In the US, there aren’t many book-style foldables to pick from. You can get one from Samsung, Google, or OnePlus. Yet many years later, there still isn’t another phone that can do all that Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold can do.
Quite frankly, the Galaxy Z Fold is the first phone for which I have virtually no complaints. Yet, as much as I love this particular phone, I wish I had another option on the market.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6
$2020 $2320 Save
$300
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 is a foldable smartphone that combines the functionality of a tablet with the convenience of a phone. It features a large, flexible internal screen that automatically picks up where you left off on the cover display.
I Want a Competitor to Samsung DeX
I was suspicious of Samsung phones for over a decade, due to my distaste for the TouchWiz interface on early Galaxy phones. Samsung DeX is what convinced me to buy my first Galaxy phone. I was a few months into using the Android desktop mode on my Motorola phone when an app update left me with workflow-breaking bugs. I had grown enamored with the experience of using my phone as my PC enough by this point that I figured I should try the older, more mature Android desktop option: Samsung DeX.
I figured if I was going to do so much on my phone, it made sense to go for the larger Galaxy Z Fold 5 instead of a Galaxy S24 Ultra. I bought a Galaxy Z Fold 5 open box for half price, and my DeX journey began.
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I was surprised to see how much I could accomplish from the internal screen alone, in part by moving app windows around like on a PC, but I still make heavy use of DeX. Right now, that means there’s no other phone I can buy that is both a foldable and has an Android desktop.
This lack of options is why I’m excited to see Google baking desktop features directly into Android. I don’t want to be limited to a single phone maker, and I’m eager to see what other stylistic differences another company might deliver.
I Wish Stylus Fans Had Another Choice
Among book-style foldables in the US, the Galaxy Z Fold is the only product line that explicitly supports a stylus. Technically, the OnePlus Open does as well, but OnePlus doesn’t sell it here. You have to get your hands on a pen meant for the Oppo Find series instead, a line of phones that has only come to the US in the form of the OnePlus Open itself (since the phone is based on the Oppo Find N3).
OnePlus Open
$1255 $1700 Save
$445
The OnePlus Open is a tablet-like foldable phone. It features a phone-sized outside display and nearly square inside display, along with a massive camera array on the back.
Getting my hands on a stylus isn’t the issue. It’s the lack of good software to go with it. Samsung Notes is arguably the best app Samsung makes. It is packed with features and is a delight to use. But it’s good to have choice and competition to spur even more options for those of us who like to take digital notes. Right now, if you want a foldable to write on, the recommendation is simple: get a Z Fold.
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I’d Like More Phones This Customizable
Phones are increasingly powerful devices capable of doing far more than “phone tasks.” They have all the processing power needed to edit video, touch up photos, load up a spreadsheet, and export a PDF. Software design choices have become the bigger constraint on what we do on devices like phones and tablets. This is the reason so many beg Apple to just let the iPad run macOS.
Samsung’s One UI software is pretty capable out of the box, but there are plenty of tweaks I could make to streamline the experience. And thanks to Good Lock, I have made these tweaks. I can switch windows just by swiping down from the side of the screen at an angle. I can take screenshots by swiping up from the side at a different angle. I enter split-screen by swiping from the side and holding my finger in place.
These tweaks lead to an experience that may not mirror a desktop’s, but it still helps me flow smoothly between tasks. There is nothing like this for Google or OnePlus phones.
I’d Like More Foldables This Refined
My Galaxy Z Fold 6, which I purchased in used but pristine condition—again, for half price, is the sixth generation of this device. This is a form-factor that still feels novel to most people, yet Samsung has been refining it for over half a decade. That’s the same length of time from the barebones original iPhone to the mature and ubiquitous iPhone 5.
Foldables are not new and experimental anymore. My Galaxy Z Fold 6 feels rock-solid, and I do not feel the need to baby it. My wife, who has inherited my Z Fold 5, slapped her phone in a case and treats it no differently than she does her previous Google Pixel phone. It’s fine.
The Pixel 9 Pro Fold is only Google’s second book-style foldable. I’ve had mixed experiences with Google phones in general, and from what I’ve seen from a distance, I’m still not comfortable investing this much money in a Google product (it’s all the little things).
Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold
$1387 $1799 Save
$412
The Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold is powered by the Tensor G4 processor, offers 16 GB of RAM, and comes with advanced AI capabilities, making it a powerful and efficient device for creativity and productivity.
The OnePlus Open benefits from more years of experience. It may have been the first foldable from OnePlus, but the phone was technically just an Oppo Find N3. This year’s Oppo Find N5 is arguably the gold standard in foldable phone hardware, so it’s a bummer that phone isn’t coming to the States.
For book-style foldables to gain more traction, they not only need to come down in price, but they need to be as robust and easily repaired as Samsung’s offering. I do so much from my phone in part because I know I can likely get a same-day repair at a local shop if disaster strikes.
On a phone this expensive (at half off, this phone still cost me a grand), durability and repairability are reason alone to stick with the Galaxy Z Fold. But it’s Samsung DeX, the S Pen, and Good Lock that make me want to. The competition in these areas, at least here in the US, doesn’t yet exist.
