Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 hands-on overview: An incremental step up

Because the battle of the foldables continues to warmth up, Samsung is poised to take care of its grip on the crown with its newest entries to the market, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 and the Galaxy Z Fold 5. Of the 2 new smartphones, the Flip 5 continues to behave because the enjoyable, sporty mannequin whereas the Fold 5 is tailor-made to energy customers and professionals. The Z Flip 5 involves market sporting some notable enhancements, together with a bigger 3.4-inch cowl display screen and a strong Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor in a barely slimmer chassis.

I had the chance to go arms on with the Galaxy Z Flip 5 and whereas it’s not my cellphone of selection in terms of foldables (that’d be the Galaxy Z Fold 5), I can’t deny the attract of its unbelievable pocketability and flexibility. However I want Samsung would have added some extra bells and whistles. Learn on to see what I imply.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 video hands-on

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 pricing and availability

When it launches in August, the bottom mannequin of the Flip will price $999/£1,049 and have 8GB of RAM with 256GB of onboard storage. The highest-tier mannequin additionally has 8GB of RAM however bumps the storage to 512GB. Sadly, these hoping to attain some financial savings with the 128GB iteration are out of luck, as that configuration of the foldable has been eradicated from the road up. And people searching for a 1TB iteration should set their sights on the Galaxy Z Fold 5.

When you’re able to make the leap, the Z Flip 5 is accessible for pre-order at Samsung.com in addition to varied provider websites.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 design

There’s not a lot distinction between the Z Flip 4 and the Flip 5. You’ve nonetheless received that flipability that our editor, Kimberly Gedeon, cherished because it gave that old-school feeling of hanging up on somebody in a huff. The 2-toned coloration scheme on the highest rear panel with a black housing for the pair of cameras additionally makes a return which is one thing she didn’t like almost as a lot. However now, as a substitute of solely a portion of the highest panel cowl being coated in a shiny inky black materials, the complete factor is blacked out with the remainder of the panel taking up the principle coloration in a matte end. The excellent news is that almost all of this can be a show.

When it launches, the Z Flip 5 can be obtainable in Lavender, Mint, Graphite and Cream. When you’re searching for one thing much less pastel, Samsung will supply the foldable in colours unique to Samsung.com, together with Grey, Blue, Inexperienced and Yellow.

The body of the cellphone and the edges are made out of Armor Aluminum, with the quantity rocker and energy button/fingerprint reader positioned on the appropriate, and the USB-C charging port sitting alongside the underside. Flipping the cellphone open reveals a shiny show with deep, hanging coloration. One thing new to notice is the Flex hinge –– a twin rail mechanism that’s extra deeply built-in into the cellphone itself, fairly than protruding like a sore thumb. The brand new hinge decreases the prominence of the show crease whereas permitting the system to shut with out a hole.

When folded, the 6.6-ounce Galaxy Z Flip measures 3.4 x 2.8 x 0.59 inches in comparison with 6.5 x 2.8 x 0.27 inches unfurled. That’s not too far off from its predecessor (3.3 x 2.8 x 0.67 inches, folded / 6.5 x 2.8 x 0.27 inches, unfolded), which additionally weighs 6.6 ounces. The predecessor is a hair smaller. The Google Pixel Fold is thinner (5.5 x 3.1 x 0.5 inches, folded / 5.5 x 6.2 x 0.2 inches, unfolded) albeit heavier at 10 ounces. Plus, the Pixel Fold is tormented by {hardware} points with studies of damaged shows à la the unique Galaxy Fold.

Nevertheless, with this being Samsung’s fifth journey to the foldable rodeo, I doubt we’ll see any points with both the Z Flip 5 or Fold 5 (fingers crossed).

