Best Foldable Smartphones To Buy in Kenya Right Now

The market of foldable smartphones in Kenya is maturing.

In the past four years, we’ve seen progress and new companies joining the race with their versions – picking either book style or clamshell-style foldable design or both. This gives consumers a variety to choose from besides the normal slab-style smartphone they already offer.

We’ve had the opportunity to check out some of the best foldable smartphones and here are our best picks to buy in Kenya right now.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 – Ksh 182,500

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 is a great option among foldable smartphones and was launched mid-last year.

Here’s our full review.

The Z Fold5 didn’t get major changes apart from the new Flex Hinge. It is now lighter with the same premium feel as the Z Flip5 sporting a glass front and glass back protected by Gorilla Glass Victus 2 and Armor aluminum frame.

It is rated IPX8 for water resistance.

The cover display is a 6.2-inch Dynamic AMOLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate and HDR10+ support. The inner display is a 7.6-inch Dynamic AMOLED screen with similar features.

It is even brighter than its predecessors at 1750 nits compared to 1000 nits of the Z Fold4. The inner display supports the S Pen which is IP68 rated.

The Z Fold5 has a slightly overclocked Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy processor and 12GB of RAM with UFS 4.0 storage options starting from 256GB, 512GB and 1TB.

Android 13 and OneUI 5.1.1 come baked inside. It comes with up to four major Android OS updates meaning that Android 17 will be its last upgrade. It got Android 14 last year and is slated to get Galaxy AI later this month.

The Z Fold5 has five cameras. The main triple setup of a 50MP with OIS, 12MP Ultrawide and 12MP telephoto with OIS and 3x optical zoom. Video capture is capped at 8K 24fps and 4k 60fps with support for HD10+.

The front cameras are a 4MP under-display in the main screen and a 10MP selfie camera in the outer screen. Video capture is capped at 4K 60fps.

The battery capacity is the same as last year’s – sitting at 4400mAh battery with support for 25W charging. It also has 15W wireless charging and 4.5W reverse wireless charging.

A 30-minute charge gets you to 50% for the Fold5. To get to full charge, you’ll need an hour and 19 minutes.

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Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 – Ksh 101,000

The Z Flip5 took all the attention at this year’s Galaxy Unpacked.

Here’s our full review.

Samsung put in a new large cover screen and a new Flex Hinge that allows the phone to shut completely when folded. It has an IPX8 rating which is the highest for water resistance. There’s no dust rating hence the X but the new hinge has brushes to keep the dust off.

Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protects both the display and the glass back. Armor Aluminium material is used for the frame.

The screen is relatively brighter at 1750 nits.

The Flip5 has a 6.7-inch AMOLED main screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, a 1080 by 2640 pixel resolution and HDR10+ support.

The cover display is a 3.4-inch SuperAMOLED screen with a 720 by 748 pixel resolution. It’s bigger than its predecessor’s 1.9-inch cover screen.

The large screen real estate makes the Z Flip5 more usable as you get access to multiple small screen widgets, notifications, a camera viewfinder and some apps(Google Maps, YouTube, Messaging apps).

Full-screen app support is hidden under Samsung’s Good Lock app which is region-locked as I sadly couldn’t access the app – even after sideloading it and going through multiple steps. This is disappointing as these apps should be readily available without going through hoops.

You also get access to a laptop-style touchpad with a cursor and they work just as their PC counterparts – tap to click, pinch to zoom, and scrolling by using two fingers.

The flex mode panel allows some apps to split their controls to the lower bottom when the phone’s screen is folded halfway. Apps such as YouTibe, Phone, Camera, Gallery, Zoom, Samsung TV Plus, Samsung Free, Samsung Health, and Calendar.

The Z Flip5 is powered by the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processors for Galaxy paired with 8GB RAM and 256GB of storage(UFS 4.0).

Android 13 and OneUI 5.1.1 come baked inside for the Z Flip5 with support for up to four major Android OS updates meaning that Android 17 will be its last upgrade. Android 14-powered OneUI 6 is already available for both.

The phone has a 3700mAh battery with 25W wired charging. Wireless charging is supported as well at 15W and 4.5W reverse wireless. The reverse wireless charging comes in handy if you have accessories that charge wirelessly including Galaxy Buds and Galaxy Watch.

To get to full charge, you’ll need an hour and 19 minutes.

The Z Flip5 comes with the same dual 12MP sensors – a wide with OIS and an ultrawide with the ability to shoot 4K video at 60fps. The front-facing camera is a 10MP selfie camera with the ability to shoot 4K 30fps video.

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TECNO Phantom V Fold – Ksh 132,000

Phantom V Fold got a lot of things right – flagship design, flagship performance, quality cameras, fast charging and long-lasting battery.

Here’s our full review.

