Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 Review: Best Flippin’ Foldable!

Samsung’s been at the forefront of innovation in the foldable space for a few years. Over the last few years, we’ve seen it push boundaries in an attempt to perfect its foldable offerings. While it’s true the company’s foldable still remains a work in progress, it’s also true they are now getting closer to perfection.

Case in point, the latest Galaxy Z Flip5 from Samsung. This flip foldable from the company gets a lot right, including the price, design, and basic feature set. But is it the foldable you should buy? Let’s find out in our review of the device.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5: Specifications

Foldable display	6.7-inch Full HD+ adaptive 120Hz AMOLED
Cover display	3.4-inch 60Hz AMOLED
Chipset	Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy
RAM	8GB (LPDDR5X)
Storage	256GB / 512GB (UFS 4.0)
OS	Android 13 w/ One UI 5.1.1
Primary camera	12MP, f/1.8 w/ OIS
Ultra-wide camera	12MP, f/2.2, 123º FoV
Front Camera	10MP, f/2.2, 85º FoV
Battery	3,700mAh
Weight	187 grams

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5: Design and Display

While the Galaxy Z Fold series of phones are more for enthusiasts, it’s the Galaxy Z Flip series that’s more popular with buyers. This is because of its more user-friendly and ergonomic design language.

Its design language offers an easy path for first-time foldable users who want to experience the world of foldable phones. At the same time, the Z Flip series’ design is very inclusive. Plus, it also appeals to those who want a fashionable phone.

The Galaxy Z Flip5 brings refinements to its design and improves the experience compared to the previous generation Z Flip foldable. It now looks more premium and feels more forward-looking than its predecessors.

Much of this is because of its new front display which completely changes how you can use the Galaxy Z Flip5 in day-to-day use. Until the Z Flip4, the phone’s front display could only be used for notifications.

However, the Z Flip5 instead offers a 3.4-inch, 720p/60HZ AMOLED display which thanks to its support for most apps of daily use makes the outer screen useable for everyday tasks. As such, you can now quickly reply to messages, take phone calls and do a lot more than you could in the past, without even opening the phone’s foldable display.

Apart from this, another big upgrade we see in the design department is the new Flex Hinge. This now allows the Z Flip5 to close fully, without any gap between the two sides of the foldable screen.

The biggest advantage of this feature is that it improves the phone’s durability by ensuring that dust is not able to find its way between the two sides of the foldable screen. Plus, it gives the phone a more premium look.

When opened, we get access to the phone’s main display. Honestly, not much has changed here since last year. This is a 6.7-inch 120Hz panel that offers punchy colors and is great to use. It is not exactly creaseless if you were wondering.

So if you look at the phone’s display switched off or from an angle, then the crease can definitely be seen. But it’s definitely less apparent compared to the one on the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4.

This display is also brighter compared to the one found on the previous generation Flip. So instead of a maximum brightness rating of 1200, the Z Flip5’s panel can now touch 1750nits of peak brightness. This makes the Z Flip5 great for use even under direct sunlight.

Another thing of note is that the Galaxy Z Flip5 brings IPX8 rating for water resistance. This means the device does offer some level of protection from water. In this case, it can survive being submerged in up to 1.5 meters of fresh water for up to 30 minutes.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5: Performance and Battery

Under the hood, the Galaxy Z Flip5 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor. This is the most powerful chipset available for Android phones in 2023. This is paired with 8GB of RAM and 256 or 512GB of internal storage. Yes, starting this year, Samsung has removed the 128GB storage variant, which in my opinion is a welcome move for 2023.

All this core hardware comes together to offer decent performance in everyday use, with basic tasks such as browsing, social media apps, streaming, and general multitasking handled without any troubles by the phone.

The performance during day-to-day tasks is smooth and quick, with the phone showing no signs of lag or stutter in our time with it. Plus, the 120Hz refresh rate also makes interactions with the phone feel more fluid and responsive.

The chipset is also powerful enough for handling more resource-intensive applications, and games as well as benchmarks. We tested the device by running Call of Duty Mobile and Asphalt Legends on it, and both games ran without any trouble.

Moving on to the battery department, there is an uptick in performance in comparison to last year’s Galaxy Z Flip4. This is despite the Flip5 housing the same 3700mAh battery as last year’s Samsung flip phone.

The Galaxy Z Flip5 has a dual-battery system that combines two separate batteries into one with a total capacity of 3,700mAh. However, because the phone uses a more battery-efficient RAM and chipset, the phone promises longer run-time on a single charge.

During our review, we got around a day’s use from the phone once the battery was charged to the brim. And once drained completely, it took us slightly over half an hour to charge the phone from zero to 50% and about an hour and a half to fill the battery to the brim. All of this using Samsung’s 25W fast wired charging tech of course.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5: Cameras

The cameras are the one department where we feel Samsung could have done a bit more. In fact, it is where Samsung had the most scope for improvement and surprisingly, turned out to be the area where very little growth has been made this year.

In terms of hardware, the Galaxy Z Flip5 cameras are the same as the Galaxy Z Flip4. However, because of improved software and the use of a more advanced ISP, the performance in this department is slightly better this year.

In the daytime, the primary lens is capable of capturing a decent amount of light to ensure sharp and detailed photos. These pictures offer natural colors, decent dynamic range, and accurate white balance.

However, the performance still feels a step below what you get on most other flagship phones in the market. The main camera is also capable of recording 4K videos at up to 60 frames per, with good stabilization and audio quality. But the results again are nothing extraordinary.

Apart from this, the only other lens you get on the device is an ultra-wide lens. While it’s true that more is not always better in terms of camera lenses on phones, at just two lenses, the Z Flip5 does feel a little underpowered when compared to other flagships.

Much like the main lens, this one too does decently well in the daytime but starts to show weakness in low light. The same is also the case for the selfie camera, which takes decent selfies in good lighting but struggles in low light. However, one quick fix for this is using the phone’s Cover Screen to click selfies using the rear camera of the device.

If we are being honest, the Galaxy Z Flip5 cameras aren’t bad. But the problem is they aren’t impressive either. The phone’s camera unchanged camera hardware is good enough for social media photography. However, anything beyond that appears to be out of its range.

And if we are putting it in a direct fight with other flagships such as the Z Fold5, Pixel 7 Pro, Galaxy S23 series phones, or the latest iPhones, the performance is just not at the same level.

But then again, none of these devices, except the Z Fold5, offer foldable screens. And the Z Fold5 costs almost twice as much as the Flip5. So there’s definitely a case to be made here for the new clamshell foldable from Samsung.

Galaxy Z Flip5: Should you buy it?

Well, we’d say yes.

The Galaxy Z Flip5 is arguably the best clamshell foldable phone to date. Its improved design, performance, and all-new cover screen make it a very good option to consider. In fact, the Galaxy Z Flip5 in many ways is the best flippin’ foldable to date, even better than its elder sibling, the Galaxy Fold5 in terms of price-to-performance ratio.

So if you’re looking to get into the foldable phone game then investing in the Galaxy Z Flip5 may just be a good idea. Alternatively, you can also spend a little more and get yourself the ultimate foldable experience in the form of the Z Fold5. But do know that its design may not be for everyone. So choose wisely.