for.
In recent years, the book-style foldable phone market has matured gradually, with most brands now having access to the necessary technologies and software expertise to build one. Newer configurations of foldable phones are starting to refine their offerings beyond functionality and form factor, making it harder to evaluate who's the best among them.
And that’s where we step in to have a harder look, put the phones through their paces with real-world usage to back our tests and findings.
The qualification for the best foldable phone is for book-style foldable mobile handsets with a flexible and foldable inner display and a standard display on the front face of the device. It must also have been released after our last assessment (April 2024) but before the end of April 2025, just like our other Editor’s Choice contenders in our Tech Awards 2025 celebratory phase.
Nominees:
Note: Unfortunately, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7, Honor Magic V5, and Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold were launched after the end-April 2025 cut-off date.
Additional Note: We understand that mobile devices are rapidly evolving products, and their refreshes can occur as frequently as every six months. Due to extraordinary circumstances surrounding HWZ (such as a website revamp, among other milestones) and the need to coordinate with other device categories for the Tech Awards celebratory phase, our device cutoff date consideration for this iteration was at the end of April 2025. Do look forward to our future story as more models are released later this year for an updated comparison. At the time of publishing this story, our recommendation is still sound.
And the winner is...
OPPO Find N5
OPPO Find N5 - Best Foldable Phone
OPPO Find N5 is 4.21mm-thin when unfolded, with an IPX8+IPX9 dust-and-water resistance rating, and it is packed with the latest 7-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite processor. But being one of the first to be the most durable, one of the slimmest, and one of the most powerful aren’t the only reasons why OPPO’s Find N5 won.
At the point of assessment, the 2025 foldables from Honor and Samsung weren’t out yet, which gave OPPO a huge advantage and its rivals plenty of time to shape up their foldables to spec. It’s not wrong to say that OPPO defined what 2025 competition should look like in this space, as it marched to the beat of its own drum and launched it early in the year.
What also makes the OPPO Find N5 stand out is its amazing cameras, a feature that other foldables have to make allowances for or sacrifice. This is on top of a software that’s fast catching up with the best, granting you multi-window use and lots of split-screen action on the bigger main screen.
It also has several features that help it stand out from its rivals, such as decent battery life, wireless charging compatibility, and a starting storage capacity of 512GB, all while maintaining a relatively reasonable price of S$2,499. It’s a very complete package that’s somehow still not at an astronomical pricing tier, while seeing a massive upgrade from its predcessor.
This is hard-won, even if OPPO did not follow the usual foldable launch season. Congratulations on setting the standard for the rest to follow.
Check out our full review for more details.
Note: The OPPO Find N5’s official retail price is S$2,499 in one configuration (16GB RAM+512GB storage). Find it at OPPO Concept Stores, OPPO Online Store, Amazon, Lazada, Shopee, TikTok Shop, and other authorised retailers.
| Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold | Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 | Honor Magic V3 | OPPO Find N5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Design | 6.5 | 8.0 | 9.0 | 10.0 |
| Features | 8.0 | 8.5 | 8.5 | 9.5 |
| User-friendliness | 7.0 | 8.0 | 9.0 | 9.5 |
| Performance | 6.5 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 9.5 |
| Value | 6.0 | 7.0 | 9.0 | 8.5 |
| Overall | 6.5 | 8.5 | 9.0 | 9.5 |
| Price (storage) | S$2,579 (512GB) | S$2,548 (256GB) | S$1,999 (512GB) | S$2,499 (512GB) |
*Note: Prices and ratings listed are accurate during individual product evaluation. Street prices might be lower at the time of awards recognition. Scores may have been adjusted to reflect relative ratings to other products launched later or sooner.
For more details on how we rated our nominees and to learn about our experience with each device, check out the full reviews and articles listed in the References section below. In the meantime, here's how the other nominees fared in a snapshot.
