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The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 addresses a major weakness of its predecessors with a larger cover screen. Enough to justify the higher price? To do this, we
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 addresses a major weakness of its predecessors with a larger cover screen. Enough to justify the higher price? To do this, we first want to have another Achilles heel removed.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip has now become an established name in the smartphone landscape. The shiny novelty has worn off and every year the bar for Samsung’s foldable devices can be raised a little higher. Samsung was too cautious with the fourth generation and that left us a little hungry.
In any case, the foldable smartphone market looks different than it did a year ago. Many other brands have jumped on the bandwagon, including Oppo, OnePlus, Xiaomi and Google Pixel. Not all of these devices are available here yet, but much-needed competition has emerged. This should encourage Samsung to go all out with the new generation.
Samsung is also trying this with a new and improved design, but also with an increased price. Is that enough for the Galaxy Z Flip 5 to finally make our jaws drop again?
You should never judge a book by its cover, but this is allowed with the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip smartphones. Our biggest disappointment with the previous versions was the (too) small cover display. This was mostly for show and was just a quick way to check the time or take a photo of yourself.
You can see the biggest change in the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 before you even open the device. Samsung listens to our constructive criticism and the cover display is now almost twice as large at 3.4 inches. Read the next section to see if this growth spurt also makes the screen more useful.
Another design adjustment can be found in the hinge. Samsung’s foldable devices never closed completely, increasing the risk that dust, sand or other objects could damage the screen. Now the screen no longer leaves a gap when folded, although Samsung is still reluctant to remove the letter X from the IP68X rating.
The hinge and screen edges have been further refined to give the Z Flip 5 a look more in line with its price level. Unfortunately for Samsung, we’ve also heard from a witness who wishes to remain anonymous that the smartphone looks like a “fairground phone.” Not exactly what you want to hear if you’ve just paid 1,199 euros for a new smartphone.
Adding widgets is intended to give the cover screen more reason to exist. Widgets are mini versions of applications that you can run on the cover screen. There are a dozen widgets at your disposal, from a calendar app to your contact list. You add these via the dedicated title screen menu in Settings, where you can also customize the order in which they appear.
Through Advanced Features > Labs You can add other apps to the cover screen. Believe it or not, even Netflix is included. The widgets are a very useful addition to the cover screen, but ultimately you’re limited in what you can actually do with them. For example, we can’t think of any reason why you would want to watch your favorite Netflix series on a 3.4-inch screen when there’s a larger screen inside. We also prefer typing a WhatsApp message on a larger screen.
When you open the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5, you might as well be holding the previous model in your hand. Admittedly, Samsung wasn’t able to change much for the better on the display. The main display inside still measures 6.7 inches and Samsung has packed 1,080 x 2,640 pixels into this area. For the pixel fanatics: The cover display has a resolution of 720 x 748.
The brightness is slightly higher and you notice this especially when you turn on the adjustable brightness. The algorithms always seem to interpret this as “maximum brightness” and so you sometimes get an unexpected flash of light in your eyes.
The visible fold line is an annual point of discussion surrounding the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip, and that will be the case again this year. The trench in the middle feels a bit strange when you first touch it, but you get used to it. The impact on the user experience is rather limited, even when playing videos. We find a punch-hole camera that punches a hole in the display to be much more disruptive and this has been implemented much more subtly on this device.
So it all depends on how intensively you pay attention to it. It’s up to Samsung’s display engineers to find a solution here by the next generation to avoid further discussions.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 performed at a top level and, as expected, the Flip 5 continues this trend. This is what Samsung owes to itself with the price increase. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 is being replaced by a newer (and even faster) Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.
We compare with some other flagships that have the same processor on board: the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5, the Xiaomi 13 Pro, the OnePlus 11 and the Samsung Galaxy S23+. The comparison with the latter is very interesting, as Samsung quotes the same price for the Z Flip 5 as for the intermediate model in the S23 series.
The CPU numbers make it clear that the Samsung Galaxy S23+ and the Z Fold 5 can get a little more out of the processor. Will you notice anything? No, because the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 is also lightning fast. The difference lies primarily in the amount of RAM: The Z Flip 5 has to make do with 8 GB of RAM, compared to 12 GB for the other models. However, the average user will never need to take full advantage of this unless you want to play heavy 3D games, for example.
