Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 Review: Incremental upgrades to an already solid device

Pros:
– Redesigned Hinge that feels a lot smoother
– Virtually no gap between the two halves
– Slimmer than previous generations
– Best software for a phablet-styled foldable on the market right now
– Ultimate performance and multitasking chops
– Beautifully vivid displays
– Built like a tank
– Crease, although present is much less prominent than before

Cons:
– Battery life, although strong most of the time, can be unpredictable
– 25W slow charging
– Expensive
– Uses the same camera from the Fold 4

Rating: 4.75/5
Pricing: Starts at Rs 1,54,999 for the 256GB+12GB variant

On the surface, it looks like Samsung hasn’t really updated last year’s Galaxy Z Fold 4, for this year. However, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 has many incremental upgrades that improve an already solid smartphone. Just picking up the phone and opening it feels a lot better now, thanks to a newly designed hinge.

The foldable smartphone space has heated up now that we have more phablet-styled devices from a number of manufacturers. Despite this, the Fold 5 continues to be the king of the hill, especially when it comes to performance. The Galaxy Z Fold 5 continues to be the multitasking beast that it was, but only better. Plus, it has a much better battery life than last year’s Fold 4.

However, there are some issues. For example, it carries the same camera module as last year, and it still doesn’t have the dust protection rating that we have been waiting for. So how does it fare, and should you even consider a phablet-styled foldable smartphone?

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 Review: Design
The Galaxy Z Fold 5 is pretty much like its earlier siblings in terms of looks, especially from the front and back. At the front, you get that same tall and narrow cover screen. At the back, there are three cameras all lined up vertically, similar to last year.

The Z Fold 5 is definitely sleeker than the Z Fold 4, thanks to this new Flex hinge it’s got. This hinge is built more streamlined with fewer moving parts, which lets the phone fold totally flat without any gap between its two parts. This is actually pretty cool because it means less chance of stuff getting stuck in there.

Unlike the older Z Folds, where you could see right through a gap when folded, the Z Fold 5 doesn’t have that issue. The two halves of the Fold 5 still don’t touch each other perfectly, but the gap between them is much smaller now.

Samsung didn’t do anything to fix the crease in the middle of the display, though. But honestly, it doesn’t mess with your real-world experience much. The crease runs up and down on these book-style foldables, so your fingers don’t run into it that often. And unless the light is hitting it just right, your eyes don’t catch it most of the time.

Samsung’s also working on making its foldable dust-resistant, but that’s not here yet. The Z Fold 5, just like the Z Flip 5, is certified as IPX8, which means it can handle being underwater (up to 1.5 meters deep) for about 30 minutes. Samsung still says these devices can handle folding and unfolding about 200,000 times in normal use.

The new Flex Hinge is what shines through. It’s super quiet and smooth. This hinge adds a really premium and luxurious feel to the whole phone. Plus, it stays open at different angles, which is awesome for watching videos. Within a day of using it, any initial stiffness disappears, leaving you with a really confident and well-designed folding motion. The Fold 5 has the same reassuring snap that we all got used to with the Fold 4.

They’ve also reduced the camera bump on the Z Fold 5. The flash has been moved to the right of the three lenses.

When it comes to colours, the Z Fold 5 offers three choices. Personally, I’m a fan of the Phantom Black option, but there’s also cream and icy blue, the one we tested.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 Review: Displays
Just like its predecessor, the Z Fold 4, the Galaxy Z Fold 5 features displays of the same size – a 6.2-inch OLED panel on the front and a larger 7.6-inch screen on the inside. However, the internal screen now boasts a rated brightness of 1,750 nits, a 30% increase over the Z Fold 4. While most display specifications have stayed the same, both screens support a smooth 120Hz refresh rate, utilize a Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel, and have custom resolutions set at 1812 x 2176 pixels for the main display and 904 x 2316 pixels for the cover display.

When it comes to video content, anything we played on the larger screen looked fantastic, with vibrant colours and reasonably wide viewing angles. The crease is still there, but it’s barely noticeable unless you’re under direct sunlight or have the device at an angle.

The foldable screen’s resolution might seem a tad underwhelming at times. Nevertheless, there’s not much else to grumble about. The 7.6 inches of screen real estate significantly enhances the experience – whether you’re taking notes, watching videos, surfing the web, juggling multiple apps, or gaming.

However, it’s important to handle the foldable display with a bit of care. It’s still protected by a layer of ultra-thin glass that doesn’t provide extensive safeguarding. The display comes with a protective film out of the box, but don’t expect it to handle rough treatment.

The cover screen doesn’t come with an applied protector, but thanks to Gorilla Glass Victus 2, you can have confidence that it won’t easily succumb to scratches.

Although the Galaxy Z Fold 5’s 6.2-inch cover display may seem a little weird at first, mainly because of its freakishly narrow cover display, you get used to it. Personally, I actually like it a lot, as it actually cut down the usage of my main screen by a lot.

It’s alright for apps like Instagram, Chrome and your diallers as such, but it starts to feel a bit crumpled when you’re typing, mostly because of its unusual 23.1:9 aspect ratio. Even though you can type on the screen, using swiping might be a better choice if you want to steer clear of those pesky typos.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 Review: Camera
The Z Fold 5 retains the same camera setup as its predecessor, consisting of a 50MP main camera, a 12MP ultra-wide lens, and a 10MP telephoto with 3x optical zoom on the back. Additionally, there’s a 10MP front-facing camera and a 4MP camera under the main display. These cameras are more than capable of producing great shots in various conditions.

That being said, given its price, it might have been nice to see the inclusion of the impressive 200MP ISOCELL HP sensor found in the S23 Ultra, which has been hailed as one of the top camera phones of the year.

