I tested the Nubia Flip 5G, the most affordable flip phone, and the results were surprising

At a glance

Expert's Rating

Pros

Cons

Our Verdict

The Nubia Flip 5G is much cheaper than the Motorola Razr 40 and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 and stands out from other foldables with its unique build. However, some sacrifices have been made to keep the price down.

Price When Reviewed

$499

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Modern flip phones have never appealed to me for one simple reason: the price. I never saw the point of spending flagship money on a foldable that often has camera downgrades compared to similarly priced classic slab handsets.

At long last, there’s a flip phone on sale for a mid-range price. Sure, it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles like the latest Galaxy Z Flip phone. But if you’re simply after that folding technology but have been held back by those eye-watering costs, the Nubia Flip 5G may just be enough to convert you to the flip side.

Design & Build

If you’re a big fan of 2000’s tech, the Nubia Flip 5G will be right up your street. It folds in half, meaning it’s smaller to hold and put in your pocket. It’s a godsend for women’s jeans, where typically phones end up sticking out of the top, making them fodder for thieves.

This phone uses waterdrop hinges and appears almost gapless – I can slip my fingernail in, but otherwise, it closes without a hitch. It measures 7mm thick when closed shut, which is by no means the slimmest foldable on the market. However, the retro-inspired design works with its slightly chunkier nature. It’s also on the heavier side at 209g, though still lighter than many non-folding phones.

Hannah Cowton / Foundry

I tested out the Sunshine Gold colour. This is a shimmering neutral finish, which is perfect if you’re a fan of a clean aesthetic. Nubia also offers the phone in Cosmic Black and Flowing Lilac, which also have that touch of sparkle.

It’s made from Starlight AG etched glass with an aluminium frame. Despite the material, it’s not super slippery and reasonably robust. I had a few (accidental) drops and the Flip survived without a scratch.

The volume rocker and power button sit on the right-hand side of the Nubia Flip 5G, with the USB-C port on the bottom. There’s also support for dual-SIM included.

The outer display is inspired by a vinyl record, and certainly stands out from competitor phones, giving this handset a distinctive design. The only notable Nubia branding is on the rectangular hinge on the rear of the phone.

Haptics are quite weak and flimsy, with no option to change the strength of them: they’re either on or off. Biometrics are a treat, as face recognition works both with and without glasses, and fingerprint recognition (via the sensor built into the red power button) has always been successful.

Be careful about using the Nubia Flip 5G around water, though, as there’s no IP rating for water and dust resistance. It’ll probably survive being caught in the rain or a trip to the beach, but you can’t be sure of that.

Hannah Cowton / Foundry

Screens & Speakers

There are two displays to play around with on the Nubia Flip 5G. Let’s deal with the main, inner one first.

When unfolded, the Flip 5G sports a 6.9-inch AMOLED screen with a resolution of 1188 x 2790 and 95.4% screen-to-body ratio. This has up to a 120Hz refresh rate, but you can also opt for 60Hz, 90Hz and Auto, which switches between these figures. However, there’s no LTPO tech to allow it to drop below 60Hz and save battery life when not needed.

The display is made from plastic, and you will feel a difference between this and a glass screen. Swipes aren’t as smooth, and taps feel spongier. Alas, that’s one of the pitfalls of a folding device. On its website, Nubia claims that it will last over 200,000 folds, though.

Indoors, the screen is good for videos and watching Netflix. However, it doesn’t hold up under bright sunlight. I got a lot of glare, and even the maximum brightness wasn’t quite enough to be able to view my messages without squinting. Granted, I did move to it from the phone with the brightest display on the market – but it’s worth noting.

We also need to talk about the crease. Yes, it’s there and it’s noticeable. You can feel the ridge in the middle of the screen, and whether you’ll see it or not depends on the angle. For example, from this photo below you’d barely even be able to tell this is a folding phone.

Hannah Cowton / Foundry

The outer display is a 1.43-inch OLED, with a thick bezel and a resolution of 466 x 466. The circular shape is a departure from what we’ve seen from other flip rivals, and whilst it doesn’t maximise on space it doesn’t necessarily need to, as it has limited functions, which I’ll talk about more in the software section below.

The Nubia Flip 5G includes stereo speakers with support for DTS: X surround sound. The audio is surprisingly punchy and clear. However, I wouldn’t rely on it for any ground-breaking cinematic sound.

Specs & Performance

The Nubia Flip 5G runs on a Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 processor, the same chip seen in the Motorola Razr 40 and the Honor 90. This is paired with either 8- or 12B RAM and 128- or 256GB worth of storage.

This is a mid-tier Qualcomm chip, and performance is about in line with what you’d expect from a phone of this price. It’s nippy enough for daily tasks and switching between apps, but not the handset for demanding games and heavy-duty apps. It’s also a little sleepy when first booting up.

This is all reflected in our benchmarking scores, with the Nubia Flip achieving similar scores to the rivals mentioned above.

Nubia Flip 5G benchmarks

As you can see, it’s eclipsed by the Galaxy Z Flip 5, but that’s one of the trade-offs when opting for a cheaper handset.

The Nubia Flip 5G has all the connectivity options you need, with support for Bluetooth 5.2, Wi-Fi 6E, NFC and 5G (if the name didn’t clue you in already).

Hannah Cowton / Foundry

Camera & Video

Cameras on the Nubia Flip 5G aren’t quite as strong as other mid-range competitors at this price, but compromises were always likely at this price.

