I can’t think of a foldable phone recently that’s seen as much buzz as the Honor Magic V6. Now that Samsung Galaxy Z Folds and Motorola Razrs are becoming old hat, it’s a welcome surprise to see a folding handset get people excited.
Unveiled at annual mobile tech conference MWC 2026, the new foldable is being shown off on the back of its size. It’s apparently the thinnest book-style device on the market, at just 9mm across when folded and 4mm when unfolded.
It also has an impressive array of specs across the board with a top-end chipset, megapixel-heavy camera array and bright, bold display.
But it wasn’t the only foldable phone shown off at MWC, and after playing around with it on the show floor, I went on an adventure to find its rivals.
Thankfully, I found two other models on display, and they’re both ones I’d consider buying over the Honor.
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Honor Magic V6
My time with the thinnest folding phone
There’s a reason the Honor Magic V6 is the most talked-about folding phone of the year. Honor has spared no expense in making a fantastic premium phone, and unlike its Robot Phone, this is no gimmick.
The display really is as good as the specs list shows, and the phone looks and feels premium to hold.
I was hoping to see the much-publicized Red Edition of V6, as I love its red and gold combination, but I ended up playing with a few other versions of it.
I didn’t get to take the phone on a photography test — I was in a dark conference room, they’d have been awful — but I expect its cameras to work well based on past Honor devices.
All in all, it seems like a fantastic mobile… except for the crease, that Achilles’ Heel of many foldable phones.
I’ll admit I only got to Honor’s booth on the second day of MWC, but in the test samples, there were already visible marks on the inner display along the crease from other people playing with the phone. You can see it in one of my photos.
I understand that wear and tear is normal for foldables, especially after the grubby hands of a horde of tech fans. But seeing this raised some foldable doubts that had taken years to fizzle after the original Galaxy Fold debacle.
So I’m going to wait for the Honor Magic V6’s release, for real world testing, before I let myself be won over by it.
Motorola Razr Fold
Solid as a rock, sleek as a Razr
My editor probably thinks I’ve included the Motorola Fold purely because I’ve previously waxed lyrical on how its phones look, thanks to their Pantone colaborations.
I’m not going to deny that there were some fun hues on display at Moto’s MWC booth, but it was a different design element that surprised me.
The Motorola Razr Fold feels really sturdy to hold. I didn’t feel like I was going to accidentally rip it limb from limb or screen from screen when folding it, yet opening it wasn’t like trying to pry two stone slabs from each other.
The joy it gave me to use it, reminded me of that thrill everyone gets when they play with a foldable for the first time.
Of the trio, the Moto is the biggest, with an 8.1-inch inner display and 6.6-inch outer one. That’s bigger on both counts than Samsung’s latest too. I didn’t really notice the size when playing around with it, but it’s not a huge increase.
Motorola has given the Razr Fold an array of specs you wouldn’t see in its G or Edge phones: a Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset, three 50MP rear cameras, 80W charging and a base of 12GB RAM though.
It’s a solid-spec device, but it was actually the software that won me over the most.
The handset uses Motorola’s almost-stock Android, finally giving you a way to get it on a foldable without buying the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, and with a few charming animations when the phone is folded.
I liked the smart resizing of apps and icons between displays too, and it feels like Moto has put thought into the OS of this new form-factor device. Oh, and it’s compatible with a stylus too.
ZTE Nubia Fold
An affordable contender
Motorola wasn’t the only flip-phone maker to unveil its first book-style foldable at MWC. The same company which released a van Gogh-inspired powerhouse also unveiled the new Nubia Fold.
This is a little smaller than the others on the list when closed, with a 6.43-inch main display, and it did feel a little more narrow than others to hold (though certainly not thin, as it’s the thickest of the bunch at 11.1mm folded).
While most companies fill their foldables with all the premium features they can, I found it intriguing that Nubia didn’t.
Case in point, its three rear cameras don’t include a telephoto one (the main and ultrawide are joined by a 5MP macro, like we’re back in 2021 when those were in vogue), and it’s using last year’s Snapdragon 8 Elite processor.
It’s slower to charge, at 55W, and with no wireless powering.
It’s also not as premium to look at as the Pantone-infused Moto or bubbly crimson Honor, with Nubia’s industrial-chic aesthetic coming back in force. This is a foldable that works a desk job.
Since it’s not as impressive specs-wise as its peers, why would I be more willing to buy the Nubia Fold? Well, it’s in the first word: Nubia.
This brand is doing more than any others in bringing foldables down to an affordable price point, with its Nubia Flip 5G starting at just $500. Did you hear that, Samsung?
I’m a big fan of companies which bring premium devices to a lower price point, and while the Nubia Fold is currently unpriced (it’s only on sale in China for now), I bet it’ll go for less than alternatives.
Forget Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 leaks, this is the news the foldable market really needs.
