Best Looking Phones From Thin Titanium to Wood Veneer
No phone is best looking for everyone. Current phones sorted by style, with materials, finishes, thickness, weight and the design awards they hold.
A window onto the circuit board and a panel of 489 tiny lights give the Nothing Phone (3) the most unusual back, so buy it if you want people to ask what phone that is. The thinnest phone here that does not fold is the iPhone Air, at 5.64mm and 165g. The most unusual materials are on the Motorola Razr Ultra 2026, finished in wood veneer or Alcantara.
Which of them is prettiest is your call. The cheapest phone here with a current design award is the Nothing Phone (4a) Pro at about $500. Prices are the makers’ own US store prices for the cheapest version, rounded, and folding phones are measured open.
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Thin without folding
Apple’s iPhone Air, about $1,100, has a titanium body 5.64mm deep that weighs 165g, and a 6.5-inch screen with Ceramic Shield glass on both sides. It comes in Sky Blue, Light Gold, Cloud White and Space Black. For scale, Samsung calls the Galaxy S26 Ultra its slimmest Ultra yet, and that is 7.9mm and 214g. Apple iPhone Air on Amazon
Outside the US, look at the Motorola Edge 70, on Motorola’s UK store. It is 5.99mm thick and 159g with an aluminium frame, which puts it close to the iPhone Air. The back has what Motorola calls a nylon-inspired finish, in four Pantone colours. Motorola’s entry on iF’s site gives a price of $449.
See-through backs and lights
Nothing calls the transparent look its signature. On the Phone (3), about $700 and marked down from $799 on Nothing’s own store, its page describes a cutout in the glass that shows the motherboard circuit, an aluminium frame, and the Glyph Matrix: a small display made of 489 micro-LEDs that shows notifications or a selfie preview. It is 8.99mm thick and 218g, in black or white. Nothing Phone (3) on Amazon
The Phone (4a) Pro, about $500, is less transparent. Nothing switched this model to an aluminium unibody and kept the see-through part to the camera bump, with a Glyph Matrix of 137 mini-LEDs. It is 7.95mm thick and 210g and comes in silver, black or pink, though the pink is sold only in the larger version at about $600. Red Dot lists it as a 2026 product design winner, which makes it the cheapest phone here with a distinctive design and an award behind it. Nothing Phone (4a) Pro on Amazon
The properly transparent one is the plain Phone (4a), on Nothing’s UK and India stores and not its US one: a glass back over visible parts, a strip of 63 mini-LEDs called the Glyph Bar, and black, white, blue or pink.
Google has a lighting feature of its own. Its store says the Pixel 11 Pro, about $1,100, has HiLight, which glows when the phone is face down and a favourite contact calls.
Flip phones in wood, Alcantara and texture
The Motorola Razr Ultra 2026, about $1,500, suits people who care how the back feels. Motorola sells it in Pantone Orient Blue with an embossed Alcantara back, or Pantone Cocoa with a natural wood veneer. It is 7.19mm thick and 199g, with a 4-inch outer screen, a 7-inch main screen and a titanium-reinforced hinge. Motorola Razr Ultra 2026 on Amazon
The Motorola Razr 2026, about $800, is the cheapest flip here, and we would take it for something small in the pocket. It is 7.25mm thick and 188g, and each colour has its own texture: Motorola describes a woven-inspired grey, a patterned green, a lavender with a wave-like back and a white with a layered geometric finish. Motorola Razr 2026 on Amazon
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8 is thinner and costs about $250 more, at about $1,050, marked down from a list price of about $1,200 on Samsung’s store. Samsung calls it its thinnest and lightest Flip: 6.1mm open and 180g, with a 4.1-inch cover screen and an aluminium frame. Colours are pink, graphite and cream, plus mint sold only by Samsung itself. Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8 on Amazon
Phones that open like a book
These are thinner than the iPhone Air once they are open, which is a different thing from thin in the pocket.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra, about $1,800 against a list price of about $2,100, is the thinnest phone on this page when open, at 4.1mm, and weighs 215g. The colours are muted: violet shadow, graphite and cream, with a green kept for Samsung’s own store. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra on Amazon
The Motorola Razr Fold, about $1,900, is heavier at 243g and 4.7mm open on Motorola’s spec sheet, but it has the more interesting finishes: Pantone Blackened Blue with a matte back that Motorola likens to piqué fabric, or Pantone Lily White with a silk-like sheen. Motorola Razr Fold on Amazon
Samsung’s plain Galaxy Z Fold8, about $1,650 against a list price of about $1,900, is a new shape with a wide 5.5-inch cover screen. It is 4.5mm open and 201g, and comes in lavender, graphite and cream, with a pistachio green kept for Samsung’s own store.
Apple’s first folding phone, the iPhone Duo, is on Apple’s US store from $1,999, with a titanium body, 5.2mm deep when open, in Star White or Night Sky.
Flat phones in a colour you like
The Apple iPhone 18 Pro, about $1,200, has an aluminium unibody in Burgundy, Glacier, Silver or Black. It is 8.75mm thick and 211g. Apple iPhone 18 Pro on Amazon
The Google Pixel 11, about $900, pairs a polished glass back with a satin aluminium frame, in Frost, Pistachio, Hibiscus or Obsidian. Google gives its size only in inches and ounces: 0.3 inches thick and 6.9oz, which is about 196g. The Pixel 11 Pro has a matte back in Canyon, Olive, Fog or Obsidian. Google Pixel 11 on Amazon
The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, about $1,400, comes in six colours, but two of them, Silver Shadow and Pink Gold, are sold only on samsung.com and in Samsung’s own shops. The other four are Cobalt Violet, Sky Blue, Black and White.
A dull truth applies to all of them. Most phones spend their lives in a case, and then the colour you see every day is the case’s. If that takes the shine off, start from the phones we would buy at each budget and choose the colour last.
Design awards, and what they prove
Two design competitions, the Red Dot Award and the iF Design Award, publish their winners online. On the 2026 lists, Red Dot has the Nothing Phone (4a) Pro and Phone (4a) under product design, and iF has the Motorola Edge 70.
The Infinix Note 60 Ultra is on both. Red Dot credits the design to Infinix and the Italian car design house Pininfarina, and describes a mirrored camera module with a small matrix display and a light strip, in four colours inspired by Italian motor racing. It is on Infinix’s global site, and the Infinix Note series in Nigeria shows which Note phones are sold there.
Read an award for what it is. Makers enter these competitions themselves, and Red Dot’s site has a page of registration fees for entrants. The current iPhones, Pixels and Galaxy S26 phones did not come up in our searches of either list, and that tells you only that they were not entered or not chosen.
Curved glass is its own look, and we cover it separately in phones that still have curved screens.
