While the Galaxy Fold was the front-line foldable from Samsung, the Galaxy Z Flip is the more accessible and affordable option and at this point. And now it's official, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 will debuted at Samsung Galaxy Unpacked July 2023.
We reviewed the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4, doting on its beautiful design and battery life, but we were disappointed by the lack of any major changes. But now that the Galaxy Z Flip 5 has been officially revealed, what's it like?
Here’s everything we know so far about Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5, from the release date and price to the specs and features.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5: Latest news (Updated: July 26)
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Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 release date and price
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 launches in August, with the base model costing $999/£1,049 and featuring 8GB of RAM with 256GB of onboard storage. The top-tier model also has 8GB of RAM, but bumps the storage to 512GB.
There's no 128GB or 1TB iteration, so we're stuck with what we got.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 design and display
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 gets updated with a new hinge and a new outer display.
When it launches, the Z Flip 5 will be available in Lavender, Mint, Graphite and Cream. If you're looking for something less pastel, Samsung will offer the foldable in colors exclusive to Samsung.com, including Gray, Blue, Green and Yellow.
When folded, the 6.6-ounce Galaxy Z Flip measures 3.4 x 2.8 x 0.59 inches compared to 6.5 x 2.8 x 0.27 inches unfurled. Instead of only a portion of the top panel cover being coated in a shiny inky black material, the entire thing is blacked out with the rest of the panel taking on the main color in a matte finish. The good news is that most of this is a display.
The frame of the phone and the sides are made from Armor Aluminum, with the volume rocker and power button/fingerprint reader placed on the right, and the USB-C charging port sitting along the bottom.
The new Flex hinge is exciting –– a dual rail mechanism that is more deeply integrated into the phone itself, so now it doesn't stick out. The new hinge decreases the prominence of the display crease while allowing the device to close without a gap.
Like its predecessor, the Z Flip 5 has a 6.7-inch, Dynamic AMOLED 2x display. The Infinity Flex panel has a resolution of 2640 x 1080 with 22:9 aspect ratio. However, that teeny tiny cover display from last year’s model has grown into a 3.4-inch, 720 x 748-pixel, Super AMOLED 60Hz Flex display.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 cameras
There's been some negligible changes to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5's camera.
The Z Flip 5 sports a pair of 12MP cameras on the rear and a 10MP front shooter. The wide (12MP, f/1.8, 1.8μm, 83-degree field of view) is virtually identical to last gen’s as is the ultra-wide shooter (12MP, f/2.2, 1.12μm, 123-degree FOV). However, if we look to the front camera (10MP, f/2.2, 1.22μm, 85-degree FOV), it has a slightly smaller aperture compared to last gen’s (10MP, f/2.4,1.22μm, 80-degree FOV).
Samsung does boast that the the phone's AI-powered image signal processing (ISP) algorithm will automatically correct any visual noise that you’d usually find when snapping low-light images.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 specs
With a 4-nanometer Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, the Z Flip 5 is on par with the OnePlus 11 and Samsung Galaxy 23 Ultra.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 was used in the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and it did very well. When we ran our synthetic benchmarks like Geekbench 5.4, the S23 Ultra got 4,882. It easily outpaced the Google Pixel 7 Pro and its Tensor G2 CPU which notched 3,046. However, the iPhone 14 Pro Max's A16 Bionic chip still got the win at 5,333. However, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 benchmarks reportedly leaked (via SamMobile), and the score that the Flip 5 produced was 5,022.
As we mentioned earlier, the specs offered with the Z Flip 5 are 8GB of RAM and the choice of either 256GB or 512GB of storage.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 battery
The Galaxy Z Flip 5 has a 3,700mAh battery just like the Z Flip 4. Unless Samsung can pull any power efficiency tricks out their hats, this puts the Z Flip 5 close to the 9 hour mark, as its predecessor lasted 8 hours and 57 minutes on the Laptop Mag Battery Test (continuous web surfing at 150 nits over network).
Outlook
While the siren song of the giant Galaxy Z Fold 5 is hard to resist, there's no denying that the Galaxy Z Flip 5 is a much better option for the majority of consumers and despite it being an incremental update, it's new hinge is slick.
We're covering Samsung Galaxy Unpacked July 2023 live from Seoul, so stick with us for any late-breaking news during the event and live coverage of whatever Samsung unveiled.
