Compare Flip phones in Australia

Flip phones
Pictured: The Aspera 42, OPPO Find N2 Flip and Nokia 2660 Flip
// Flip phones aren’t just a relic of feature phone age.
Alex Kidman
Oct 25, 2023
Icon Time To Read4 min read

Phones that flip open have been a desirable idea ever since the Star Trek communicator was first revealed in the late 1960s. Technology wasn’t quite up to the task of major consumer delivery of actual flip phones until the late 1990s, with brands such as Nokia and Motorola producing dozens of highly desirable feature phones.

The advent of smartphones saw flip phones rather fade off into the distance for a while; never totally unavailable, but certainly only a tiny fragment of the market for a long while. That’s all changed in recent years with foldable smartphones becoming a reality – and with them, an ever-expanding range of available premium flip phone options.

So what can you get, and what’s worth getting excited about? Here’s what you should consider and compare, as well as the full range of available options in Australia for flip phone fanatics.

Flip smartphones


OPPO Flip Phone
pro
Benefits
pro Useful dual screens
pro Good cameras
pro Lots of style choices
con
Drawbacks
con Foldable screens cost premium money
con Less durable than comparable smartphones
con Few apps
con External displays don't do much

Flip Smartphones are very different devices to their feature phone counterparts – apart from making and taking calls on them, and most allowing you the satisfaction of finishing a call by snapping them shut, there’s really a gulf in terms of features offered.

On the plus side, most foldable/flip-capable smartphones make smart use of their external displays where most feature equivalents basically just offer clocks and maybe notification lights, especially on more up-to-date models like the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 or Motorola Razr 40 Ultra. You’re getting full Android app compatibility – to date, Apple hasn’t released any folding phones at all – on generally powerful units with solid cameras.

On the minus side, while prices have come down somewhat from their initial genuinely shocking highs, foldable flip phones still attract a price premium. It’s well worth considering what you can get for the same money in a more traditional flat smartphone when you’re purchasing. The nature of the folding mechanism also means that most foldable phones are less protected against water and especially dust ingress, and their folding screens do not typically take screen protectors well – or at all.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5


Samsung Galaxy ZFlip5 Flip phone
Starts at$1649outright
Key specs
6.7 inch internal display, 3.4 inch external display, Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, 3,700mAh battery, 12MP/12MP dual rear cameras, 10MP selfie camera, IPX8 dust/water resistance.

The fifth generation of Samsung’s flip phone is its best ever, with an expanded external display that’s very good fun and practical to use. You may be able to find the older Flip 4 or even Flip 3 still on sale – probably refurbished – but that larger display does give the Flip 5 a whole lot of appeal that Samsung’s earlier efforts can only dream of.

Here are the cheapest Galaxy Z Flip 5 plans in Australia:

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra


Motorola Razr 40 Ultra Flip phone
Starts at$1499outright
Key specs
6.9 inch internal display, 3.6 inch external display, Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor, 3,800mAh battery, 12MP/13MP dual rear cameras, 32MP selfie camera, IP52 dust/water resistance.

Motorola’s competitor to the Galaxy Z Flip5 is the Razr 40 Ultra, a compact flip foldable with a larger screen and a touch more flexibility (pun not intended) when it comes to running full Android apps on its external 3.6 inch display. It’s not always the best way to see an app running – but it does work.

Motorola Razr 40


Motorola Razr 40 Flip Phone
Starts at$999outright
Key specs
6.9 inch internal display, 1.5 inch external display, Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 processor, 4,200mAh battery, 64MP/13MP dual rear cameras, 32MP selfie camera, IP52 dust/water resistance.

While you can score some of Samsung’s much older flip foldables as cheap options refurbished or as end-of-life stock, Motorola’s Razr 40 holds the crown of being the lowest cost flip foldable phone in Australia when purchased new. Its sub $1,000 price point does still give you the style of having a more compact phone to show off, and its battery life is very good too. So how have Motorola brought folding phones to this price point? Largely through only using a smaller external display – no apps here! – and with an older and slightly slower Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 processor.

