First impressions of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5

Who would have thought that the world will be full of exciting foldable smartphones by 2023? What started out as an exclusive playground for Samsung four years ago has now become a battle arena full of other global brands trying to remove Samsung from its throne with exciting implementations of a foldable smartphone.

Be it the stylish flip smartphones from Motorola or the sleek book-style foldable phablets from Vivo, consumers now have multiple options to play with. In order to stay relevant and continue being the leader of foldable phones, Samsung has to rely on the ace (or rather aces) up its sleeves and when it comes to aces, Samsung couldn’t get better ones than the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5.

Announced at the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2023 event in Seoul, South Korea amidst much fanfare, these fifth-generation foldable smartphones from Samsung bring in refinements in larger doses instead of opting for revolutionary features. At first glance, these may seem inadequate on paper, especially when compared to the competition. Fortunately for us, we got a chance to experience both the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and the Galaxy Z Flip 5 in person ahead of the Galaxy Unpacked event and well, we have a lot to say.

So, without further ado, here are our hands-on, first impressions of the Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Galaxy Z Fold 5 foldable smartphones.

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First impressions of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5

Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip began its life as the more stylish alternative to the Motorola Razr and that has allowed Samsung to gain a considerable lead. Now in its fifth generation, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 brings a host of refinements that could easily make it the best flip-style smartphone money can buy in 2023.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5’s stunning design

The Galaxy Z Flip 5’s biggest claim to fame is its larger cover display. From the cramped 1.9-inch ‘viewfinder’ to a massive 3.4-inch display, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 aims to enhance the practicality aspect without needing to ‘flip open’ the phone for basic activities.

The cover display is shaped uniquely like a Windows folder but Samsung’s One UI makes smarter use of the space. The clock faces have now evolved into interactive pages with widgets and shortcuts to certain activities. You get to see more of everything, i.e., more of the weather data, a usable viewfinder to take selfies and more notifications.

In fact, the Flip 5’s cover display finally allows you to respond to text messages with a compact QWERTY keyboard. You can even dial a phone number from here! In essence, all the basic phone functions are accessible from the cover display, which is a great convenience while you are on the move. Unlike the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra, Samsung doesn’t allow one to run third-party apps on a compromised scale. A future update could be on the cards to open a few apps in a compact aspect ratio but as of now, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 asks you to flip open the phone and use the main display to run third-party apps.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, considering there’s a larger and more beautiful 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with FHD+ pixel resolution and a variable refresh rate of up to 120Hz waiting for you. The display still exhibits a crease but, unless you have severe OCD, it’s not going to be bothersome.

Not to mention, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 retains the IPX8 rating for water ingress protection.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5’s specs: A more powerful chip takes things up a notch

The bigger and more meaningful refinements come in this department.

The battery capacity remains unchanged from that of the Galaxy Z Flip 4 at 3,700mAh. However, it is the newer and more power-efficient Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset that promises to make the Galaxy Z Flip 5 last an entire day, a claim that we are eager to test later in our full review. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is also expected to improve the raw performance on offer when compared to its predecessor. The cameras remain unchanged, hosting two 12-megapixel sensors for the main camera setup and a 10-megapixel sensor for selfies and video calls.

Other than the performance, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 also feels lighter and handier to use. Thanks to a new hinge, there’s no gap between the two halves when the phone is folded shut. The hinge offers less resistance, thereby making it a tad easier to open the phone. The slimmer profile also makes it easy to keep the Galaxy Z Flip 5 in your pocket.

Although Samsung is yet to disclose the pricing, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 makes a flip smartphone more desirable. Will it fare better than its predecessors in the real world? Keep an eye out for our full review where we try to answer that question.

First Impressions of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5

The Galaxy Z Fold has been Samsung’s most desirable foldable smartphone ever since its broke cover in 2019. It was surprising to see Samsung pulling off all the revolutionary upgrades in its second year with the Galaxy Z Fold 2 though subsequent generations of the Galaxy Z Fold have only seen minor refinements. Considering the popularity of these phones, however, it can be argued that consumers with deep pockets and/or colossal multitasking needs won’t abandon the Galaxy Z Fold series as long as it remains a phone that folds out into a compact tablet.

The phone is now in its fifth-generation avatar and the refinements seem more minor than ever before. Other than the new Icy Blue colour, the Galaxy Z Fold 5 looks no different than the one it replaces. The refinements are felt only when you hold it (provided you have used the Galaxy Z Fold 4).

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5: A Design Déjà Vu?

For most consumers, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 may seem identical to its predecessor. You get a 6.2-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X cover display with HD+ resolution and a variable refresh rate between 48Hz to 120Hz when you need to access basic phone functions or take a quick glance at necessary apps. Honestly, most people can get through the entire day by solely relying on the cover display.

However, the magic of the Galaxy Z Fold 5 begins as soon as you unfold the handset.

The 7.6-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X main display with a pixel resolution of QXGA+ and a variable refresh between 1Hz-120Hz offers a truly immersive tablet experience. In the little time I had with the Fold 5, it was a great experience to stack Gmail and Chrome side-by-side, dragging an image from one app to another. The expansive display also seems wonderful for reading stories from Augustman and Lifestyle Asia side-by-side. Not to mention, all the while I was reading something, the under-display 4-megapixel camera remained hidden well out of sight (most of you won’t even notice it’s there unless reminded of it).

However, Samsung’s biggest design refinement here comes in the form of a new hinge system that’s also present on the Flip 5. The new hinge eliminates the gap when the phone is folded shut. The revised internal geometry of the hinge and the phone’s chassis also make the Galaxy Z Fold 5 about 10 grams lighter than its predecessor. As someone who was used to the bulk of the Galaxy Z Fold 4, the Galaxy Z Fold 5 feels lighter and slimmer. The best part is that it still retains the IPX8 certification for water ingress protection.

Looking at Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5’s specs

While most people will focus on the Galaxy Z Fold 5’s displays, Samsung has made improvements in other areas as well.

The S Pen stylus for the Galaxy Z Fold 5 is still an optional extra as the new smartphone doesn’t have its own silo as the Galaxy S23 Ultra does. However, the S Pen is much slimmer and waterproof. Buyers can also opt for the optional S Pen case that cleverly holds the S Pen on the back, similar to Samsung’s tablets.

Under the hood is the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset that promises top-notch performance and great power efficiency. This should come in handy to keep the smartphone chugging through an entire day despite having a relatively smaller 4,400mAh battery (when compared to the Galaxy S23 Ultra). We also expect the new Qualcomm chip to provide better stamina when compared to the outgoing model.

This new chip is also expected to offer better image processing for the onboard cameras. The Galaxy Z Fold 5 continues to use a familiar camera setup on the back, hosting a 50-megapixel main camera, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera with 123-degree FOV and a 10-megapixel telephoto camera with 3X optical zoom and 30X digital zoom. There’s also a 10-megapixel camera on the cover display for selfies and video calls.

Sadly, a couple of the features have been carried over from older models and we were expecting to see improvements. The fingerprint sensor is still a capacitive one sitting on the power key and could have been upgraded to an in-display ultrasonic sensor solution. The charging speeds are also limited to 25W, which could have been upgraded to the wee-bit faster 45W solution that you see on the Galaxy S23 Ultra.

All in all, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 and the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 appear to bring in key refinements to help Samsung stay ahead of the game.

This article first appeared on Augustman India

(Hero and Featured Image Credits: Courtesy Augustman / Amritanshu Mukherjee)