Samsung has addressed some of the significant issues with last year’s Z Flip by adding a bigger external screen, improving the camera and buffing the processor. It’s a compelling upgrade.
The larger cover display is excellent for watching YouTube videos, and the dual cameras offer a wider field of view for flex mode selfies. The processor is also faster than last year.
6.7-inch Infinity Flex Display
The Galaxy Z Flip 5 is Samsung’s first phone with a larger exterior screen. It replaces last year’s minuscule 1.9-inch cover screen and offers several new features when opened in Flex mode.
The new 3.4-inch AMOLED display is a standout feature. It displays notifications and enables certain apps to be used without needing to fold the phone open. A pop-up panel allows you to respond to text messages and control music or video playback.
This is a nice improvement over last year’s model, which could only show notifications and a quick settings menu. The Flex display is also much brighter, reaching a peak brightness of 1,750 nits when open.
Samsung’s One UI 5.1 software adds features like Flex Mode that optimizes apps for the folding configuration. The Flip’s 2.8GHz Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 pFlip’sor delivers snappy performance that’s competitive with other top-tier phones. Its 8GB of RAM ably handles multitasking, and the phone has plenty of storage space to meet most users’ needs. Its 3,000mAh battery can last a day with regular use, and it recharges in just 90 minutes using a 25W charger.
12MP Dual Cameras
Like last year’s Z Flip 4, the new model has a dual camera setup that uses a 12MP wide lens paired with a 12MP ultra-wide. Samsung’s snazzy Computational Photography is still here, and it helps the primary shooter deliver solid photos in well-lit conditions. It also manages to eke out decent zoom shots, though they can look a bit blurry if you’re not careful.
The Flip’s bigger cover screen can fly Flip’s singles up to 115deg to act as a viewfinder for selfies, and it supports video recording in landscape mode. The front-facing 10 MP selfie camera is a little less impressive, but it’s better than the autofocusing cameras on rival foldables.
Software-wise, the Z Flip 5 essentially sticks to Samsung’s One UI ideas. It has a good set of bespoke widgets for its outer display and some valuable multimedia controls (including rewind/fast forward buttons) for scrubbing through YouTube videos in Flex Mode. The phone also has IPX8 water resistance and a side-mounted fingerprint scanner. You can also unlock it using face recognition, which works whether the clamshell is open or closed.
Faster Processor
Samsung hasn’t let Motorola steal the thunder with its take on a foldable phone this year, and its fifth attempt at a flip phone is a significant improvement. It’s got a larger exterior screen that’s much more useful than last year’s iteration, a better camera and a faster processor.
The new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy chip — the same one that powers the high-end Galaxy S23 Ultra — means apps and games load quickly, and multitasking – including splitting screens and Picture-in-Picture mode – is a breeze. It also stayed close to the top of the pack in Geekbench tests and kept up with the Razr Plus in 3DMark’s Wild Life and Extreme tests.
That faster chip will help the Galaxy Z Flip 5 maintain its lead over Motorola’s new Razr 40 Ultra and Oppo’s Find N2 Flip. However, don’t expect it to drastically boost battery life or add any extra features like water resistance or Android version upgrades. That might come down to price, and Samsung still has a few years left before it’s ready to make the jump to 5G.
Longer Battery Life
The larger cover display dubbed the Flex Window on this Flip, is much more helpful than the preFlips Samsung Foldable Phones. This display lets you access basic widgets that let you see notifications, weather, and music controls without unfolding the phone or quickly replying to text messages with a full-size keyboard.
The Flex Window also easily accesses camera settings and lets you turn on a mode that puts unused apps to sleep to save battery power. This is a nice feature for anyone who tends to keep unused apps open on their phones to use later.
Using the same 3,700 mAh battery, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 was able to last over 9 hours in our custom TG battery test with the refresh rate set to Adaptive. However, we found that by lowering the refresh rate to Standard, it was able to achieve over 11 hours of battery life – 49 minutes longer than its predecessor! This is likely due to the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, which is specifically for Galaxy phones and offers improved performance compared to the older Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 on the Z Flip 4. It also has vapour chamber cooling to help prevent overheating.
Stylish Design
The Flip 5 offers the best hardware polish of any foldable phone I’ve tried. Gorilla Glass Victus 2 and Armor Aluminum form a premium-feeling frame that has no wiggle or wobble, even when the top and bottom halves are closed together. However, SSSamsung’ssamsung’shinge design —which isn’t entirely dust–resistant like Motorolamotorola’s Razr Plus—also improves the Flip’s durability and prevents debFlip’debFlip’someaching the inner display.
The significant change for this year’s Fyear is the bigger cover screen. When the Z Flip is folded, wFlip occupies most of the front. That makes the phone easier to use without opening it, and it lets you send text messages and respond to notifications.
The Flex Window can also streamline your daily routine by letting you check calls and chats, view recent settings, and more. With a new changeable Flipsuit Case4, you can easily customize the colour and Flex Window design of your Galaxy Z Flip 5.