Oppo Find N2 Flip


OPPO Find N2 Flip phone
Starts at$1499outright
Key specs
6.8 inch internal display, 3.26 inch external display, MediaTek Dimensity 9000 processor, 4,300mAh battery, 50MP/8MP dual rear cameras, 32MP selfie camera

Oppo’s take on a foldable phone comes in the form of the Oppo Find N2 Flip. Oppo’s taken an unusual design step for its flip foldable with an external vertical screen where its competitors tend towards the horizontal, with just a small subset of apps that will run that way if it’s not unfolded. Fully expanded it’s got one of the best – which is to say most minimal – creases in a foldable phone we’ve tested to date, though it is the only flip foldable currently on sale with no stated water or dust resistance.

Flip feature phones


Nokia Flip Phone
pro
Benefits
pro Relatively inexpensive
pro Physical buttons
pro Longer-lasting batteries
con
Drawbacks
con Low power
con Generally awful cameras
con Few apps
con External displays don't do much

The most basic level of flip phone you can buy aren’t smartphones, but instead older school style feature phones with proper physical keyboards and a flip up action that reveals the keypad and primary screen. They’re a good match for anyone who actively doesn’t want a smartphone, either for reasons of complexity or for simply doing a little bit of digital detox.

However, they’re not powerful devices ever, with limited apps, generally terrible cameras and limited range of choices on offer. You can often get better functional smartphones for less money than the limited range of flip phones available in Australia, leaving the humble flip feature phone only for the truly dedicated – or the truly dedicated to hating smartphones.

Aspera f42 flip phone
Aspera F42
Starts at$99RRP
Key specs
2.8 inch internal display, 1350mAh battery, 2MP rear, 0.3MP front camera, Hearing Aid compatible
Aspera F46 Flip phone
Aspera F46
Starts at$119RRP
Key specs
2.8 inch internal display, 1000mAh battery, 0.3MP rear camera, Hearing Aid compatible, included charging cradle
Konka 21 Flip phone
Konka F21 Flip
Starts at$99RRP
Key specs
2.8 inch internal display, 1550mAh battery, 2MP camera, included charging cradle
Nokia 2660 Flip phone
Nokia 2660 Flip
Starts at$149RRP
Key specs
2.8 inch internal display, 1450mAh battery, 2MP camera, KaiOS apps
Opel Flip Phone 6 Flip phone
Opel FlipPhone 6
Starts at$99RRP
Key specs
2.4 inch internal display, 1350mAh battery, 0.3MP rear camera, Hearing Aid compatible, included charging cradle
Opel Flip Phone
Opel FlipX
Starts at$129RRP
Key specs
2.8 inch internal display, 1000mAh battery, 2MPMP rear camera, Hearing Aid compatible, included charging cradle
Opel TouchFlip Flip phone
Opel TouchFlip Phone
Starts at$149RRP
Key specs
2.8 inch internal touchscreen display, 1400mAh battery, 2MP+0.3MP camera, Hearing Aid compatible, included charging cradle
Alex Kidman
Written by
Alex Kidman is some kind of word-generating AI from the future that somehow worked out how to sneak back in time to 1998 to start its journalism career. Across that time, including editorial stints at ZDNet, CNET, Gizmodo, PC Mag and Finder, as well as contributions to every major tech masthead, nobody has quite managed to figure out this deeply held secret. Let’s keep it between us, OK?

Related Articles

Galaxy S24 Ultra
You can save $300 on the Galaxy S24 Ultra this week
The most exxy S24 gets a little more affordable.
money flying out of an air conditioner
How much does it cost to run the air conditioner over Summer? (2024)
kW? More like kiloWHAT!? We make sense of how much it costs to run an...
samsung developer conference keynote with matter sign on the big screen
Samsung SmartThings first major player to support Matter 1.3
What's the matter babe? You've barely touched your 1.2 protocol