Folding phones

Android phones have evolved, with the latest foldables delivering giant secondary displays

- Mike Lowe Photography: Neil Godwin

Remember your first mobile phone? It probably had a tiny screen by today's standards. In recent years, however, many of the best Android phone makers have progressed beyond delivering stellar flagship devices — all too ‘normal’ and not futuristic enough for this group test — to offering folding phones too.

As the name suggests, these pocketable handsets hide a secondary display within, transforming them into pocket-busters closer in scale to mini tablets. That’s thanks to flexible OLED panels, genius hinge designs, and polymer coatings that allow for that all-important folding function.

Folding phones come in two tried-and-tested forms: clamshell, which are similar to a half-sized phone sandwich that can flip open; and the focus of this group test, larger scale foldables — akin to a flagship with a double-size display hidden within.

With many of the major manufacturers now a number of generations down the road - not Apple, though - the three foldables picked for this test represent the crème de la crème of what's available. But which is best?

WHAT'S ON TEST...

1 Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6

The foldable with the most experience of all those on test, Samsung's sixth-gen folding flagship delivers a narrower front display than its competition. You can even use Samsung's S Pen stylus with it (sold separately). It comes in some suave colour options, too, not just black.

₹1,41,890, samsung.com

SPECS

External display: 6.3-inch (22:1.9 aspect ratio) Folding display: 7.6-inch (20.9:18 aspect) Battery capacity: 4400mAh, 25W charging Rear cameras: 50MP main, 10MP 3x zoom, 12MP wide-angle Processor: Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, 12GB RAM