GoKawiilPrakhar Khanna / Android Authority
2026 has firmly cemented itself as a critical year for foldable phones — 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.
What does this mean for you? At first glance, you might assume it means 2026 is the year to buy a folding phone. And it is! But not yet.
We’re about to see some really electrifying activity in the foldable space, but the key phrasing there is “about to.” You probably should buy a folding phone this year — just not right now.
The Razr Fold is great, but it’ll get better
Joe Maring / Android Authority
The Motorola Razr Fold is one of the best folding phones I’ve 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.
If that’s all true, why shouldn’t 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.
I'd hold off on buying the Razr Fold until one of those sales comes around.
Last year’s 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 — an absurd $700 discount.
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