{"id":758791,"date":"2026-07-12T16:09:35","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T16:09:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/758791\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T16:09:35","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T16:09:35","slug":"whatever-you-do-dont-buy-a-foldable-phone-right-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/758791\/","title":{"rendered":"Whatever you do, don’t buy a foldable phone right now"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Samsung<\/p>\n

Prakhar Khanna \/ Android Authority<\/p>\n

2026 has firmly cemented itself as a critical year for foldable phones \u2014 perhaps the most important yet since 2019 when the original Galaxy Fold was released. More companies are finally joining the foldable race, and existing foldable brands are making genuinely exciting changes.<\/p>\n

What does this mean for you? At first glance, you might assume\u00a0it means 2026 is\u00a0the\u00a0year to buy a folding phone. And it is! But not yet.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re about to see some really electrifying activity in the foldable space, but the key phrasing there is \u201cabout to.\u201d You probably should buy a folding phone this year \u2014 just not right now.<\/p>\n

The Razr Fold is great, but it\u2019ll get better<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Joe Maring \/ Android Authority<\/p>\n

The Motorola Razr Fold<\/a> is one of the best folding phones I\u2019ve ever used. Its design, displays, cameras, battery life, and software are all among the best you can get in a foldable in the US. Motorola took its time to enter the book-style foldable market, but the Razr Fold was absolutely worth the wait.<\/p>\n

If that\u2019s all true, why shouldn\u2019t you go out and buy the Razr Fold? After all, the phone has been available for purchase since May. My advice not to buy has nothing to do with the Razr Fold itself, but timing. More so than almost any other smartphone brand in the US, Motorola loves to offer steep and frequent discounts on its handsets.<\/p>\n

I’d hold off on buying the Razr Fold until one of those sales comes around.<\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s Razr Ultra is a prime example of this. The phone hit store shelves in May 2025 with a hefty retail price of $1,300 for the 512GB model and $1,500 for the 1TB version. Just a few months later in August, Motorola was selling the 1TB Razr Ultra for $1,100, not to mention an additional $200 trade-in guarantee. A few months later, you could buy a 1TB Razr Ultra for just $800 \u2014 an absurd\u00a0 $700 discount.<\/p>\n

We see this all the time with Motorola phones, and there\u2019s no reason to believe the Razr Fold won\u2019t follow suit. We don\u2019t know when we\u2019ll see the first big Razr Fold discount or how lucrative it\u2019ll be, but if it were my money, I\u2019d hold off on buying the Razr Fold until one of those sales comes around.<\/p>\n

Samsung\u2019s new Z Folds and Z Flip are almost here<\/p>\n

\"samsung<\/p>\n

Ryan Haines \/ Android Authority<\/p>\n

Samsung\u2019s current foldable lineup is solid. The Galaxy Z Flip 7<\/a>, while not perfect, is the best Z Flip we\u2019ve ever seen. The Galaxy Z Fold 7<\/a> is much more successful, still offering some of the most impressive foldable hardware nearly a year after its release.<\/p>\n

But as good as the Flip 7 and Fold 7 may be, buying one at this point in 2026 isn\u2019t a smart move. Why? Because the Flip 8 and Fold 8 are right around the corner<\/a>. As confirmed by Samsung earlier this week, the new phones are set to launch on July 22.<\/p>\n

The Flip 7 and Fold 7 aren\u2019t suddenly bad phones because their successors are almost here, but it\u2019s worth waiting just a couple more weeks to see what the new models have to offer. If you aren\u2019t impressed by the new phones, chances are discounts on the Flip 7 and Fold 7 will be even better once the new models are announced. And if you do like what you see from the Flip 8 and Fold 8, your patience will be rewarded.<\/p>\n

\"Galaxy\"Galaxy<\/p>\n

Based on the leaks so far, this new generation of foldable Galaxy phones has our attention. The Fold, in particular, is apparently undergoing big changes \u2014 with Samsung using a Fold 7-like design for a new Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, while the \u201cregular\u201d Galaxy Z Fold 8 adopts a much wider design that\u2019s not dissimilar to the original Pixel Fold. It\u2019s exciting times ahead, so don\u2019t lock yourself out by buying a Fold 7 or Flip 7 right now.<\/p>\n

And, of course, there\u2019s the iPhone Ultra<\/p>\n

\"Leaked<\/p>\n

Of course, we can\u2019t talk about folding phones in 2026 without mentioning the elephant in the room: Apple. After years and years of will-they-won\u2019t-they, it looks like 2026 is the year we\u2019ll actually get a folding iPhone \u2014 supposedly called the iPhone Ultra.<\/p>\n

Even if you\u2019re an Android fan, it still feels unwise to buy a folding phone right now when Apple\u2019s first foray into the market is almost here. Apple may not be a perfect company, and iOS certainly has its flaws. But there\u2019s no denying that Apple\u2019s hardware is among the best in the mobile industry.<\/p>\n

Is it a little silly that Apple is just now launching its first folding phone in the same year that Samsung is on its eighth generation of foldables? Sure. But it\u2019s not new for Apple to take its time entering a product category, and when it does, it\u2019s usually worth the wait. What we\u2019ve seen of the iPhone Ultra<\/a> does look impressive, and with a rumored launch date of early September not that far off, I think anyone who\u2019s a foldable fan or foldable-curious owes it to themselves to see what Apple brings to the table.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t buy a new folding phone \u2014 yet<\/p>\n

\"Samsung<\/p>\n

Prakhar Khanna \/ Android Authority<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot to look forward to with foldables this year. I personally can\u2019t wait to see how heavily Motorola discounts the superb Razr Fold. As someone who\u2019s not a huge Samsung fan, the prospect of a wider Galaxy Z Fold is something I can get behind. And even though I\u2019m not an iPhone guy, I\u2019d be lying if I said I wasn\u2019t looking forward to seeing how the iPhone Ultra turns out.<\/p>\n

Big things are on the horizon for the foldable market \u2014 and they aren\u2019t years away. We should see Razr Fold discounts within another month or two, Samsung\u2019s new phones will be announced at the end of July, and the iPhone Ultra should be here in September. At most, you have just two months to wait before the foldable world is completely different. And that\u2019s why I think buying a foldable right now is a mistake.<\/p>\n

Two months will be over before you know it, and with everything coming up, it\u2019ll be time well spent.<\/p>\n

Thank you for being part of our community. Read our\u00a0Comment Policy<\/a> before posting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prakhar Khanna \/ Android Authority 2026 has firmly cemented itself as a critical year for foldable phones \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":758792,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[517,177658,6563,165,6565,170,23521,74],"class_list":["post-758791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mobile","tag-apple","tag-apple-iphone-fold","tag-foldable-phones","tag-mobile","tag-motorola-razr","tag-samsung","tag-samsung-galaxy-z-fold-8","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=758791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/758792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=758791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=758791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=758791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}