Samsung Z Flip 5 Review: The Future of Foldable Phones?

Alright, here’s the new Samsung Z Flip 5. It’s their smaller folding phone, starting at $1,000, and the size is almost identical to last year’s Z Flip 4. When this phone was first announced, I remember some top reviewers saying, “This changes everything! This is the biggest upgrade yet!” At the time, I thought it seemed like they were pretty much sticking with the same formula.

Now, to be fair, this video is comparing the Z Flip 5 with the Z Fold 5, looking at how much the foldable phone game has changed over the last year. Samsung seems to be refining and sticking with what works, rather than reinventing the wheel.

But after using the Flip 5 more over the past couple of days, I’ve gotta admit— I was wrong. This is actually one of the biggest updates yet.

There are three main upgrades here compared to the Z Flip 4: the chip, the hinge, and the new outside display. And, honestly, there’s a pretty clear order of importance here, so let me break it down.

First up, they’ve got the overclocked Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip inside. It’s the same one in the Galaxy S23 and S23 Ultra, so it’s totally up to date with the latest flagships. The phone is super snappy— apps open quickly, it’s great for multitasking, and there’s zero lag. It also handles heavy gaming, even though I don’t really game on my phone, but it’s nice to know it can manage it.

A great chip needs to be efficient, right? So when I saw the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy, I was hoping it would bring some improvement to battery life. But, honestly, it didn’t. Not that I should be too surprised, though, since the battery size is still the same—3,700 milliamps. And now, of course, it has a lot more pixels to power, which we’ll get into shortly.

The new chip works fine, but what really stands out is the hinge. As I’ve said before, the hinge is the most important part of a folding phone. You can’t make a great foldable without nailing the hinge, and Samsung’s done a solid job here. For the first time, they’ve simplified the hinge, taking out some parts and making it more streamlined. Fewer moving parts usually means better durability in the long run, and it also makes the phone a bit thinner and more compact around the back.

Shoutout to Dave 2D for the graphic that shows the new internal folding mechanism. It allows the OLED screen to fold with a smoother, wider curve, which reduces stress on the middle of the screen. I’ve got to be honest, I don’t notice a huge difference with the crease. It’s still there, especially when the screen’s off or when you look at it from the side, but once you start using the phone regularly, it’s easy to forget about it.

The real change with the hinge, though, is that it folds completely flat now. Up until now, every Z Flip left a small gap when it closed, which could let in dust, sand, or dirt—pretty bad when the inside screen is the most delicate part of the phone. But now, all foldables are aiming for this gapless close. It’s still not fully dust-proof (it has an IPX8 rating, which means it’s splash-resistant but not dust-resistant), but that satisfying “clap” when it shuts is definitely better now.

The hinge on this phone has gotten noticeably firmer over the years, and it’s definitely sturdier now. It’s one of those things you don’t really notice until you look back at the earlier folding phones, which had pretty loose hinges. I still don’t use the half-folded features much—like propping it up to use the camera or watch videos—but honestly, a solid hinge is always a win.

But the biggest change here is the bigger external screen. The Z Flip has gone from a tiny 1.9-inch display to a full 3.4-inch, 720p screen called the Flex Window, and it’s a massive upgrade. It gives you way more room to check the time, read notifications, and even take photos with the main cameras. It’s a huge improvement for all of that.

Plus, since the screen is so much bigger now, they’ve redesigned the UI to let you flip through up to 11 pages of apps, which really encourages you to use the outside screen more. You can unlock the phone and swipe through to view or organize your notifications or interact with full-screen widgets. There’s a scrollable calendar, weather updates, and more—basically, they’re mini apps designed just for this screen, and they’re fully optimized to work well.

If you’re feeling adventurous, you can also go into the settings and enable non-optimized apps to work on the outside screen. So yeah, there’s no doubt about it—you can do way more with the outside screen than ever before. The only real question now is whether you’ll actually use it. How it fits into your routine is a surprisingly hard thing to figure out.

When I first saw the phone released, I figured, “Okay, it’s got a bigger outside screen,” but honestly, I didn’t think I’d use it much. I assumed I’d mostly keep the phone open, staying away from the temptation of endless doom-scrolling. Maybe I’d glance at the time or quickly check notifications, but I was completely wrong.

What I actually use it for way more than I expected—especially in the mornings—is managing notifications. I find myself just sorting through them, clearing out the ones I don’t need, and reading the important ones. It’s way better than unlocking the phone and falling into the TikTok rabbit hole.

In lab mode, you can only enable a handful of apps on the outside screen: maps, messaging apps, and for some reason, Netflix and YouTube (seriously, who’s watching full videos like that?). I did try responding to some texts using the full QWERTY keyboard that shows up on the outside screen, and while it technically works, I can’t say it’s ideal. Do I really want to type out a whole message on that tiny keyboard? Maybe for a quick reply or using voice-to-text, but I wouldn’t go all-in on it.

There’s also an app called Good Lock in the Samsung Galaxy Store, and with an extension called MultiStar, it lets you add a launcher to the outside screen for any app on your phone. I played around with it a bit, and some things actually work surprisingly well—like scrolling through X (formerly Twitter), flipping through Reddit, or managing Spotify playlists. But there are also a lot of apps that look a mess on a square screen. I wouldn’t recommend using those.

I still think the main point of having a flip phone is the experience of opening and closing it. There’s something satisfying about that action, like it marks the moment when you’re about to really use your phone. The outside screen is nice for some basic functions, but flipping it open still feels like the real “I’m getting into it” moment. It’s all about where you draw the line—what do you do on the outside screen and when do you open it up? My guess is it’s just a matter of time—how long does something take?

For things like checking notifications, seeing the time, or pausing music—those are quick, so they’re perfect for the outside screen. That’s a green light. But for bigger tasks, like watching a long Netflix show or writing an email, you don’t want to do that on the outside screen—that’s a red light. Everything in between, like scrolling through playlists or checking your calendar, is up to you.

If I had feedback for Samsung on the Z Flip 5, I think the overall design is pretty solid now, but there are a couple of things that could improve it.

First, the outside screen is 720p, and while it works, if you look closely, you can see the pixels. A bump in resolution would make it feel a bit more premium.

Second, the outside screen runs at 60Hz all the time, which is fine, but I think adding an LTPO screen would be a great move. It would match the inside screen’s 120Hz refresh rate, which wouldn’t hurt, and also help with battery life. With LTPO, it could drop down to 1Hz when you’re just doing simple tasks like checking notifications or pausing music, which would help with battery life on those smaller batteries. And hey, adding DeX would be a nice bonus.

So, should you buy the Z Flip 5? Honestly, I think this is probably the best folding phone out there for most people right now.