Honor Magic V3 - The best affordable alternative among the premium choices
Honor Magic V3
While we’ve just reviewed Honor’s 2025 version, it is unfortunately out of our Tech Awards 2025 qualification period. Thus, the explanation below applies up to the assessment period (up to the end of April 2025). But for those curious, the Oppo Find N5 still bests Honor’s newest edition.
Reversing the roles now is Honor’s foldable coming in second place. It was previously the champion in our 2024 assessment, followed closely by the OPPO’s preceding foldable.
Why it deserves a special mention is because of its S$1,999 (512GB) price, next to all the wonderful things you get with the handset. It’s still thin (4.35mm), high-end (LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.0 storage), with some level of water protection (IPX8).
It doesn’t have the OPPO Find N5’s amazing cameras, but it still produces good-quality shots. Its MagicOS 8.0 software is nowhere as polished, but it’s still optimised for the form factor.
All that, and Honor still packs in high-quality display panels on both sides, a decent battery life, and the most powerful chipset of its time.
Even though Honor wasted no time in bringing in Magic V3 shortly after its award-winning Magic V2, it was at the cusp of a critical hardware refresh, which resulted in an older platform despite just being a few months earlier than OPPO Find N5.
Still, you’re not going to get a premium foldable under S$2,000, and Honor Magic V3 was able to do that. Even its latest Magic V5 costs more now.
Check out our full review for more details.
Note: Retailing at S$1,999, Honor Magic V3 came with 16GB RAM + 512GB storage. The phone can be purchased at Best Denki, Challenger, Courts, Gain City, Harvey Norman, Shopee, Lazada and authorised Honor retailers.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 - The one that started it all
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6
While Samsung has since launched an overwhelmingly commendable foldable since July 2025, we’re assessing based on the available phones that were available as of end-April 2025 to keep in line with the entire Tech Awards 2025 Editor’s Choice timeline of qualification.
It’s really unfortunate: the Galaxy Z Fold6 was right in the middle of foldable puberty, where we recalled how its most significant selling point was a mildly wider inner display and being the first Foldable phone in their stable to adopt Galaxy AI.
It, however, came with many caveats, one of which was its return to a wedge-like fold.
That’s not to say Samsung didn’t improve. Back then, Galaxy Z Fold6 had improved battery uptimes, and stuck to the same polish it had in every other area: high-quality displays, durable IP48 ratings against dust and water, wireless charging support, and it already did reduce its thickness to a then-12.1mm (folded), in addition to shedding some weight.
Because it was a good foldable, we still gave it its due recognition. Samsung walked so others could run. The good news? Its 2025 version is sprinting well ahead of the competition.
Check out our full review for more details.
Note: The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 was at S$2,548 (256GB) on the official Samsung online store, as well as its Lazada and Shopee storefronts.
Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold - The pressure to perform
Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold
While Google has updated with a more attractive 2025 foldable offering, it is unfortunately out of our Tech Awards 2025 qualification period. Thus, the explanation below applies up to the assessment period (up to the end of April 2025).
The Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold gets a special mention because it’s the only brand officially available here that doesn’t have Asian origins. At the point of assessment, it was very serviceable, with an IPX8 rating for water resistance, and an amazing Android 14 experience right out of the box.
However, competition is tough, and its asking price back then made it even more challenging to choose it over others. It didn’t have many niceties its rivals came with, such as higher wireless charging speeds, a faster chipset, and longer-lasting battery life. You’d think they’re optional, until you realise how much foldable phones cost.
It did have cutting-edge AI software and a fancy Made You Look feature for taking photos of pets and toddlers, but even that was barely making great use of its amazing displays.
While it was a decent handset by itself, Google was relegated to warming the benches while the star players took to the foldable field.
Check out our full review for more details.
Note: Googl Pixel 9 Pro Fold retails at S$2,399 (256GB) and S$2,579 (512GB) on the Google Store, iShopChangi, and Metapod.
References:
(This article is one of 16 parts in our Tech Awards 2025: Editor's Choice content series.)
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