When it comes to the GPU, there is hardly any difference between the top models from Samsung and Xiaomi and OnePlus also have to keep their fingers crossed.
Fortunately, the time when foldable cameras were synonymous with mediocre cameras is definitely over. Samsung therefore decides not to change anything and keeps the dual 12 MP lenses. In good daylight, the photos are vibrant without being overdone, and the same is true after dark. The wide-angle camera sometimes dares to cram too much onto the screen, resulting in unnatural proportions, as can be clearly seen in the photo of the Brussels Palace of Justice in the selection below.
Despite the lack of a telephoto lens, the quality of distant close-ups is still quite good. Even a plane flying over looks like a plane if we try to get the camera as close as possible.
The battery is one of the form factor’s woes. Since the device has to fold easily, there is no space for a large battery, so you get a model with a capacity of 3,700 mAh. In the fitness tests, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 performs significantly better than its predecessor, but it can no longer keep up with models with larger batteries, especially in the performance tests.
Then we come to charging. For those who regularly read our Samsung smartphone reviews, we repeat ourselves, but it remains a point we repeat ad nauseam until Samsung is willing to listen. The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 charges at 25 W. The manufacturer insists in its marketing pitch that this is “fast charging”, but the hard numbers always say something different.
After 22 minutes you are at fifty percent, at eighty percent you have to wait forty minutes. The differences to the Xiaomi 13 Pro and the OnePlus 11 are likely to embarrass Samsung. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 is completely embarrassed. Wireless charging is also supported, although the form factor can play a role here. In foldable smartphones, the magnetic coil is positioned differently, so chargers don’t always want to reach for it.
Why doesn’t Samsung manage to develop a faster charger? Even mid-range devices today charge significantly faster than the top devices from the South Korean brand. If you don’t want to leave your device on the charger every night, you almost have to plan charging your smartphone into your schedule. The company may have a valid excuse for the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5’s smaller battery, but not for its slow charging times.
Finally, we can briefly comment on the software. The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 ships with Android 13 and lasts until Android 17; You will receive security updates for another year. In addition to the fixed range of Google apps that come standard with Android devices, Samsung also likes to offer its own versions of the same applications. These are things you will know by now if you have experience with Samsung smartphones.
What we noticed with the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 is that the manufacturer is looking for new ways to allow account creation until the very last moment. When we wanted to reset our test device to return to Samsung, we were not allowed to perform this action without logging in. This was the first time we experienced this. To be clear, you can use this smartphone without a Samsung account if you don’t feel the need to.
Rarely have we had to think about the final verdict for as long as we did with this review. For us, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 is without a doubt the best of the series. The fifth generation finally seems to have gotten rid of all the growing pains and the Z Flip feels like a mature and finished device for the first time. The improvements to the hinge and cover plate were not only welcome, but necessary.
But the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 has not yet been able to completely convince us of the added value of its form factor. Even in the larger format, the cover display remains nothing more than a gimmick. It’s fun to test apps on it, but you quickly find yourself longing for a larger screen. After opening there is nothing special about the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 and you get a device with a rather mediocre battery. We still find the form factor of the Fold devices more useful, as the cover screen is actually a full-fledged screen.
Ultimately, for us, it’s the high price that kills the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5. The improvements are not enough to justify the price increase. For 1,199 euros everything has to be right and that’s not the case yet. Samsung needs to think about how it wants to position its foldable devices. The Z Flip has to compete with the latest flagships every year, but perhaps the device would perform better in a lower segment.
For 1,199 euros everything has to be right and that is not yet the case with the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 is available in green, black, white and pink. For a copy with 8 GB of memory and 256 GB of storage space you pay 1,199 euros. If you want 256 GB of storage, you pay 1,319 euros. Both prices include VAT.
Android Update Policy: Samsung guarantees that the Galaxy A34 will receive security updates for at least five years and OS updates for four years. This period begins with the launch on July 26, 2023 with Android 13.
Source: IT Daily
As an experienced journalist and author, Mary has been reporting on the latest news and trends for over 5 years. With a passion for uncovering the stories behind the headlines, Mary has earned a reputation as a trusted voice in the world of journalism. Her writing style is insightful, engaging and thought-provoking, as she takes a deep dive into the most pressing issues of our time.
