The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 is what the Z Flip4 Should have Been

With the launch of this year’s new Samsung foldables, we’ve finally witnessed what the South Korean electronics giant is capable of with regards to the latest in flexible Android hardware, and of the two new folding Galaxy devices, it seems that the Z Flip5 offers a bigger upgrade, especially when compared to last year’s Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4.

To be more specific, Samsung has made some improvements both and the device’s exterior design, as well as some much-needed under-the-hood upgrades. We’ve had the opportunity to spend some time with the Galaxy Z Flip5, and there’s little doubt that the new hardware onboard does make for a tempting upgrade.

External Design and Screens

Take one look at the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 and you’ll immediately notice one of the phone’s biggest – and we mean this in a literal sense – hardware upgrades. The phone now comes with a much larger outer AMOLED display, which measures 3.4 inches, and comes with a 720×748 pixel resolution, in addition to Gorilla Glass 2 protection and IPX8 certification.

This larger cover screen easily outsizes the one found on last year’s Galaxy Z Flip4, which measured a much smaller 1.9-inches, as well as displays found on other competitors like the Motor Razr and Oppo Find N2 Flip. For context, the Samsung Galaxy Ace – a midranger from 2011 – featured a 3.5-inch display, making the Z Flip5’s cover screen one of the largest on the market right now.

It also means that there’s more versatility in terms of usage, going beyond basic notification viewing – users can now interact with the screen to access more app functions, compose and send messages, and even assign larger widgets. It’s a pretty impressive upgrade, and Samsung has definitely done well with this one.

The inner display remains largely the same, however. As with last year’s Galaxy Z Flip4, the 5 retains the 6.7-inch AMOLED panel, 120hz refresh rate, 1080×2640 pixel resolution, and a peak brightness of 1200 nits. Given the larger outer screen enhancement, we can somewhat forgive Samsung for sticking with the same display configuration for the folding display.

Internal Hardware and Cameras

Another big upgrade that comes with the Z Flip5 is the chipset – the phone is now powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, replacing the 8+ Gen 1 on last year’s model. This is a great move on Samsung’s part, as it elevates its foldable line’s performance with that of the flagship S23 models, and there’s little doubt that the 8 gen 2 is a terrific SoC on its own.

The Z Flip5 is available in two different storage configurations with 256 and 512GB variants, both of which are paired with 8GB of RAM. In this regard it might seem as a missed opportunity, and we would’ve loved to see a 12GB RAM variant of the Z Flip5 on the market. With that being said, we go back to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 onboard, which is arguably one of the best additions to the Flip series.

For camera hardware, Samsung has decided to retain the dual-camera setup found on the Z Flip4, down to the megapixel count – the Galaxy Z Flip5 comes with a 12MP main camera, aided by a 12MP ultrawide lens on the rear panel. Likewise, there’s a 10MP front camera for selfies and video calls. It’s another missed opportunity to give users a significant hardware upgrade, and Samsung might be leaning a little too hard with the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” method with this one.

Software, Pricing and Availability

As for software, the Galaxy Z Flip5 will ship with Android 13 onboard, and hopefully we’ll get Android 14 as soon as it’s made available to the public. Of course, this version of Android comes with One UI 5.1.1, meaning that users will have access to a variety of first-party Samsung apps and services. With One UI 6 on the horizon, it should only be a matter of time before we see further software features arrive for the Z Flip5.

The Galaxy Z Flip5 will be available for pre-orders starting on 26th July, and will be on sale starting on August 11. The phone will come priced at £1049 for the 256GB storage variant, and £1149 for the larger 512GB storage version. There’s no doubt that Samsung’s upgrades on the Z Flip5 offer users a tempting reason to upgrade, and the larger cover screen and faster chipset are rather impressive. On the other hand, there are a multitude of similarities from last year’s model, but if you’re really itching for an upgrade, then there’s not much wrong that could go here.