Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 Review: A Bigger Cover Display Doesn’t Guarantee a Better Foldable
Motorola’s Razr 40 Ultra shook up the foldable phone scene with its futuristic design and innovative cover display. Samsung, the long-reigning king, found itself playing catch-up. The Galaxy Z Flip 5, their latest offering, boasts a larger cover display, dubbed the “Flex Window”. But, as they say, size isn’t everything. Does the Galaxy Z Flip 5 truly deliver the rock-solid software experience needed to reclaim its foldable throne in India? Let’s find out.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 Price in India
The Galaxy Z Flip 5 comes with a noticeable price bump compared to its predecessor, the Galaxy Z Flip 4, which launched at ₹89,999. The Z Flip 5 starts at ₹99,999 for the base 256GB variant, justifying the increase with the latest processor and more storage. A 512GB option is also available at ₹1,09,999. Available in vibrant colour options – Mint, Graphite, Cream, and Lavender – it also comes in three special edition finishes: gray, blue, and green, featuring a matte-black frame.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 Design
While the design has undergone subtle refinements, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 retains a similar look and feel as its predecessor, the Galaxy Z Flip 4. The new hinge contributes to a slimmer, more compact feel when folded, closing the gap that previously allowed dust to enter the phone.
The most noticeable design change is the expanded cover display, stretching from edge to edge on the top half of the folded phone. This creates a visually appealing contrast, but the large bezels and the folder-like cutout at the bottom surrounding the cameras and LED flash detract from the sleek aesthetic. This also stands in stark contrast to the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra’s radical cover display design.
The overall layout of the device remains largely unchanged. Samsung’s new hinge fortunately maintains the IPX8 rating, offering reliable water resistance against splashes. This puts it above the Razr’s IP53 rating, which offers basic water protection but is better equipped for dust resistance.
One of the most significant design considerations for foldable phones is the crease on the main display. While Samsung touts the new hinge as more drop-resistant and slimmer when folded, the crease remains as prominent as on the Galaxy Z Flip 4. Motorola and Oppo have achieved better crease reduction in their foldable displays, however, this comes at the cost of a lower IP rating.
Despite the crease, Samsung’s inner display remains notably durable and robust. However, the narrow display aspect ratio, similar to previous models, leads to cramped typing compared to the broader screen of the Oppo Find N2 Flip.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 Specifications and Software
The Galaxy Z Flip 5 follows the same formula as the Galaxy S23 and S23+, meaning that the core hardware enhancements are primarily focused on the new processor, intended to deliver better performance, battery life, and imaging. This year, that processor is the top-of-the-line Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy. This tweaked version of the standard processor sets the Galaxy Z Flip 5 apart from other clamshell foldables launched in India this year.
Connectivity features include Wi-Fi 6e, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC, support for standard global positioning systems, and a Type-C USB port with USB 3.2 (Gen 1) support. It’s powered by a 3,700mAh battery and boasts 25W wired charging support, despite missing a charger in the box. Wireless charging is also available at 15W.
The Galaxy Z Flip 5 ships with One UI 5.1.1 based on Android 13. While the software is in line with Samsung’s typical One UI experience, offering extensive customization options for the main screen and the new Flex Window, it has a few noticeable shortcomings.
Samsung offers a number of customisable cover screen layouts, resembling watch faces on a smartwatch. The problem lies in their lack of interactivity. With the exception of the camera button, none of these designs, including notifications or battery icons, are responsive. This means tapping on a notification or battery icon doesn’t actually navigate to the notifications area or battery section. I found these designs purely aesthetic and impractical, forcing users to either scroll through a long list of widgets or open the main display.
The Motorola Razr 40 Ultra’s cover display stands out due to its practicality – it acts as a fully functional phone on the outside. Notifications are handled seamlessly, allowing users to expand them to view additional content and access action buttons (like delete, reply, archive for email apps). This enables users to interact with notifications without opening the main app.
Unfortunately, Samsung’s Flex Window lacks this essential functionality. Swiping or long-pressing a notification does nothing. The only options are to dismiss the notification or open it, which leads to a small card with truncated information depending on the app and its compatibility with Samsung’s system.
While there are some improvements, the notification system still falls short. Messaging app notifications will reveal the full message in a small card with "reply" and "clear" buttons, as well as predefined quick replies. However, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 now includes a pop-up keyboard on the cover display for composing custom replies.
Other app categories get a truncated information card with a "clear" button to dismiss the notification. This lack of interaction often forces users to open the main display, making the whole notification system quite frustrating.
There’s a third category encompassing supported third-party apps, enabled through the beta Labs feature. These apps can be launched and viewed directly on the cover display. This functionality sounds intriguing but quickly becomes tiring, requiring constant switching between the cover and main display to handle notifications. For example, while tapping on a WhatsApp notification will open the chat window directly on the cover display, this necessitates moving back and forth between the notifications area and the app.
These three notification categories can be incredibly confusing for casual users as they have to remember which apps provide usable information (cards with a reply button) and which ones don’t (a simple card). After using the phone for a few days, I found it simpler to just open the main display and deal with notifications from the dropdown tray like on a regular phone.
The cover display currently supports a limited number of apps, including Google Maps, Messages, Netflix, WhatsApp, and YouTube, requiring users to enable them manually in the Labs section. While these apps are optimised for the outer display, Samsung promises to add more in the future.