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 sturdiness

A foldable is inherently extra delicate than your common slab of smartphone. Samsung is assuaging among the fear by reinforcing the Flip 5 with Armor Aluminum and making the rear panel and display screen out Corning Gorilla Glass Victus. The cellphone can be IPX8 rated, that means it may be submerged in 1.5 meters of contemporary water for a restricted time. In different phrases, freshwater lakes and bathrooms are superb, the seashore shouldn’t be, particularly for the reason that cellphone shouldn’t be mud resistant.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 show

Like its predecessor, the Z Flip 5 has a 6.7-inch, Dynamic AMOLED 2x show. The Infinity Flex panel has a decision of 2640 x 1080 with 22:9 side ratio. It’s a reasonably good indicator that considered one of our extra nitpicky complaints will make an look right here with wider letterboxing showing when watching video.

So far as coloration, I’m rooting for Samsung on this, as throughout my fairly transient hands-on the colours have been pleasing to my eye. And I positively preferred how clean scrolling by way of house pages and apps appeared. The Z Flip 4 put up spectacular numbers on each our brightness (772 nits) and DCI-P3 (132.2%) checks , being bested solely by the Z Fold 4 (902 nits / 158.7%) throughout its overview. The Pixel Fold delivered a formidable brightness of 1,173 nits with a fairly lackluster 88.4% on the DCI-P3 scale.

I’m actually wanting to see how the Flip 5’s foremost show holds up underneath benchmarking and on a regular basis use. Talking of use circumstances, the Z Flip 5 has an adaptive refresh price that robotically adjusts the refresh price between 1Hz and 120Hz relying on the exercise. So should you’re gaming or watching a video, you possibly can anticipate a better body price whereas perusing a spreadsheet versus watching a movie that normally wants solely 24Hz.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 Flex Window

New cellphone, greater show. Sure, that teeny tiny cowl show from final yr’s mannequin has grown right into a 3.4-inch, Tremendous AMOLED 60Hz Flex show that’s nice for screening notifications. The 720 x 748-pixel display screen is a daring reply to our criticism that the earlier mannequin’s display screen was too small to behave as a selfie viewfinder or a lot else. I didn’t expertise any issues studying notifications or establishing a very good shot on the digicam.

Much like its foremost show, the Z Flip 5 positively handed the attention take a look at with clear, distinct textual content and colourful hues. However the Flex show is greater than a medium for errant notifications, you could have widgets the place you possibly can management your music, examine the climate and different helpful performance. If it’s essential to view a number of widgets, a fast pinch will activate Multi Widget View. Someone sends you a textual content message? Reply it through Fast Reply.

And naturally, that bigger Flex Window is ideal for ensuring you’re selfie prepared (extra on that later).

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 efficiency

With a 4-nanometer Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, the Z Flip 5 is packing. It’s on a par with the likes of the OnePlus 11 and Samsung Galaxy 23 Extremely. It’s a disgrace, however it may well’t be helped since Qualcomm’s new chipset received’t be launched till later this yr. Don’t get me flawed, this processor is certainly an ass kicker, because it delivered 5,081 on Geekbench 5.4 within the Galaxy S23 Extremely whereas the OnePlus 11 hit 4,962.

Is both sufficient to topple the likes of the iPhone Professional 14 (5,469) or iPhone Professional Max 14 (5,333) with their A16 Bionic chips? No, however it’s greater than sufficient to spank the Pixel Fold’s (Tensor G2 CPU) abysmal 1,909. The S23 Extremely’s consequence additionally surpasses the Z Flip 4 and its Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor, which produced solely 4,015, proving this can be a particular step up in energy.

After we ran the Adobe Premiere Rush video transcoding benchmark, the S23 Extremely completed in 39 seconds, soundly beating the Pixel’s Fold and OnePlus 11’s instances of 1:01 and 1:11, respectively whereas the Z Flip 4 posted a time of 0:44. It couldn’t dispatch both the iPhone 14 Professional or Professional Max, which had blistering instances of 0:26 and 0:30, respectively.