In well-lit environments, the Z Fold 5 captures images with Samsung’s signature rich and vibrant colour profile. However, this approach can sometimes lead to a slight loss of detail, occasional overexposed highlights, and slightly less precise colours. On the other hand, in low-light situations, Samsung’s Night Mode does a commendable job of enhancing exposure without introducing significant artefacts.

While the Z Fold 5’s camera doesn’t strive for complete realism in every shot, it’s unlikely to disappoint. It does have its limitations, but overall, the camera experience has seen some improvements over the Galaxy Z Fold 4. The Z Fold 5’s photos are full of life and vibrant colours. As we mentioned in our review of the Flip 5, you wouldn’t necessarily choose these devices solely for their camera performance or power, but more for their unique form factors. Essentially, they are lifestyle products.

When it comes to taking selfies, you have a range of choices with the Z Fold 5. You can opt for the 10MP front camera on the cover screen, or use the 4MP Under Display Camera (UDC) on the inner screen, or even use the main cameras with the cover screen serving as your viewfinder.

The 10MP selfie camera on the cover screen delivers sufficient detail, and it captures skin tones in a realistic manner. Moreover, the portrait effect is pretty accurate, adding a nice touch to your shots. As for the 4MP, the photos it produces might be slightly softer, but they work decently well for video calls. Having said that, it would have been better if Samsung completely skipped the UDC on this one, and spent that money somewhere else, perhaps a better, and higher resolution main camera as the headline of the camera array.

You can check out a few unedited samples from the Galaxy Z Fold 5’s camera here.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 Review: Performance, software experience and UI
We get to see the same Galaxy version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, which was designed specifically for Samsung’s flagship this year. It was used in Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23+, and Galaxy S23 Ultra and is a remarkable chip. Those three devices are known for being blazing fast, no matter what. I am happy to report that we get to see the same prowess of the Galaxy Z Fold 5.

It’s got a solid 12GB of RAM and you can choose between 256GB, 512GB, or a whopping 1TB of internal storage. That’s some serious space. The power behind it is pretty impressive, and it looks like it’s working really efficiently too. Personally, I haven’t run into any problems with overheating or strange battery drain. This is all thanks to a new vapour chamber that Samsung is using.

Samsung didn’t really mess with the software much, so it’s pretty much like what you’d find on the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and the Galaxy S23 series. That is why, the Z Fold 5 just refuses to stutter or struggle no matter what you throw at it. This should come as a surprise as it is driving more pixels than the three S23 devices, and can be used as a proper multitasking device.

Right off the bat, the Galaxy Z Fold 5 runs on Android 13 and One UI 5.1.1. It’s loaded with tons of software features that make the most out of its foldable design. A lot of this stuff is stuff we’ve seen before on other foldable phones, like how apps on the cover screen resize themselves when you unfold the phone, so you can keep using them on the larger inner display.

Speaking of Multitasking, the Z Fold 5 continues to be the same multitasking juggernaut that all its previous iterations, were. You can have three apps at once on the main screen. On top of that, you can also have a floating window.

The big difference you’ll notice is on the Taskbar. Instead of just two recent apps, now you can see up to four there. This is super handy for making the most of the Z Fold 5’s multitasking abilities. You can easily drag apps onto the main screen using the Taskbar.

You also get all the benefits of Samsung’s Flex features when you have the device opened up at a certain angle. If you are a proper multitasker, always on the go, there can be no other mobile device that can even come close to the Z Fold 5. I would even go as far as to say that for most people, this can completely replace a thin and light laptop.

And then, there is gaming and synthetic benchmarks on the Z Fold 5. The Z Fold 5 just crushes through benchmarks as we have seen, scoring in the top 1% of most flagship devices. Moreover, it also crushes most games that you throw at it with ease. We played a ton of games, like BGMI, CoD Mobile, and Genshin Impact, and it handled all of them, with ease.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 Review: Battery
The Galaxy Z Fold 5 comes with a 4,400 mAh battery, like its predecessors. However, the battery life is actually very impressive, largely in part because of the Snapdragon’s more efficient SoC.

Even if you are a power user like me, the Z Fold 5 can easily keep up for a whole day. This is because most of the time, you will be using the cover display. If you use the main display, the battery life will drop a little, but not by that much. Do keep in mind that at times, the battery life can be a little unpredictable, but not to a level where it will leave you stranded.

What’s not impressive is that The Z Fold 5 gets 25W supercharging. You’ll be looking at around 30 minutes to charge the battery to 50 per cent. To get it to a full 100 per cent, you will need about 80 minutes. Samsung needs to improve the charging speed of their flagships, especially if they want to charge what they do for the Z Fold 5. You will also need to buy a compatible charger separately since Samsung has not included a charger in the box.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 Review: Verdict
Samsung hasn’t made that many changes to the Galaxy Z Fold 5, barring the SoC and the hinge. However, the incremental changes that it has made do add up to a much better experience.

Even if you ignore the foldable form factor of the device, this is it, Samsung’s true flagship, the best that Samsung has to offer. It’s more than capable of handling the latest games with ease, and the bonus is that you get to enjoy them on a screen that’s almost like a tablet.

And the fact that this whole thing folds up neatly to fit in your pocket is seriously cool and futuristic. The Z Fold 5 isn’t holding back in terms of power – it’s right up there with the Galaxy S23 Ultra, and they both run on the same software. The Z Fold 5 isn’t pulling any punches when it comes to performance and software.

Now, you have to seriously ask yourself, whether you want to invest in a foldable phablet-styled phone, or a flagship in a regular, slab-like form factor. If you’re a hardcore multitasker though, and like to use multiple apps at once the Z Fold 5 is the one you have to get.