Last year, Nubia (by extension, ZTE) rocked the smartphone world with the most affordable foldable phone, the Nubia Flip 5G. This phone came in at $499, which undercut phones like the Tecno Phantom Z Flip and the Moto Razr+ 2024. The company didn’t rest on its laurels, as we’re now getting our first look at the Nubia Flip 2.
The first generation of this device didn’t exactly “flip” the script on what a foldable phone could do. However, it set a very important precedent. It let the tech world know that being able to fold a phone in half shouldn’t double its price. Initially, foldable phones, even clamshell foldable phones, cost over $1,000. With phones like the Moto Razr 2024 and the Galaxy Z Flip 5 scraping the threshold to a four-figure price, phones like the base Razr, Phantom Flip, and Nubia Flip brought prices that were much more palatable.
Now, we’re at the dawn of a new age of foldable phones, and we have the Nubia Flip 5G to thank for that. But, enough about that phone, let’s look at its successor.
Here is the affordable Nubia Flip 2
Right off the bat, we see that Nubia went back to the drawing board with this one. Last year’s foldable had a large circular camera bump on the outside which housed a small screen. This time around, the company ditched that mentality and went for a much lower-profile rectangular screen. It takes up a fair bit of the front, but it doesn’t match the screen real estate we see with Samsung’s and Motorola’s current offerings.
The two camera sensors sit beside the screen as their own individual elements. They’re much more subtle than what we saw on last year’s version. Above the cameras, we see a ring light for the flash.
Just like last year’s phone, the Nubia Flip 2 has a textured chassis. There’s a matte material on the outside that gives it a distinctive look. Honestly, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. It looks rather nice.
One pretty big difference has to do with the phone’s frame. Last year’s phone had a flatter frame, which was similar to the Galaxy Z Flip 6’s frame. This time around, it looks like Nubia went for a rounder frame. This is something that could help with opening the phone.
Device specs
Moving onto the specs, what is this new outer display packing? It’s a 3-inch screen with a resolution of 422 x 682, so it has a pixel density of about 267PPI. Upon opening the phone, you’re presented with a 6.9-inch AMOLED display with a 1080p resolution. That’s not bad for an affordable foldable phone.
The Nubia Flip 2 uses the MediaTek Dimensity 7300X SoC. This means that you’ll get some pretty solid mid-range performance. It will be good but don’t expect it to be a speed demon. Supporting that, we have a decent 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Running on Android 14, this phone will be more than powerful enough to get you through the day. It’s not flagship-level, but it’s still fairly powerful.
Moving onto the camera, the Nubia Flip 2 comes with a 50MP main camera accompanied by a 2MP depth sensor. On the inside, there’s a 32MP selfie camera. Rounding out the specs, this phone comes with an IP4X dust resistance rating, an IPX2 dust resistance rating, and a 4,300mAh battery.
AI tools
We can’t forget about the life’s blood of the entire tech industry, AI. The Nubia Flip 2 comes with some neat AI tools like a real-time call translator, call transcripts, and a custom voice assistant.
Price
One thing to know about this phone is that it’s only available in Japan at the moment; as such, the price is in Yen. It costs ¥64,080, which roughly translates to about $410. If it makes it to other regions, then the price will be adjusted. Still, $410 for a foldable phone is unheard of! Think about a foldable phone that’s more affordable than most traditional mid-range phones.
All in all, this isn’t the kind of phone to push your foldable phone experience to the next level. It performs the same duty as the first Nubia Flip. It’s designed to be an onramp to the foldable phone market. It’s for people who don’t have a grand to spend on a Snapdragon 8-powered beast of a phone. Rather than that, they can spend under $500 and get a pretty solid performer.
