Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 5 is the company’s fifth generation of its clamshell–style foldable smartphone line, and it's also the best example of the South Korean consumer electronics giant's efforts to make foldables the future of its smartphone lineup.
After using the Z Flip 5 while traveling in South Korea, it’s the first foldable that’s made me want to switch back to Google's (GOOG, GOOGL) Android from my iPhone. That may sound blasphemous to my iPhone-owning friends who demand our chats remain free of green text bubbles, but the Flip 5 is that impressive.
The Z Flip 5 is a welcome departure from the candy bar-style smartphones you’ve been using for more than a decade. Folded, it’s a compact handset that easily slips into your pocket or purse, while still allowing you to access your most important apps from its enlarged front screen.
Unfolded, it’s a regular-sized smartphone with all of the features you’d expect from a modern device. But there's one drawback. At $999, the Z Flip 5 is still pricey, even if premium smartphone prices continue to creep ever higher. The Galaxy 23, for instance, starts at $799.
Samsung also has some stiff competition from rival Motorola’s Razr Plus, which also offers a clamshell look and at the same price.
My takeaway: The Z Flip 5 is genuinely a fun, intriguing smartphone that does everything you want with few sacrifices.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 and screen usage
I’ve used and tested every generation of Samsung’s Z Flip line since the company first launched the phone in 2020. And the primary issue I’ve had with the company’s approach has been that its front cover screen was always too small to do much with. That meant having to flip open the phone to actually get anything done, an annoying step that you don’t have to take with a candy bar phone.
But with the Z Flip 5 Samsung has dramatically increased the size of its cover screen, which it refers to as its Flex Window, from 1.9 inches on the Z Flip 4 to 3.4 inches. That allows you to do everything from read notifications and reply to messages to check the weather and control your music.
Samsung also added the ability to run apps on the Flex Window, though, annoyingly, you have to enable the feature in the Z Flip 5’s settings menu.
I watched YouTube, navigated using Google Maps and its South Korean equivalent Naver while in Korea, chatted with friends via Whatsapp and Messages, and even browsed Netflix. It makes the Flex Window a heck of a lot more useful, ensuring it’s not just wasted real estate.
Granted, you might not want to binge “Love is Blind” on the 3.4 inch Flex Window. But if you’re in a jam and don’t want to unfold the phone, it’s a nice option.
And while Motorola’s Razr Plus can run a boatload more apps on its cover screen and has a slightly larger display (3.6 inches), the Z Flip 5’s panel is a great feature and easily the reason the phone won me over in the first place.
Pop open the Z Flip 5, and you’re met by a 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display. Yes, the crease is still visible in certain situations. And yes, Samsung says it’s trying to figure out a way to get rid of it in future phones. But for now, this is the technology’s limits.
It’s not as though the crease is a deal-breaker, either. I didn’t notice it when browsing the web, watching shows, or firing off emails. And while you can feel it when scrolling up and down the display, it’s not a distraction.
Samsung has also brought back its Flex Mode feature, which allows you to open the Z Flip 5 half way, using its bottom as a base that allows it to sit upright.
The mode lets you watch YouTube on the top half of the screen, while scrolling through videos on the bottom half. You can similarly use the feature with camera mode, using the top half of the screen as a viewfinder and the bottom half for photo options.
For most people, though, Flex Mode will be most useful when trying to take selfies or group photos without having to hold your phone.
Like Samsung’s other phones, you can also launch multiple apps side by side, allowing for quick multitasking.
Camera and performance
The Galaxy Z Flip 5 comes with two rear-facing cameras: a 12-megapixel ultra-wide lens and 12-megapixel wide-angle lens. Inside, there’s a 10-megapixel selfie camera. I shot photos across a variety of settings while trying out the Z Flip 5 in South Korea and found images to be on a par with what you’d expect from a high-end smartphone.
Photos I took in bright sunlight offered sharp details without looking washed out, while shots of crowded nighttime streets balanced harsh neon lights with dimly lit bar windows. In photos taken at a cafe, individual bubbles floated softly atop a latte, while green melons in a parfait stood out nicely against a marble tabletop.
I do, however, wish Samsung included a telephoto lens with the Z Flip 5, especially considering its price tag. And while I recognize three cameras on the front panel would be difficult considering the size of the phone’s Flex Window, I wish Samsung would’ve ditched the ultra-wide lens for the added benefit of optical zoom.
As for performance, the Z Flip 5 runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip and 8GB of RAM. Like most flagship smartphones, I didn’t notice any slowdown while using the Z Flip 5, whether that was bouncing between apps or playing games like “Genshin Impact.”
The Z Flip 5’s battery lasted much of the day during my testing despite, taking pictures and using the phone to navigate around Seoul.
The best foldable yet?
After using the Z Flip 5 for more than a week, I'm convinced that Samsung managed to finally hit the sweet spot for its foldables formula. The cover screen is finally usable for more than just checking short messages, and its styling and finish feel polished and sturdy enough to serve as a true flagship.
The Z Flip 5 is one of the first foldables that Android fans should have little doubt in checking out. If its price tag was a bit lower, it would be a no-brainer. But if you can handle the $999, you won’t be disappointed.
Daniel Howley is the tech editor at Yahoo Finance. He's been covering the tech industry since 2011. You can follow him on Twitter @DanielHowley.
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