On Wednesday, Samsung took wraps off its latest generation of foldable smartphones – the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and the Galaxy Z Flip 5 in Seoul. The Galaxy Unpacked event was the biggest from the company in the recent past and as expected, Samsung showed off its Android hardware prowess across product categories.
Aside from the foldable phones, the company launched a new smartwatch and tablet line-up, including the impressive Galaxy Watch6 and the cutting-edge Tab S9 range. While the noise was loudest about the foldables, the top-of-the-line Z Fold 5, starting at $1799, was a rather dull upgrade among all the products.
There are two key upgrades in the Z Fold 5 – a new hinge that closes the gap when folded, and the other is reduced weight and thickness. Having used the Z Fold 4 for over six months as my daily driver, I don’t doubt that the Galaxy Z Fold 5 must be a competent and complete folding phone. But is it a significant upgrade over its predecessor? Not really.
What’s Good In The New Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5: The Galaxy Z Fold 5 has a streamlined design that eliminates the gap between the screens, thanks to a waterdrop-style hinge, making it more appealing than its predecessors. Also, the gap was among the most hated traits of the previous Fold, so it’s great that Samsung heard the feedback and refined the design.
Compared to the previous model, the Z Fold 5 is 2.4mm thinner when folded and 10g lighter, making it more comfortable to hold. At 253 grams, it is merely 13 grams heavier than the iPhone 14 Pro Max. And the body is IPX8 dust and water-resistant, which adds to the reasoning behind the premium price tag.
And lastly, software optimization, multitasking features, and stylus support give it an upper hand over competing foldable phones, many of which are only available in some major markets where Samsung is the only company selling them.
What Samsung Should Learn From Competitors: The first thing that I am surprised that Samsung couldn’t eliminate is the crease. Oppo Find N2 and Huawei Mate X3 have almost managed to do away with the crease. While Samsung’s crease had become less prominent on the Z Fold 4, it couldn’t manage to reduce it further despite having a new hinge mechanism.
The biggest turnoff about the new Fold is its charging wattage. While the competition has crossed 60W at minimum, the Galaxy Z Fold 5 is still stuck at 25W over USB-C and can handle 15W wirelessly through a Qi-compatible charging pad. The Huawei Mate X3 can manage 66W wired and 50W wireless charging, which is way quicker.
Also, while I have praised the cutdowns in weight and thickness, it still needs to be closer to what the competition is offering. The Honor Magic V2 is just 9.9mm in its folded state (4.7mm unfolded), weighing 231 grams despite having a 5000mAh battery. The Z Fold 5 is 13.4mm when folded and 6.1mm when unfolded, with a smaller battery capacity of 4400mAh. While the 253 grams weight is commendable – the thickness, while folded, still shows room for improvement.
Under the hood, the new Fold has a custom-tweaked Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 CPU, 12GB of RAM, and multiple storage options. Both the inner and outer displays boast impressive specs, including 120Hz refresh rate and vibrant AMOLED colors. Samsung’s OneUI interface provides excellent multitasking features, allowing users to open three apps simultaneously on the inner display and a fourth in a floating window.
Everything Else Remains The Same: The Fold 5 packs the same cameras, display aspect ratios on the front and inside, battery capacity, and charging wattage.
Samsung might have the most functional foldable smartphone in the market, but it's definitely not the most advanced and cutting edge, either. As mentioned, there are areas where it can improve, especially when the competition has proved it’s possible, and it's the third time that Samsung has done an iterative upgrade to the Fold series.
Image Credits – Samsung
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