On the Jetstream internet browser take a look at, the S23 Extremely scored 179.3. That was greater than sufficient to stave off the Z Flip 4 (134.3), Pixel Fold (118.3), and OnePlus 11 (112.8). However as soon as once more, the iPhones laid waste to their Android counterparts with the iPhone 14 Professional reaching 285.9 and the Professional Max hitting 273.7.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 battery life

The Galaxy Z Flip 5 has a 3,700mAh battery, similar to the Z Flip 4. This, barring any energy effectivity tips that Samsung and Qualcomm would possibly pull out their hats, places the Z Flip 5 inside a stone’s throw of the 9 hour mark, as its ancestor lasted 8 hours and 57 minutes on the Laptop computer Magazine Battery Check (steady internet browsing at 150 nits over community).

The competitors all have bigger batteries, such because the Pixel Fold (4,821mAh), which scores its first potential win over the Z Flip 5 with a time of 10:21. The OnePlus 11 and Galaxy S23 clocked in with 12:48 and 13:09, respectively, with their 5,000mAh batteries. And by some feat of Apple Magic, each the iPhone 14 Professional (3,200mAh) and Professional Max (4,323mAh) managed to beat the Z Flip 4 by lasting 10:27 and 13:07, respectively.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 digicam

While you have a look at the megapixels on the Z Flip 5, they’re singing the identical previous tune with a pair of 12MP cameras on the rear and a 10MP entrance shooter. The broad (12MP, f/1.8, 1.8μm, 83-degree discipline of view) is just about an identical to final gen’s as is the ultra-wide shooter (12MP, f/2.2, 1.12μm, 123-degree FOV)  It’s disappointing that Samsung couldn’t discover a strategy to up the ante, however that doesn’t imply that the corporate hasn’t made any modifications by any means.

On this case, we’ve got to look to the entrance digicam (10MP, f/2.2, 1.22μm, 85-degree FOV) which has a barely smaller aperture in comparison with final gen’s (10MP, f/2.4,1.22μm, 80-degree FOV), however it’s negligible at finest. The actual change comes from the AI-powered software program that brings improved Nightography mode, which implies higher photographs in low-light environments. Utilizing an AI-powered picture sign processing (ISP) algorithm, the Z Flip 5’s cameras will robotically right any visible noise that you simply’d normally discover when snapping low-light photographs. The function may also improve particulars and coloration tone. Plus, you get clearer pictures by the use of the digital 10X zoom.Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 software program

However the Flip’s foremost declare to fame is the Flex Window, which permits the extra inventive amongst us to take attention-grabbing pictures with the distinctive angles that the cellphone can reap the benefits of. Talking of distinctive angles, there’s Flex Digital camera for these look-ma-no-hands pictures. With the expanded dimension of the Flex Window, you may get a greater have a look at your selfie preview. If you wish to take a number of candids with mates, there’s Twin Preview so everybody can ensure they’re hanging the suitable pose. And also you even have Flex Mode that permits you to see and edit your photographs into masterpieces.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 software program

The Z Flip 5 comes with Android 13 skinned with Samsung’s One UI 5.1.1, which blends the corporate’s proprietary widgets and options into Android for a seamless expertise. And for the reason that Z Flip 5 carries a whole lot of the identical options as its predecessor, it’s a protected wager to guess that Samsung will present 4 years of main software program updates together with 5 years of safety updates.

Backside line

Whereas I’m a proponent of the “if it ain’t broke, don’t repair it” mantra, Samsung should work out the best way to make the subsequent Z Flip into one thing actually particular as a result of the Z Flip 5 ain’t it. That’s to not say it’s not a very good cellphone –– with none benchmarking to again it up proper now –– it’s. It’s nonetheless tremendous pocketable and versatile. You are able to do a hell of much more with the bigger Flex Window and the brand new Flex hinge is much less intrusive on the general design. And I’m by no means going to say no to a extra highly effective processor (even whether it is on the extra power-hungry facet), however because it stands, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 is nothing greater than an incremental step, similar to the Z Flip 4 was. Now to the place precisely Samsung is stepping to, I’m uncertain, however I can say it’s getting there awfully sluggish.

Nevertheless, should you’re pondering of constructing the leap into the foldable area and don’t need to spend over $1,000 for the expertise, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 is the way in which to go. However don’t take this as my last judgment, as there’s nonetheless loads of benchmarking to do on this case and the numbers would be the last story of the tape.