Samsung Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5 Impressions: They Settled!

Samsung's Z Flip 5 and Z Fold 5 have settled into form

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[reeceogorman]

Man who would’ve thought 10 years ago we’d be watching a head to head… of flip phones

[justcommenting]

I actually kind of like Samsung's approach of releasing a lot of different types and then refining what people prefer.

[kayiskoi]

As ridiculous as the Fold may seem to some, I'm glad to see other phone manufacturers other than Apple doing the trend-setting. I got the Fold 5 recently, and have been loving it. They're really blurring the line between phones and small form factor tablets. Skipping multiple generations after I got my S10 was definitely worth it.

[wickedawesomeo]

Got my Z5 Fold yesterday, been a Galaxy user since Galaxy 2 and the transition from a traditional smartphone formfactor to this is like the coolest thing ever when it comes to gadgets!

[otakuotaku]

Always a vibe to watch MKBHD talk about Tech when I'm not buying anything

[latorredelreloj]

I think they might be preserving form factor to make it easier for front-end programmers to develop optimized apps for the foldable, since it is a very niche display config

[tombassett]

I personally really like how narrow the front screen is. It's perfect for one handed texting and typing, or looking at things that are meant to be tall, skinny, long, extra wide, etc. If you want to watch content open the phone up, that's what the screen is for. There's no reason to have a phone that has an outside and inside screen that are extremely similar with almost idential aspect ratios, they should be different so it serves more purposes. Also there were a few big internal upgrades not mentioned here - LPDDR5 upgraded to LPDDR5X, UFS 3.1 upgraded to UFS 4.0, Bluetooth 5.2 upgraded to 5.3, Qualcomm X70 chip with faster 5G (par of Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 upgrade), and the hinge changed the dimensions to be 15% smaller when folded, definitely not "the same dimensions" and deserved more than a quick 2 second mention.

[ichbinjon]

I had the Z Flip 5 for a week, really liked it and couldn't find any faults. The small screen was a good novelty but you could only use a small number of apps on it as well as the widgets mentioned in the video. I would've liked the calculator to be one of those pre-integrated widgets though, or at least one of the supported apps. I only sent the Flip back so I could swap it for the Fold. I'd highly recommend both.

[Hyades]

It means that you do not need to update your phone every year; but for new buyers or people who were planning to buy these phones, it's still a good option especially with an increased base storage.

[Czeron]

As someone who was rocking the fold 3. This does look and feel like a significant improvement. It’s subtle shades of grey between generations, but it is getting better year on year.

[ShaqDarnell]

Meanwhile, apple sells the same phone every year.

[henfromhell]

I bought the fold 4, it was an amazing bit of tech but so impractical for my use. I just ended up using the tiny front screen the most, but couldn’t get over how terrible the cameras were compared to my note 20 Ultra (2 Years old when the fold 4 came out) I think as the price is so much more than an ultra, they need to increase the fold screens size and bring it up to ultra camera quality and I would be interested again. Of course, Samsung wont so this any time soon as they will keep it separate product lines, but hence why i see the fold as impractical at the moment. Much MUCH happier with my s23 Ultra ;-)

[DanCreaMundos]

Samsung is literally every single huge company right now. They settle for what's safe and we depend on small companies to bring us something fun and then the big dogs take the idea and combine it with endless money to make a new version of it.

[Akemaste]

Honestly the Galaxy Mega brings back so many memories, I remember how shocked people were at its massive size, asking who would want a phone so big? And look at us now. One thing I’ll give to Samsung they are willing to take risks. And many of them have been fun and interesting and had great potential if they kept refining them. Hope tech gets fun and interesting again for the average person soon.

[simaknaveedakther]

With the little upgrades this year id still like the fold 5 it looks so refined and fresh looking compared to previous generations but the flip 5 caught me a lot i love the new cover display a lot more than the motorola razr ultra if the flip 5 gets significant upgrades surely samsung couldve upgraded their z fold but i think next year would be the year for the z fold mega upgrade

[dannygonzalez]

I love the tall slim design personally. It's almost reminiscent of our old Nokia phones in terms of feel in hand. I only open my fold for YouTube and movies. Really wish I had a stylus that I could use on inner AND outer display. I rocked with the Note line from the 4 to the 20.

[adamloepker]

I needed 3 significant upgrades from the fold4 to make this my next phone, and seeing only the hinge upgrade implemented means I am happy to wait another year. Let's see some battery/camera/stylus upgrades Samsung!

[raresradoi]

I think the bigger outside screen is the most important improvement for a flip phone and one that was definitely needed for the flip 5 to stay relevant, but I'd have loved to see the fold 5's outer screen change to a more normal aspect ratio. That is imo pretty important for the usability of its outer display

[najeebrehman]

I am glad that samsung has stopped making drastic changes from year to year, but settled on almost an elegant design on these phone and focused on the core and internal improvements. Galaxy S23 Ultra, Flip and Fold are all the same as last year with minor improvements. However, their main focus has been on software and OneUi and I can really feel the software improvement, stable OS and improved battery life on my S23 Ultra.

[steevieg]

As someone who jumped in on the Flip 4 last year, I immediately jumped on an pre-ordered the Flip 5. Especially with all of the discounts Samsung had going (not sure if they're still going on), I pretty much paid taxes to upgrade and added their buds for another $45 i think it was. No hesitation.