Best Phones for Productivity With a Pen or a Folding Screen

The phone we would buy for work is the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, at about $1,400. It has a pen stored in the body, it puts a desktop on a monitor through Samsung DeX, and Samsung promises seven years of updates. No other phone here has all of those. For a screen that opens out to tablet size, the Motorola Razr Fold at about $1,900 has the biggest battery and the fastest charging of the folding phones. On a $500 budget, the Moto G Stylus 2026 is the cheap way to a built-in pen.

A phone earns the word productivity in four ways: a pen for notes and markup, a desktop mode that puts windows on a monitor, a folding screen with room for two or three apps at once, and staying power, meaning battery, charging speed and years of software updates. No phone on sale has all four. Samsung says the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra does not support the S Pen, and the S26 Ultra does not fold.

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The Galaxy S26 Ultra’s pen, screen and battery

Samsung’s page lists a built-in S Pen, a 6.9-inch screen and a 5,000mAh battery that charges at up to 60W, which it says reaches 75% in around 30 minutes. The 256GB and 512GB versions have 12GB of memory and the 1TB version has 16GB. Samsung’s sustainability page gives the S26 series seven generations of Android upgrades and seven years of security updates.

One feature is aimed squarely at people who work in public. Samsung calls it Privacy Display: switch it on and the screen dims for anyone looking from the side. It can be set to cover the whole screen, chosen apps or only notifications.

The pen is more useful with the right software. We have a separate guide to S Pen apps. Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra on Amazon

A built-in pen for about $500

Motorola lists a built-in active stylus on the Moto G Stylus 2026, with a 6.7-inch AMOLED screen, 8GB of memory and 128GB of storage with a microSD slot that takes cards up to 1TB. The battery is 5,200mAh with 68W wired and 15W wireless charging. On paper that is a bigger battery and a faster charger than the Galaxy S26 Ultra has.

Two limits. Motorola’s page does not say how many Android upgrades the phone will get, where the page for the $600 Motorola Edge 2026 promises two. And the spec sheet lists a USB 2.0 port and no desktop mode. Buy it for the pen and the price. Moto G Stylus 2026 on Amazon

The best foldable phones for work

Motorola Razr Fold, for battery and charging

The Razr Fold opens to an 8.1-inch screen, with a 6.6-inch screen on the outside. Motorola says it runs up to three apps at once, side by side or stacked. It comes with 16GB of memory and 512GB of storage.

The numbers that separate it from the other two folding phones are the battery and the charger: 6,000mAh, 80W wired charging and 50W wireless, though Motorola sells the 80W charger separately. Motorola promises seven Android updates and up to seven years of security updates. It is also the only folding phone here whose maker lists a pen for it. The Moto Pen Ultra has pressure sensitivity and palm rejection, and is sold separately.

Motorola’s spec sheet lists DisplayPort output on the USB-C port. The page says nothing about a desktop mode, so do not buy it for that without checking first. Motorola Razr Fold on Amazon

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra, for DeX

Samsung’s work-minded fold has an 8-inch main screen and a 6.5-inch cover screen. Samsung lists two-way and three-way split view, a 5,000mAh battery, up to seven Android upgrades and 12GB of memory in the 256GB version. It weighs 215g and is 4.1mm thick when open.

Samsung’s store had it marked down from a list price of about $2,100. At the marked-down price it is about $100 cheaper than the Razr Fold, and at list price about $200 dearer. Either way its battery is 1,000mAh smaller, it charges at 45W where the Motorola manages 80W, and it has no pen support. What it has that the Motorola does not is Samsung DeX. Plugging your phone into a monitor at a desk settles it. Without that habit, the Motorola is the better buy on paper. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra on Amazon

Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold, for Google’s apps

Google lists an 8-inch inner screen, a 6.5-inch outer screen, 16GB of memory and seven years of operating system, security and Pixel Drop updates. Apps such as the browser and calendar can float as bubbles over whatever else is open.

The battery is the weak figure: 4,806mAh, the smallest of the three folds, reaching 50% in about 30 minutes on a 30W charger. Wireless charging is up to 25W. Pick it if you live in Google’s apps and want the longest plain promise of updates. Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold on Amazon

Two other Samsung folds are worth knowing about. The plain Galaxy Z Fold8, about $1,650 against a list price of about $1,900, has a smaller 7.6-inch screen and a 4,800mAh battery. Samsung’s own comparison describes it as made for watching content and the Ultra for side-by-side work. The three-panel Galaxy Z TriFold opens to 10 inches, but Samsung’s page says the limited run is sold out.

Putting a phone on a monitor

A desktop mode turns the phone into the computer: plug in a monitor, add a keyboard and mouse, and apps open in windows.

Samsung DeX is the most complete. Samsung’s DeX support page lists the Galaxy S26 series, the Z Fold8, the Z Fold8 Ultra and the Z Flip8, connected by an HDMI cable or wirelessly to a TV or monitor that supports Miracast. Samsung says DeX holds up to four workspaces with up to five apps open in each. The cheapest way in is the Galaxy S26, the least expensive of the three main S26 phones at about $1,000. One catch: Samsung says the DeX for PC app is not supported on these newer phones. Samsung Galaxy S26 on Amazon

Google’s Android developers blog says that connecting a supported Pixel to a monitor starts a desktop session with a taskbar and resizable windows, and it named the Pixel 8, 9 and 10 series. The Pixel 11 store pages do not mention the feature, and Google’s help page warns that it is not available on every device. Treat it as likely, not promised.

Motorola’s page for the Edge 2026, about $600, says Smart Connect lets one keyboard and mouse move between the phone, a tablet and your PC. The Razr Fold and Moto G Stylus pages do not mention it.

Apple lists video mirroring and video out at up to 4K over USB-C. That shows the iPhone’s screen on a bigger one. It is not a desktop.

The other half of working on a phone is software, and our guide to apps that automate tasks on Android is a good next stop.

Staying with an iPhone for work

The iPhone 18 Pro Max, about $1,300, is the work pick among iPhones on sale. Apple lists a 6.9-inch screen, up to 45 hours of video playback and a charge to 50% in around 15 minutes with a 60W adapter. Apple gives no number of years for updates and lists no pen support for it. Apple iPhone 18 Pro Max on Amazon

The other choice is the iPhone Duo, Apple’s first folding iPhone, on Apple’s US store from $1,999. Apple’s page lists a 7.6-inch inner screen, Split View for two apps side by side, and support for the Apple Pencil (USB-C) arriving later.

Six work phones in one table

Prices are each maker’s US store price for the cheapest version, rounded, from lowest to highest.