This new folding phone costs less than half as much as the iPhone 15 Pro Max

This new folding phone costs less than half the price of the iPhone 15 Pro Max

Earlier this year, ZTE offshoot Nubia showed off a foldable phone, and expectedly, the biggest draw was its supposedly attractive asking price. As U.S. shoppers waited for the phone to hit retail shelves, ZTE launched it in Japan as the Libero Flip. Thankfully, the wait is finally over on this side of the Atlantic, as well.

Nubia’s website has recently listed the Nubia Flip 5G for pr-eorder on its website. The best part is the asking price, which is only $500 for the base variant with a respectable 8GB of RAM and 256GB of onboard storage. You can bump the RAM to 12GB and double the storage capacity for an additional $200.

At that asking price, the Nubia Flip 5G is half as cheap as Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 5 and goes straight up against the Tecno Phantom V Flip. It’s even significantly cheaper than non-folding flagship phones like the iPhone 15 Pro Max and Galaxy S24 Ultra. Of course, such a sharp price reduction means a few concessions, but the package inside is still fairly impressive.

The design similarities between Tecno and ZTE’s respective foldable phones are pretty brazen, but the former offers more powerful camera hardware. On its own merit, the Nubia-branded flip phone sounds like a bargain workhorse that also happens to bend in half.

You get Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 running the show inside, while a 4,310m Ah battery with 33-watt fast charging support keeps the lights on. Nubia is offering the Flip 5G in a trio of colors — including Sunshine Gold, Cosmic Black, and a stunning Flowing Lilac.

You get a 6.9-inch (2790 x 1188 pixels) display that offers a 120Hz refresh rate. ZTE says the phone has been certified to last at least 200,000-plus folding cycles, which is quite reassuring. Attention has also been paid to other elements of the build, including a sandblasted metallic frame and etched glass.

At the back is a round 1.43-inch OLED display that allows for tricks like one-click call management, a viewfinder for capturing photos, face unlock courtesy of the camera ring, and cute pets staring at you. Unfortunately, it doesn’t allow for full-fledged app functionality.

The camera hardware is led by a 50-megapixel main sensor and a 2MP depth sensor, while selfie and video calling chores will be handled by a 16MP camera. Thankfully, the retail package will ship with a charging brick inside.

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