The V Fold has a 6.42″ LTPO AMOLED cover screen at 1080p resolution protected by Gorilla Glass Victus and a 7.85″ foldable LTPO AMOLED inner screen at 2K resolution. It also has 1100 nits in terms of peak brightness and 120hz refresh rate.

Powering it is the Dimensity 9000+ 5G processor, 12GB of RAM with an additional 9GB virtual RAM. We also get up to 512GB of onboard storage. It runs on Android 13 and HiOS 13 Fold.

For cameras, you get a 50MP main, 50MP telephoto with 2X optical zoom(20x Digital Zoom) and 13MP ultrawide. The V Fold two front-facing cameras for selfies with the cover display having a 32MP lens while the inner display has a 16MP lens.

Video capture is capped at 4K 60fps and 4K 30fps for ultra steady. Selfie videos are capped at 1080p 30fps.

The V Fold is powered by a 5000mAh battery and supports for 45W wired charging which can juice up the V Fold to full in 55 minutes.

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TECNO Phantom V Flip – Ksh 93,000

The V Flip is TECNO’s first-gen clamshell foldable following in the footsteps of the bookstle foldable V Fold.

Read our review here.

The V Flip has a 6.9″ LTPO OLED(1080p) screen spotting 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10 support and 360Hz touch sampling rate – it has a factory-supplied plastic film. For brightness, the V Flip has 800 nits at peak.

The V Flip has a zero-gap hinge and closes completely. The hinge can support the phone from 30 degrees to 150 degrees when opened.

The outside display is a circle screen that TECNO calls Planet Cover screen. It is a 1.32″ AMOLED screen with the main lenses covering its ring.

The Phantom V Flip runs on MediaTek’s Dimensity 8050 processor, 16GB of RAM and 256GB of onboard storage. It ships with Android 13 and HiOS 13.5 straight out of the box.

At the back surrounding the cover screen is the camera setup led by a primary 64MP camera that ships with an RGBW sensor with a secondary 13MP ultrawide lens. For selfies, we have a 32MP front-facing camera.

Video recording is capped at 4K 30fps while selfie videos are capped at 2k 30fps and 1080p 60fps. Ultra-steady modes let you shoot videos at 1080p 30fps.

The Phantom V Flip is powered by a 4500mAh battery that supports 45W wired fast charging. You can get from empty to 50% charge in 15 minutes.

Other features include dual microphones, stereo speakers, and a side-mounted fingerprint reader.

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OPPO Find N2 Flip – Ksh 115,500

Find N2 Flip has a 6.8-inch inner display and a 3.26-inch cover display. The inner display is an LTPO AMOLED panel with 120 Hz refresh rate, HDR10+ support and brightness peaking at 1600 nits.

The cover display is AMOLED too with Corning Gorilla Glass 5. It is a 720p screen with brightness peaking at 900 nits.

The N2 Flip has the New Generation Flexion Hinge that can flex either a 110-degree angle or a 45-degree angle to take flexform selfies.

It has polished aluminum sides and there’s a stereo speaker setup as well. It also has an embedded fingerprint reader.

Find N2 Flip has MediaTek’s Dimensity 9000+ 5G chipset paired with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.1 onboard storage. It launched with ColorOS 13 and Android 13 and recently got updated to Android 14.

For cameras, we get a dual rear setup which comprises of a 50MP wide and 8MP ultrawide. Video is capped at 4K 30fps.

The inner camera is a 32MP selfie camera that caps video recording at 1080p 30fps. It has a 4300mAh battery that supports 44W fast charging.

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OnePlus Open – Ksh 258,000

While OPPO is yet to launch the Find N3 in the country, you can get access to its sibling foldable from OnePlus – the Open which shares similar features.

OnePlus Open has a 6.31-inch AMOLED cover screen with 120Hz refresh rate(LTPO) with 2484×1116 pixel resolution and a 7.82-inch AMOLED screen with 120Hz refresh rate and 2440×2268 pixel resolution. Both screens have 2800 nits peak brightness.

It has a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor and 16GB RAM and 512GB storage.

It comes powered by a 4,805mAh battery with 67W charging.

It has a Hasselblad-branded camera setup that’s made up of two selfie cameras – 20MP on the main screen and 32MP on the cover screen.

The main setup is made up of a 48MP primary with OIS, a 64MP telephoto with OIS and 3X optical zoom and a 48MP ultrawide. All five cameras can shoot 4K 30/60fps video.

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Here’s Why You Should Buy Foldable Smartphones From PhonePlace Kenya

If you’re in the market for a foldable smartphone, then PhonePlace Kenya is the online retailer to go to.

They have a seamless online and offline customer experience from buying to checkout. The e-commerce platform provides original smartphones and accessories. They also offer country-wide delivery, and the phones have up to 2 years’ warranty.

Phoneplace Kenya is located at Bazaar Plaza, Mezzanine 1, Moi Avenue, Nairobi, Kenya. You can reach out on their social platforms and call them as well here: 0726 526375.