Look out Samsung: the Nubia Flip 5G is the cheapest foldable phone yet, and it has a bigger battery than the Galaxy Z Flip 5 (2024)

The Nubia Flip 5G has been launched globally and is the cheapest foldable phone we’ve yet seen – however, UK and European details are strangely absent.

The Flip 5G was announced at

in February and was initially released in Japan on February 29 as the ZTE Libero Flip. It’s now launched at the price of 2,999 Yuan in China followed by its global release and US price of $499, which is roughly £400 / AU$764 for the 8GB/256 model.

At that price, the Nubia Flip undercuts the

, which was previously the cheapest foldable phone on sale in Western markets at £599 / $699 / AU$1,146.

However, despite the exact UK and EU price and launch date not being listed on

, when asked directly Nubia confirmed the Nubia Flip 5G will launch at the end of April 2024.

The Flip 5G is currently available for pre-order and will be going on sale on 24 April in the following countries: Australia, Chile, Egypt, Hong Kong SAR, Indonesia, Israel, Kuwait, Laos, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United States, and Vietnam.

The outer screen is a 1.43-inch OLED with a resolution of 466 x 466 pixels. The screen can be used to display a calendar, a stopwatch, control media playback, show weather, and use as a camera viewfinder.

The Nubia Flip runs on the

chipset, which is an older mid-range chip from 2022. Despite its age, the chip still uses the more efficient 4-nanometer process, and features Qualcomm’s AI Engine, so it should handle day-to-day tasks and light gaming fairly well.

The Japanese model includes 6GB RAM and 128GB storage, while the Chinese version has 8GB of RAM and 256GB storage. There are also two higher-specced versions available in China: 12GB RAM paired with either 256GB or 512GB storage.

The battery is a 4310mAh unit that’s capable of 33W fast charging – that’s significantly larger than the more expensive Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5’s 3700mAh battery.

It also features a 50MP wide-angle camera, a 50MP telephoto camera with a 2MP depth sensor, and a 16MP front-facing camera, which, according to Nubia, uses AI-enhanced image processing to improve image quality. On paper, this is more impressive than the Galaxy Z Flip 5’s lower two 12MP cameras, but image quality isn’t only about megapixels.

Nubia claims the Flip can withstand over 200,000 unfolds, which is the same rating as the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5.

We can't properly compare the Nubia Flip 5G to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 or Motorola Razr 40, or to any of the other best foldable phones, until we've tested it firsthand, However, the Nubia Flip seems like a promising, more affordable entry into in the foldable phone space.