5 Of The Best Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 Alternatives, Ranked By Price

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Not too long ago, foldable phones were a bit of a gimmick — a cool, yet expensive, concept technology that felt more like a prototype than the futuristic consumer product we had all imagined. That has changed. Foldable phones are thin enough to fit in your pocket like a typical slab smartphone, they're safe to fold hundreds of thousands of times, and they're durable enough when open or shut. Sure, they're prone to dust in their hinges and screens that scar with a fingernail, but the bigger obstacle to broader adoption is price. Putting that aside, it's getting harder to find reasons not to buy a foldable Android phone. Samsung is leading the charge, but its flagship Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 already has healthy competition.

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 retails for $2,119.99, and unfortunately, most of the options for high-end foldable flagships are pretty close to that price point. However, there are a few that offer a more affordable option while still giving consumers a taste of the sci-fi future that foldables have always promised. Here's our list of five alternatives to Samsung's flagship model, detailing how they differ and where you can purchase them. Bear in mind that pricing for some of the models here depends on U.S. retailer availability and may not align with pricing in other regions.

The most expensive alternative to the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is the HONOR Magic V5. If you haven't seen Honor on store shelves, that may be because you live in the U.S. This is a robust lineup of phones, tablets, smartwatches, and computers that could easily compete with the likes of Samsung and Google — but for political reasons, buying it can be a bit tricky for U.S. residents. However, at the time of writing, the Honor Magic V5, available from Honor's official store on Amazon, is listed with a full price of $2,199.00. That price is about in line with other regions; in the U.K., it's £1699.99 (excluding discounted pricing).

Our own Adam Doud gave the Magic V5 almost nothing but praise. It features the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite, 16GB of RAM, and comes with a starting storage capacity of 512 GB. It shoots with a 50 MP ultra-wide and wide camera, a 64 MP telephoto lens, and two 20 MP selfie cams. The 5,820 mAh battery supports 66W fast charging. One of the long-standing myths about folding phones is that they offer no dust and water protection, but the Magic V5 is one of many examples that defy this notion, boasting IP58 and IP59 resistance. The Magic V5 is also one of the few phones that support cutting-edge Bluetooth 6.0.

Ironically, the downsides have nothing to do with the phone itself. For one, this is a GSM-only phone; residents of the U.S. can therefore only use T-Mobile. Two, since Honor does not really have a U.S. presence, getting customer support and repairs may be difficult or impossible. For anyone outside the U.S., those caveats melt away and make it an excellent Samsung competitor.

When we examined the Oppo Find N5, it was the world's thinnest foldable phone, measuring 8.93mm when folded and 4.21 mm when unfolded. For reference, the unfolded thickness is less than that of the 5.1mm iPad Pro M4 and even less than the brand-new iPhone Air (5.64 mm). Oppo is perhaps a bit more well-known on the world stage, but it's another Chinese brand with limited upside in the U.S. due to political reasons. A huge shame, since our Nadeem Sarwar loved it. It's one of the most crease-less foldables yet, while packing a huge battery and beautiful screen into a device in a way that doesn't feel physically possible. 

Specs include the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite, 16GB of RAM, and a starter 512GB storage. Thinness doesn't equate to poor battery life or slow charging speed, as the Find N5 features a 5,600mAh battery and 80W fast charging. The camera platform features a 50 MP wide-angle lens and a 50 MP telephoto lens, along with two 8 MP selfie cameras. Oppo showcased an IPX8/9 rating in promotional materials, featuring footage shot by a user deep underwater. Many of these specs are the best offerings from Samsung and Apple, despite being crammed into a ridiculously thin phone, making this an impressive piece of tech, to say the least.

Oppo uses GSM-only networks, which would be a nightmare to service or repair for U.S. residents. Impressive though it may be, those caveats are nothing to sneeze at when spending $2,000 on a smartphone.

We reviewed the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold's predecessor favorably, awarding it a nine out of 10, with only minor complaints beyond the cost. The next generation makes some decent improvements to Google's nascent foldable series.

The specs on the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold may appear a bit underwhelming. The Google Tensor G5 chip doesn't perform as well as the Snapdragon 8 Elite — although to be fair, the Tensor G5 is designed more for AI tasks than raw performance. The 10 Pro Fold begins with 256GB of storage and packs a 5,015 mAh battery with 30W fast charging. It has a 48MP wide camera, 10.5MP ultra-wide, 10.8MP telephoto, and two 10MP selfie cameras. IP68 resistance protects it from pocket lint and rainy days. Although we criticized its specs a bit, this phone comes in at over $200 cheaper than its competition and promises seven years of software updates.