The main camera is a 50Mp snapper, which also comes with an accompanying (and slightly disappointing) 2Mp depth sensor. You get the option to shoot in either 26mm or 50mm focal lengths, and you can digitally zoom up to x10. But there’s no telephoto lens, so no optical zoom.

See a comparison of the two different focal lengths below:

Shots taken in bright daylight perform the best. Textures have some pop, and shadows are accurately recreated. However, like other cheaper phone cameras, this device has a tendency to blow out some tones, especially bright colours. Warmer tones also have a bit of a yellow tinge to them.

One of the key benefits of using a flip phone is that you can essentially use the more powerful rear camera with a selfie window, so you can see what you’re doing. You can see how it captures the fine fur on the kitten in this snap:

Hannah Cowton / Foundry

However, this front screen is quite sensitive to indirect swipes. For example, I had the phone in my pocket and didn’t touch it for about 20 minutes. I then noticed that the phone felt radioactive hot, and when I took the handset out I saw that a video had started recording – most likely the phone jostled against my leg and somehow activated the camera.

With no OIS (optical image stabilisation), the Nubia Flip 5G isn’t strong enough to capture moving subjects easily, and its performance is diminished indoors. Night mode does lift details, but fine lines can appear soft and blurred.

Portrait mode has a strong bokeh effect by default, but this can be adjusted accordingly. There’s no wide-angle camera onboard as you’ll find on the Razr 40, nor is there a dedicated macro mode (though I’m not as precious about the latter).

The 16Mp interior camera captures a good level of skin detail, but the portrait effect is pretty darn poor. I took several photos, and every single one ended up blurring some of my hair. If you’re using this camera, I’d stick with the standard mode.

I’m also (yet again) begging phone companies to stop putting the dystopian ‘beauty’ filter on cameras automatically. This blurred out my freckles and made me look like I was wearing more make-up than I was. It perpetuates the idea that filters are needed to look attractive, and it absolutely should not be on the camera as standard.

Hannah Cowton / Foundry

For video, the Nubia Flip 5G can record in 1080p at both 30fps and 60fps. You can also opt for 720p or 4K, but these formats only record at 30fps. There’s also a feature built-in to stabilise against shakes, though this does leave a bit of a weird and forced finish.

Battery life & Charging

The Nubia Flip 5G boasts a 4310mAh battery, which is bigger than the cell in the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5.

In typical usage, I’d say this gets me around a day and a half worth of usage. That includes taking calls, snapping photos, listening to Spotify, watching videos and having the always-on display turned on. Considering this device is powering two displays, I was quite impressed.

Charging isn’t groundbreaking, with only support up to 33W. The necessary charger is included in the box, and got the phone to 76% from flat in 30 minutes. No wireless charging support is offered.

Hannah Cowton / Foundry

Software & Features

The Nubia Flip 5G runs on MyOS 13, Nubia’s skin that’s based on Android 13 rather than the latest Android 14. It’s disappointing that there’s still no sign of an update to the latest version of Google’s operating system.

But without a doubt, the most annoying thing about the Nubia Flip 5G is the excessive bloatware. Some apps, like Booking.com, can be uninstalled – but not all. I have a whole folder of ‘hot games’, which I can’t say earns its title because I’ve not heard of a single one.

Otherwise, navigation is close to what you might find on phones from Honor and Oppo. There are all your standard Google apps, plus support for all the big social media sites such as WhatsApp, TikTok, and Instagram via the Google Play Store.

Hannah Cowton / Foundry

The outer display has limited functions that you can use it for. This includes the camera, a timer, voice recorder, limited Spotify playback, weather, step count and calendar. There’s also the option to have a virtual animated ‘pet’, which may appeal to younger users.

You can also quickly read missed notifications and messages, and even take calls with the display closed. The phone will prompt you to open when you try and do something that requires the main display.

Some video apps such as YouTube and Messenger automatically adjust the format when the phone is folded, giving you an alternative angle for watching videos, just like Samsung’s ‘Flex Mode’. Sadly there isn’t the same support for Netflix and Disney+ at the time of writing.

The folded mode can also be used to take hands-free photos using the timer, which is a nice touch.

The major question around this phone is the lack of guaranteed software and security updates. A spokesperson for Nubia told me that the team is looking into this, but at the time of writing, we don’t know how many Android upgrades it will get. That will be a dealbreaker for many people.

Hannah Cowton / Foundry

Price & Availability

If you’ve been searching for a flip phone that won’t break the bank, this is it. The Nubia Flip 5G starts from £499/$499 for the 8GB version. You can also opt for the 12GB version for £699/$699.

The phone is available to pre-order now in the UK and is on sale in the US.

No networks are selling the phone on contract, so you’ll have to buy it outright and pair with a SIM-only deal.

That price is £300/$200 less than the former cheapest foldable, the Motorola Razr 40 , when it first launched. That said, this phone has some big discounts at the time of writing. It’s also a whopping £550/$500 cheaper than the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5, which comes with a smaller battery.

Have a look at our charts of the best folding phones and the best mid-range phones for more options.

Hannah Cowton / Foundry

Should you buy the Nubia Flip 5G?

Selling a folding phone for £499/£499 is a huge milestone for Nubia. This price of the Flip 5G is so much more accessible than many other rivals, and it’s not just a copycat of other clamshell builds, with its signature circular outer display and bold colourways.

As with all mid-range phones, be prepared to make sacrifices – the camera is a mixed bag, and the software is not as clean as what you’ll find on Samsung and Motorola models. It’s also unclear how long it will be supported for.

Nonetheless, if folding tech on a budget is what you’re after, then this is the smartphone for you.

Specs