The cover display allows app transitions from the cover display to the main display, enabling apps to adapt to the main display’s tall aspect ratio. However, unlike the Razr, this functionality doesn’t work vice versa. Apps can only transition from the cover to the main display, not the other way around.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 Performance
Despite the cover display’s limitations, the main display’s software interface performs exceptionally well. One UI runs seamlessly, displaying no signs of stuttering or lag, even with the inclusion of bloatware and third-party apps. While disappointing, these third-party apps can be uninstalled.
Benchmark results are what you would expect from the Galaxy Z Flip 5. The phone achieved a score of 12,87,359 points in AnTuTu and 1,998 and 5,176 points in Geekbench’s single and multi-core tests respectively. These impressive scores represent the highest ever recorded for clamshell foldable smartphones.
Gaming performance surpassed expectations. The Galaxy Z Flip 5 outperforms the Galaxy Z Flip 4 in terms of touch sampling rate, addressing a common concern with games like Call of Duty Mobile. While the phone heats up slightly when running at ‘Very High’ graphics and ‘Max’ framerate, overall performance remained strong even after 30 minutes of competitive gaming.
The Galaxy Z Flip 5’s 3.4-inch outer Super AMOLED display, with a standard 60Hz refresh rate, provides a smooth user experience. Inside, the 6.7-inch full-HD+ AMOLED folding panel boasts a 120Hz refresh rate with an LTPO configuration, allowing it to drop down to 1Hz for battery saving when necessary. Both displays deliver saturated colours at default settings and exhibit excellent sunlight legibility. The main display also supports HDR10+ playback, and the dual speakers contribute to an immersive multimedia experience for movies and games.
Battery life is a bit of a mixed bag. The Galaxy Z Flip 5 achieved 16 hours and 45 minutes in our video loop battery test. However, daily usage figures raise some concerns. Regular use, including social media, email, camera, gaming, video streaming, and calls, resulted in a battery level of 9% at 6 pm after starting at 7 am.
This underperformance may be attributed to reduced cover screen usage. While the cover display, if implemented correctly, could potentially save battery life, its shortcomings limited its application.
A 61W USB PD charger managed a 26% charge in 30 minutes but took a lengthy 2 hours and 14 minutes to fully charge, a notable drawback compared to competitors. The phone retains wireless charging capabilities, offering a convenient option for trickle charging when not in use.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 Cameras
For the third year running, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 maintains a similar camera system to its predecessor, with minimal upgrades beyond those enabled by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC’s ISP. The camera hardware remains identical to the Galaxy Z Flip 4, which wasn’t too bad to begin with.
It features a 12-megapixel primary camera with OIS, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera, and a 10-megapixel selfie camera embedded into the main folding display. The camera interface is standard for Samsung smartphones, although the Galaxy Z Flip 5’s primary camera can double as a selfie camera. While this was possible with the Galaxy Z Flip 4, the larger cover display makes it much easier to use this mode and frame photos. The expanded cover display allows for snapping photos using the rear cameras in tent mode.
Overall image quality closely resembles the previous model. The primary camera delivers sharp daytime photos with the typical saturated colours expected from Samsung phones. While sufficient, details are limited and fall short of the superior imaging capability of the similarly priced Galaxy S23.
Samsung’s Scene Optimiser, enabled by default, slightly saturates colours and introduces warmer tones compared to standard photos, but the enhancements aren’t drastic. Portrait photos captured with the same camera are decent, with acceptable edge detection, but the subjects often appear overexposed and occasionally exhibit clipped highlights.
The ultra-wide camera captures average-quality photos in daylight, but they lack resolution, especially in shadows.
Daylight selfies from the selfie camera are sharp and clear with good edge detection in Portrait mode. However, the primary camera consistently produces better results in terms of detail and definition, making it the preferable option.
In low light, the primary camera delivers decent details when using the auto-night mode (enabled by Scene Optimiser) or the dedicated Night mode. While the dynamic range is good, especially in shadows, it falls short compared to daylight photos. Street-lit scenes exhibit average details and appear oversharpened with crushed blacks in the shadows. The primary camera also experiences difficulties locking focus in dimly lit scenes, resulting in soft photos, particularly when using Night mode.
Unlike the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 lacks a macro mode. However, the primary camera can focus on objects as close as 10-15cm, offering satisfactory results.
4K 30fps videos are average in terms of detail, with decent colour saturation but underexposed shadows. Stabilisation is not an issue at these settings. While 4K 60fps videos maintain a steady framerate, they appear shaky. HDR10+ videos recorded at 4K 30fps are underwhelming, despite the enhanced detail in shadows. Low-light video lacks noise, but this leads to flattened or blotched textures.
Verdict
While the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 offers improved image and video quality compared to the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra, neither should be purchased primarily for their photographic capabilities. They are notably average compared to competitors. If you prioritise good camera and video quality, the Samsung Galaxy S23 is a more robust choice, even without the folding features.
When considering the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra and the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5, the Razr emerges as the more appealing option due to its optimized cover display experience, which is currently unmatched. Motorola’s MyUX software experience is also superior, minimizing bloatware and additional apps, and offering a user experience closer to a Google Pixel. The Razr 40 Ultra also stands out thanks to its sleek design and radical-looking cover display.
Samsung excels in overall performance, optimization, and image quality. Our previous comparison of the Oppo Find N2 Flip with the Galaxy Z Flip 4 favoured Samsung. While Samsung continues to hold an edge, its main standout feature isn’t as beneficial as expected. If you already own a Galaxy Z Flip 4, it’s wise to hold onto it for now.