So, who is the 10 Pro Fold for? Aside from those deeply embedded in the Google ecosystem, the AI is the big selling point. The Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold is effectively a bigger Pixel 10 Pro XL. Pixels have always been among the top smartphones, and Google's foldables are all that plus way more multitasking space. Additionally, this device is readily available in the U.S., so you'll have no trouble with cell carrier support, warranty claims, or repairs. Keep in mind that at the time of writing, the 10 Pro Fold is brand new, and even major reviewers have only just begun to review it. 

Who owns OnePlus phones can be a bit confusing, and its inaugural mission drifted from mid-range prices for flagship specs to flagship prices for flagship specs. Nonetheless, it still makes incredibly impressive little slabs of hardware. Perhaps being an Oppo subsidiary comes with perks since OnePlus's first-ever folding model — the OnePlus Open — is quite impressive in just about every way. Adam Doud christened the OnePlus Open with a nine out of 10 rating, dinging it only for the lack of wireless charging and poor nighttime footage. You can purchase the OnePlus Open directly for $1,699.99.

Bear in mind that the OnePlus Open is already two years old, so the specs will fall behind to some degree. It's on the thicker side with a closed 11.9 mm thickness (5.9 mm open). It features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, paired with 16GB of RAM and a starting storage capacity of 512GB. The 4,805 mAh battery is smaller compared to other options on this list, but the 67W fast charging will help make that a negligible difference.  

The biggest caveat with this phone is its age. The OnePlus Open 2 may be looming on the horizon of 2026. For that reason, it wouldn't feel right to recommend buying this phone at full price. The Amazon Renewed store typically sells it for $1029.99. Not a bad deal, but that's two fewer years of software updates and outdated hardware. Tech-savvy users could install Lineage OS to alleviate that.

Our next best recommendation is the Galaxy Z Flip7, a Motorola Razr-like flip phone. We reviewed the previous generation Galaxy Z Flip6 favorably, and the Galaxy Z Flip7 continues the trend of a sci-fi reimagining of the flip phones we knew and loved back in the early aughts — but for $1,099.99.

The Z Flip7 features a 50 MP wide-angle and 12 MP ultra-wide back camera system, capable of 2x zoom, paired with a 10 MP selfie camera. It uses the Exynos 2500 chip instead of a Snapdragon. While the 2500 performs well — exceptionally so for everyday use — it can't compete with the likes of Snapdragon and Apple Silicon for high clocks and GPU-intensive games. Many of Samsung's key Galaxy AI features are supported on the Flip7, including Circle to Search, AI Transcripts, Call Assist, and photo editing. The primary difference between the 7 and the 6 is the now full cover display, larger internal folding screen, and bigger battery.

All in all, the Flip7 is a solid phone that gets high praise from those who have tested it. So who's it for? Probably anyone eager to taste the forbidden fruit of folding technology, but less than keen to drop two large on a device that mostly plays Instagram reels. This gets your foot in the door. Aside from that, it's the most compact way to experience a 6.9-inch smartphone and is bound to scratch the nostalgic itch of many a millennial. But for the record, the world's cheapest foldable phone costs less than half as much.

In researching this article, we set a few ground rules. Number one, each phone on this list needed to be a near apples-to-apples alternative to Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 7, feature-wise, with the exception of the Galaxy Z Flip7. Two, despite the limited number of folding phones available right now, we attempted to find a wider range of prices without immediately recommending refurbished, last-generation versions of these same models. Foldables will always be more expensive than conventional smartphones, but at least here you can find some models (like the OnePlus Open) for a significant discount off the eye-watering premium that foldables often command. With luck, we will see a lot more mid-range foldables in the coming years.

Gathering this list was challenging, given that the best foldable tech is coming out of China and can't be bought through conventional channels in the U.S.; Huawei is already on its second generation of tri-fold phones, while Samsung hasn't even made its first. Our third requirement was that every item on this list could be purchased in the United States, even if only through a third-party reseller. Furthermore, both Honor and Oppo can utilize the Google Play Store without needing to find a workaround, unlike Huawei devices. The only caveat we continue to emphasize is that obtaining customer service and repairs may be challenging for these politically blacklisted brands.