5 Android phones that you should buy instead of the Galaxy Z Fold 7

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 officially only strikes store shelves later this month, but it has already been established as one of the most excitable foldable versions of the year. With its impressive and light design, its larger screens and its best cameras, the Z Fold 7 makes a strong argument to be the folding phone to buy in 2025.

Although the United States is not full of foldable handsets like the other markets are, there are still options to choose. And as good as the Fold 7 Look, it is worth considering these options before deciding that the last of Samsung is the right choice for you.

So, before clicking on “Buy now” with the Galaxy Z Fold 7 in your online shopping cart, here are five alternatives that I can recommend buying instead.

Perhaps the most obvious alternative to the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is its predecessor, the Galaxy Z Fold 6. The new Samsung fold is obviously the best of the two phones, the most notable difference being the design. The fold 7 is considerably thinner than the fold 6 (8.9 mm closed vs 12.1 mm) and much lighter (215g against 239g). This can make a fairly big difference in daily use, especially if you have generally found that folding phones were too large.

However, if you agree with the fold 6 being a little bigger and heavier, it may be worth going with the handset from last year. Although the fold 7 has slightly larger screens, they are not considerably larger than those of the fold 6. The 50mp primary camera of the fold 6 may not seem as impressive as the 200MP one on the fold 7, but it is always a good reliable sensor. And the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip of Fold 6, while more than a year at this stage, is always very fast for any application or game.

Most importantly, many aspects of PLU 7 and PLI 6 are identical. The two phones have 256 GB of storage and 12 GB of RAM for the basic model, 4,400 mAh of batteries, a 25W wirmed load, a 10MP telephoto and an ultra-related camera of 12 MP. The fold 7 is a better phone, but it also has a lot in common with his older brother.

Although Samsung no longer sells the fold 6, many retailers and transporters are still. More importantly, given the age of fold 6, you should be able to find it at a very good discount. In other words, if you want a Samsung foldable and you do not need the new design of the fold 7 – or does not want to pay $ 2,000 for that – the Galaxy Z Fold 6 can make a great cheaper alternative.

If you want a foldable phone but you don’t need to have a Samsung foldable phone, the next best choice right now is the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold. Google’s folding phone is slightly thicker (and much heavier) than fold 7, but if you can ignore this, it is an excellent alternative to Samsung.

In terms of material / specifications, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold has a lot to love. It has an 8 -inch interior screen (the same size as the fold 7), 16 GB of RAM for the basic model and a decent camera configuration – including 48 primary MP, 10.8 telephotto MP and Ultrairs 10.5 MP sensors. Its battery is also a little larger than the fold 7, with a capacity of 4,650 mAh.

What really brings out the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, however, is its software. The Pixel 9 Pro Fold all the same exclusive Pixels software features found on other pixel phones, and they are among the best you can get. With features such as the call screen, keep for me, playing now, pixel screenshots, etc., there are so many good software goodies that you can only get a pixel. In addition, if you like the expressive interface of material 3 which is within the framework of Android 16 QRP1, only the Pixel 9 Pro Fold – not the Galaxy Z Fold 7 or the Plé 6 – will obtain this makeover.

The retail price of $ 1,800 from Pixel 9 Pro Fold is already $ 200 cheaper than the Galaxy Z Fold 7, and it is another phone that is not uncommon to find strongly updated. The greatest reason not To buy the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, it is that the Pixel 10 Pro Fold is probably launched on August 20, potentially with a massive upgrade of the chipset. It is probably worth waiting, but if you want a new foldable right now, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold remains a solid choice.

My next recommendation may not be the most practical, but it is a phone that I always appreciate almost two years after its release that I cannot help but include it. The OnePlus Open is far from being the most recent foldable phone on the market today, but for the right person, it can always be good, it’s worth it.

Regarding design, the OnePlus Open always looks fantastic. I love the large circular camera bump (which is an ideal place to rest your finger while holding the phone), and the leather on the black model is fantastic. The exterior and interior screens resist extremely well according to the standards of 2025, and I would say that the cameras are more than competent. You also get 512 GB of storage and 16 GB of default RAM, a large battery of 4,805 mAh and a 67w super fast cable load.

As you can expect from a phone published in 2023, there are disadvantages to buy the OpenPle Open in 2025. Its IPX4 note is not as complete as the IP48 rating for the Galaxy Z Fold 7, its Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip becomes a bit long in the tooth, and the open is only two other OS -ups.

These are real drawbacks to consider, and for many people, the fold 6 or Pixel 9 Pro Fold will be much safer choices. But even so, the OnePlus Open is always special. It is a phone to which I come back from time to time, and if you find it on sale, it can always make a very good purchase – even in a world where the Galaxy Z Fold 7 exists.

If you plan to buy the Galaxy Z Fold 7, it’s probably because you want a large powerful Samsung phone that can do anything. Although a slab phone will never reproduce the versatility offered by a foldable, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is close enough.

The S25 Ultra is the best non-relief of Samsung currently available, and what it lacks with its non-folding design, it compensates with much better specifications in certain key areas. While the S25 Ultra and Z Fold 7 have the same main 200 Mp camera, the other S25 Ultra cameras – including a 5x 50MP telephoto lens, a 3X 10MP telephoto and an ultrawid 50MP camera – are significantly better than those of the fold 7.

The Galaxy S25 Ultra has a 5,000 mAh battery much larger than its foldable counterpart, a faster 45W carbed load, and is delivered with an integrated pen for all your manuscript and manuscript manuscript desires. As a reminder, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 does not take pen at all.

You get all this with the same UI software and the Elite Snapdragon 8 chip which feeds the Z Fold 7 – everything for a a lot $ 1,300 starting price, a total of $ 700 less than fold 7.

The Galaxy S25 Ultra is an excellent Z Fold 7 alternative if you want the most important and best specifications, but what happens if you still want a Samsung phone that folds? If you are not married to the foldable book factor in book style, the Galaxy Z Flip 7 is worth it.

When previous Z areas have been hampered by a small cramped cover screen, Flip 7 breaks to the trend with a screen of 4.1 inches on board. It is one of the largest on a foldable rocking phone today, and the bump at a 120 Hz cooling rate is also excellent. Meanwhile, the 6.9 -inch interior screen is the same size as the Galaxy S25 Ultra screen.

The idea behind a foldable permanent is obviously very different from that of book style, but depending on what you want with a folding phone, the flip 7 can be best suited. If the prospect of having an “normal” Android phone that can bend in half to slip into a pocket or a bag seems attractive, the Galaxy Z Flip 7 – not the Galaxy Z Fold 7 – Do you have to buy.

The best part? With a starting price of only $ 1,100, the Galaxy Z Flip 7 offers you a foldable Samsung phone for almost half the cost of the fold 7.