Foldables have been around for long enough now that each new phone feels like a little bit less of an upgrade than the last. It’s a watershed moment, really.
That may sound a tad harsh, but really, it’s a sign that there’s real viability to the whole idea of foldables. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 5 brings relatively few new things to the table. It’s got a much larger outside cover screen than last year’s model and a new gapless hinge, but this is by-and-large the same experience Samsung has been offering for the last few years.
And maybe that’s fine! Starting at $1,000, this is a perfectly competent foldable phone that’s competitively priced with traditional flagships. Your mileage may vary with the actual usefulness of its foldable form factor, but the Z Flip 5 does just about everything it’s supposed to do.
Flexing on last year’s model
If you’re doing spec sheet comparison shopping between the Z Flips 4 and 5, you’d be hard-pressed to find anything meaningfully different between the two phones. Here are the Z Flip 5’s specs, with similarities to the Z Flip 4 specifically noted:
- 6.7-inch AMOLED inner display with 120Hz refresh rate (same as Z Flip 4)
- 3.4-inch cover display with 60Hz refresh rate
- 8GB RAM (same as Z Flip 4)
- 256GB or 512GB storage (same as Z Flip 4, minus a 128GB option)
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor
- 3,700mAh battery (same as Z Flip 4)
Once you’ve unfolded the Z Flip 5 into all of its big-screen glory, the experience is the same as it’s always been. The big difference, as previously noted, is the addition of a much bigger “Flex Window” cover display. Z Flip 4’s cover display was only a 1.9-inch sliver of screen that could display basic notifications and some widgets (as well as act as a rudimentary photo preview window), but it was meant more for glancing at than actually using.
Not so with the new Flex Window. It’s obviously not as large as a regular smartphone display, but it’s big, bright, and vibrant enough to be genuinely useful. For instance, you can actually respond to text notifications using a full keyboard. There are also a bunch of native widgets like a weather forecast, a calendar, and a step counter, and you can either swipe between them or see them all at a glance by pinching and zooming out.
Of course, it’s also a better photo viewfinder by virtue of its bigger size, as well. Samsung has also included a good amount of theme, wallpaper, and color customization options to keep people who really care about their phone aesthetics happy. Why customize one screen when you can customize two?
The Flex Window is the biggest physical change to the Z Flip 5 and helps the phone round into a form factor that it can probably keep for years to come. Another change that could facilitate that is a new hinge that lets the device close completely shut, without leaving a gap where dust can settle in.
That’s a change so small as to barely be noticeable, but it’s nice. It just looks better. Speaking of looks, the Z Flip 5 is available in four colors: Mint, Lavender, Cream, and Graphite.
One final bonus to note is that Samsung axed the 128GB storage option without raising the price of the Z Flip 5. The starter model now has twice the storage capacity as it did last year. Again, not really a mindblowing new feature, but something that’s worth appreciating.
Not sold on the fold
Unfortunately, I’m personally still not entirely convinced by the Z Flip 5’s form factor when it comes to practical utility.
Being able to fold up the phone and focus on something else for a while (without losing access to important information thanks to the Flex Window) is great! That’s just about the only thing I really like about the foldable aspect of the Z Flip 5, though. Nothing else about it is offensive or broken, mind you, they just aren’t selling points, to me.
For example, you can still multitask by dragging an app icon from a taskbar on the right side of the screen to the top or bottom while you already have an app open. This is a theoretical value add, but I never found myself using it. On paper, being able to open Twitter (I’m still calling it that, sorry) and YouTube at the same time is great. In practice, it means you can only read one tweet at a time while watching a tiny version of a video.
I feel similarly about “Flex Mode,” which is Samsung’s name for the thing where you angle the screen at roughly 90 degrees and set it on a flat surface for hands-free use. This is perfect for taking group photos or otherwise stabilizing shots without a tripod, but other supposed uses for it are less impressive. Trying to watch YouTube videos with the video on the top half and player controls on the bottom half just means you’re watching a widescreen video being shrunken down to fit into the top half of the phone’s roughly square shape. It’s not a great way to watch things.
None of this would be a problem (you can just ignore these features) if not for the fact that the hinge is still very much present when using the Z Flip 5 like a regular phone. To its credit, Samsung has made the thing damn near invisible while scrolling through social feeds and watching videos. That said, you can still feel it while scrolling. It’s like an obnoxious little speed bump for your thumbs.
The end result is a phone that I only ever want to use completely unfolded or completely folded, with no in-between. At a certain point, I found myself missing the one-screen simplicity of my iPhone.
Snapdragon summer
The last relatively major addition to the Z Flip 5 is a new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, an upgrade over last year’s 8+ Gen 1 chip. In layman’s terms, this means the phone should perform a bit better than the Z Flip 4.
Unfortunately, I don’t have a Z Flip 4 on hand for direct comparison, but the phone runs great all the same. Apps open near-instantly and there are never hitches or slowdown that I could see, even while multitasking. I also noticed that it doesn’t get especially hot without a case on, even while doing battery-intensive things like streaming 4K video.
The real upshot here is that the battery life should be slightly more efficient this year. Again, I can’t make a direct comparison, but I was able to go 24 hours between charges. That’s not exceptional, especially among flagships, but it’s acceptable enough.
All steady on the camera front
Put simply, Samsung didn't change much about the camera array on the Z Flip 5. It's got a 10MP selfie cam and two lenses (12MP ultra-wide and 12MP wide angle) on the back, same as last year.
The biggest difference, then, is not what you can shoot with the cameras, but how you can shoot with them. The new Flex Window screen allows photo subjects to see what the camera sees at the same time as the photographer, a feature that's not at all new to foldables but is more useful than before on Z Flip 5. If you like snapping shots of your homies, that's very nice.
Aside from that, these are solid smartphone cameras that don't really have a single definitive selling point. Images are sharp and vibrant without looking hyper-real. The colors you see with your eyes come through after you've snapped a photo. The Z Flip 5 also gets bonus points for allowing you to take photos in the truly absurd 9:22 aspect ratio.
Portrait mode also produces an effective bokeh effect behind whatever you're shooting. The distinct texture of a wet fire hydrant also comes through beautifully.
The Z Flip 5 offers up to 10x digital zoom on photos, but you should be careful about using this. The results can come out looking a little watercolor-y, perhaps due to software correction or some other weird problem. These photos may be usable in certain circumstances, of course, but you won't always get something super sharp.
Lastly, night photography does a solid job of illuminating dark subjects without a lot of help from external light sources. This image from our nearly pitch-black backyard (you can't actually see anything in real life) almost looks like it was shot during the daytime. I prefer nighttime shots that preserve the feeling of nighttime, but this is useful, nonetheless.
Not for me, but maybe for you
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 is a bit of a challenge to evaluate as a reviewer. It does everything Samsung wants it to do without any major issues, but I don’t particularly like a lot of those things Samsung wants it to do.
Flex Mode is still basically useless to me (though, again, good for photography) and the hinge is still a textural distraction. The Flex Window is a great addition, but you can ultimately do all of the same things in an admittedly less novel way on a regular smartphone. I don’t need a second screen to look at the weather or count my steps.
I don’t feel that the Z Flip line has proven its necessity like the Z Fold line has, but that’s why Samsung makes two foldables, I suppose. I don’t know if anyone needs the Z Flip 5, but it’s here and pretty good if you want it.
