A brief history of folding phones and why the best is yet to come

Digital Trends

16 hours ago

If you're a fan of the best folding phones like me, you'll know it's been a breakout year for the category. The new Galaxy Z Fold 7 caps a year of multiple releases that have all vied to solve the common complaints with previous folding phones and prove that they can be just as comfortable as a regular phone.
Several folding phone makers have released phones to compete in a key metric: thickness, or, namely, the lack of it. The ultra-thin folding phones sub-category has had three competitors this year that aimed to be the world's thinnest folding phone, but only one of them also delivers the smartphone-like experience we've been waiting for.
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This is just the seventh year of folding phones, but we've already reached the point where they feel just like a regular smartphone in the pocket. Yet, Apple is still to release the rumored iPhone Fold, and every Android phone maker will also be looking to release its best foldable phone as well.
Here's a look at the brief history of folding phones, and why the best is yet to come.
2018 — 2020: The Initial Foldable Era
This may be surprising, but the world's first folding phone was by a company most won't have heard of. We need to rewind almost seven years to 2018 for the first commercial folding phone in the form of the Royole Flexpai, which launched in China in October that year. It started at ￥8,999 ($1,250), but as we learnt, it didn't deliver on the true promise of the folding phone.
The following year, Samsung launched — and relaunched — the Galaxy Fold, and just four days after its announcement, Huawei took to the stage to unveil the Mate X. One key difference? Rather than two displays, the main display folds around the phone, forming part of its back. The smaller bezels of the Huawei Mate X also hinted at an inevitable trend.
The folding phone market features more than just book-style folding phones, and that year also saw the revival of the Motorola Razr on November 13, 2019. Six years later, the Motorola Razr Ultra 2025 is the latest in a long line of Razr flip phones to dominate the flip phone market. A couple of months later, in February 2020, Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Z Flip, and the true flip phone competition began in the US.
While book-style folding phones have had considerable competition, the flip phone market has featured several attempts by Android phone makers to launch a flip phone, but with limited success. Despite more than ten brands attempting different flip phones, the market remains an oligopoly dominated by Motorola and Samsung.
The book-style market, however, is very different, and the launch of the Galaxy Z Fold 2 in September 2020 saw Samsung adopt a full-screen on the front, a design language that has continued through to the latest iteration. It also featured improved durability with new Ultra-Thin Glass, a larger battery, and triple cameras. Most importantly, it was also the launch vehicle for Samsung DeX, which remains a key part of Samsung's folding phone experience.
2021 — 2023: A Defining Era
2021 and 2022 saw the foldable market explode, as Samsung released the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Fold 4, the latter the best Samsung fold until the Galaxy Z Fold 7. Meanwhile, Huawei released the Mate X2 in February 2022 with an inward folding design, similar to other folding phones. Xiaomi launched its first and second-generation Mix Fold folding phones, and Oppo and Vivo launched their first folding phones.
2023 ushered in several changes in the folding phone market that are still prevalent today. Samsung continued its annual release with the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5 in August, Google launched the first-generation Google Pixel Fold, and Honor began its current focus on thin and light design with the Honor Magic V2.
However, all were dwarfed by the OnePlus Open — also known as the Oppo Find N3 — which launched in December to wide acclaim. It was a breakthrough folding phone for that era, bringing a thinner, lighter design and a focus on a great camera and excellent battery life. The OnePlus Open remains a strong folding phone in the US, despite being two years old.
It wasn't just the book folding phone market that saw a major change, as the Flip phone market underwent a large shift to the current big-screen era that we're now accustomed to. Ushered in by the Razr 2023 series — which features large front screens and the innovative Razr approach to the front display — even Samsung has had to adopt this trend with the new Galaxy Z Flip 7.
2024 — 2025: The ultra-thin era
Last year saw the start of the current ultra-thin era, in which Honor, Oppo, and now Samsung are all competing. A year ago, the Honor Magic V3 became the world's thinnest folding phone at 4.4mm thick when unfolded. It retained that title until the Oppo Find N5 surpassed it in February 2025, measuring 4.2mm thick when unfolded.
However, this didn't last, as Honor then launched the Honor Magic V5 a few weeks ago on July 2, 2025, and it measures 4.1mm thick when unfolded. A week later, Samsung cemented its place atop many global smartphone wishlists with the Galaxy Z Fold 7, which doesn't set a record for thickness, but does so for weight at 215 grams, three grams lighter than the Magic V5.
Despite not setting a record, a thickness of 4.2mm when unfolded and 8.9mm when folded means it's the first folding phone to be indistinguishable from a regular smartphone.
As I covered in our Galaxy Z Fold 7 review, the design has set a new benchmark for how folding phones should feel. The Magic V5 boasts the largest battery in this category and one of the best camera systems. Meanwhile, Google is set to announce its new Pixel 10 Pro Fold later this month.
2026 onwards: the iPhone Fold era?
Of course, there's one major smartphone player still to make its foldable phone entrance: Apple. The iPhone Fold is rumored to launch in September next year, potentially enabling folding phones to reach escape velocity. The iPhone, the iPad, and several products since have proved that Apple's participation in a category is necessary for that category to reach its total addressable market (TAM).
Samsung has been key to the success of folding phones so far, and devices like the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Galaxy Z Flip 7 show that the company is still able to innovate. With Apple set to launch, Samsung likely to respond, and most other phone makers are likely to launch new folding phones in the wake of Apple's entrance, it's safe to say that the best is yet to come. In case it wasn't obvious, I can't wait!