The Galaxy Z Fold 5 is lighter and thinner than the Z Fold 4 and features a sleeker Flex hinge with less moving parts. But the other upgrades aren’t that impressive and Samsung takes very few risks with its flagship $1,799 foldable phone.
Here’s the pros and cons of the Z Fold 5 based on our hands-on impressions, including the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, slightly better cameras and improved multitasking.
Here’s the pros and cons of the Z Fold 5 based on our hands-on impressions, including the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, slightly better cameras and improved multitasking.
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00:00On paper, the Galaxy Z Fold 5 seems like one of the most incremental upgrades in years.
00:06But now that I have it in my hand, I can say that it definitely feels different than the
00:10Galaxy Z Fold 4.
00:12And that's because of a new flex hinge that results in a more thin and light design, and
00:17you can definitely feel it in your hand.
00:19It's also a design that folds completely flat, which is really nice.
00:22Now the specs are pretty much the same as before, so let's take a walk through what's
00:26new and what's not with the Galaxy Z Fold 5.
00:36The Galaxy Z Fold 5 has a new flex hinge, and the idea is that the durability is about
00:40the same as before, but you are getting a design that closes fully flat, and it's also
00:45thinner and lighter.
00:47So the fact that they were able to deliver that without sacrificing durability is definitely
00:52a point in Samsung's favor.
00:53And you can see that it closes and it opens fairly fluidly, and it seems like it's better
00:59protected than before.
01:01And because you don't have this opening like you did on the previous fold, there's less
01:05of a chance for debris getting in there.
01:08When folded, the Z Fold 5 measures 0.5 inches thick and 0.24 inches when unfolded, compared
01:14to 0.62 and 0.25 inches for the previous model.
01:18By comparison, the Pixel Fold is even thinner, but it weighs a heftier 10 ounces.
01:24The Z Fold 5 is IPX8 water-resistant, which means it can survive 1.5 meters of fresh water
01:29for up to 30 minutes, but it's not dust-resistant.
01:32I do like how the Z Fold 5's camera bump is a bit less prominent, as the flash is now
01:36positioned to the right of the three lenses, but it's still big enough to make the phone
01:40wobble on a table.
01:41The Z Fold 5 comes in three colors.
01:43My favorite is Ice Blue, and there's also Phantom Black and Cream.
01:50Just like the Z Fold 4, the Galaxy Z Fold 5 packs the same size displays with a 6.2-inch
01:55OLED panel on the front and a 7.6-inch screen on the inside, but the inside panel now has
01:59a rated brightness of 1,750 nits, up from 1,000 nits on the previous model.
02:04Yes, the crease is still very much present, but it's not much of an eyesore.
02:08The front display is crisp, and supports the same smooth 120Hz refresh rate as the
02:13inner screen, but it's fairly narrow compared to the Pixel Fold's wider cover display.
02:19So both of them have a cover glass that's protecting the underneath display, but if
02:24you look at it up close, it looks like the protective layer is going all the way to the
02:29edge.
02:30So if you compare that to something like the Pixel Fold, you can see that the protective
02:34layer does not go all the way to the edge, though over time it is something that could
02:39peel off and some users are already complaining that it is only a month or so after sale.
02:47The Galaxy Z Fold 5 has the same camera specs as the Z Fold 4.
02:51In early side-by-side testing with the Z Fold 4, I found the 3x zoom on the new Fold to
02:55deliver sharper details on a backpack and more natural-looking colors.
02:59I also like that you can use these three cameras for taking selfies via the rear camera
03:04selfie mode, which is now easier to engage with the display open.
03:08Just press an on-screen button and flip the Z Fold 5 around.
03:12The cover display still houses a 10MP selfie camera for when you'd rather not perform
03:16those gymnastics.
03:17Unfortunately, the inside of the Z Fold 5 still has a low-res 4MP under-display camera,
03:23but once again, in my side-by-side tests, the image quality looks improved with better
03:28detail and contrast.
03:30Part of this is likely due to the image processing power of the new Snapdragon 8Gen2 chip.
03:36If you like to multitask, the Galaxy Z Fold 5 has some notable upgrades.
03:40Just like before, you can run up to three apps at once, but you can now quickly add
03:43a second app by simply swiping in from the bottom of the display or from the left.
03:47It gets better.
03:48The taskbar at the bottom of the screen displays not only your favorite apps, but also your
03:52four most recently used apps, up from two before.
03:55And you can turn any app into a floating window by simply dragging down from the top right
03:59of the display diagonally.
04:01You can even perform two-handed drag-and-drops.
04:04So for example, you can select an object in a photo and press and hold with one hand,
04:08then open the messaging app with the other hand and just attach the image.
04:11Speaking of apps, Samsung says that Instagram and YouTube have all been better optimized
04:16for the Fold's larger display.
04:18So that's just our first look at the Galaxy Z Fold 5, which doesn't really seem that different
04:22than its predecessor, but a lot of it is going to come down to our testing.
04:25How much faster is it with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor?
04:28How much more battery life do you get because of that chip?
04:31And how much better is the camera system, even though the specs are basically the same
04:34as before?
04:35Stay tuned for our full review of the Galaxy Z Fold 5, and be sure to follow us on TikTok,
04:40Instagram, YouTube, and more.
04:42For Tom's Guide, this is Mark Spoonhauer.