Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 hands-on review: closing the gap
Samsung's had a monopoly on book-style folding phones since its first Galaxy Fold hit the shelves in 2019, so now it's in its fifth generation of foldable, the newly announced Galaxy Z Fold 5 should be a seriously refined package.
With very little big-screen foldable competition in the West over the last few years, Samsung hasn't had to shake up its formula to stay ahead of the pack, iterating year-on-year rather than overhauling. In 2023, though, things are heating up with the Honor Magic Vs, Huawei Mate X3, and Google Pixel Fold, all available outside China.
So what's new this year for the Galaxy Z Fold 5? Superficially, not too much. Samsung's closed its hinge gap, making its inner screen less exposed to grit and dust. The internals have been updated with the latest chipset from Qualcomm, and the S Pen is now water-resistant. Improvements have also been made to the Z Fold 5's interface, further refining the unfolded big-screen experience.
So would you be better off picking up a Pixel Fold or even last year's Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4, or do we finally have an easy-to-recommend book-style foldable for the masses?
We had an hour with the phone ahead of getting it in for a full review, and this definitely feels like a Z Fold 4 glow-up rather than a totally new smartphone; here's why...
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5: design
From a distance, you would be hard-pressed to spot the difference between the Z Fold 4 and Z Fold 5, but if you get down to the specs, the 2023 Z Fold 5 is thinner and lighter.
Weighing 253g, the Fold 5 is 10g lighter than the Fold 4, and at 13.4mm when closed, it's also 2.4mm thinner. How does this stack up against other foldables? Pretty well, actually – the Fold 5 sits at around the middle of the pack – with the heavier Honor Magic Vs weighing 267g, and the Pixel Fold clocking in at 283g.
The only lighter book-style foldable in the West is the Huawei Mate X3 which weighs 239g, while the China-only Oppo Find N2 also weighs 239g – that's 1g lighter than an iPhone 14 Pro Max (240g).
The phone's frame is made of Samsung's Armor Aluminum, and the front and back sport Gorilla Glass Victus 2, while Samsung's made the whole phone IPX8 water resistant.
Available in Blue, Cream, Grey, Icy Blue, and Phantom Black, all the Z Fold 5s we got our hands on showed off subdued hues with slightly frosted, matte finishes that were good at fending off fingerprints.
The Z Fold 5's screens are the same size and resolution as those of the Z Fold 4 at 7.6 inches inside and 6.2 inches on the front. This gives the new foldable a familiar hand feel, and the lack of a hinge gap this year makes it a little more pocket-friendly.
Any S Pen fans will also be happy to know that Samsung's updated the design of its S Pen cover with a much slimmer profile than the lumpy Z Fold 4 case. This pack ships with a new S Pen, which is IP68 water and dust resistant, and there's also a Creator's edition, which has nibs that make writing feel more paper-like.
Only the main display supports S Pen input at up to 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity, though the S Pen doesn't ship with the phone, and you can't use just any S Pen. To scribble on your Z Fold 5, you'll need to either pick up the new S Pen cover, buy an S Pen Pro, or buy the new Creator's edition S Pen.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5: screens
Both of the Galaxy Z Fold 5's screens are Samsung AMOLED 2X displays, which means they pack vibrant colors and deep, inky blacks while flowing at a smooth 120Hz. They also have adaptive refresh rates ranging from 1-120Hz, so should be energy efficient, dropping the smoothness when showing static items like the always-on display (AOD) to save power.
The 6.2-inch cover screen on the front of the Z Fold 5 is significantly taller than that of the Pixel Fold and narrower too. So while the Pixel Fold is probably a better option for watching 16:9 video on, the cover screen of the Z Fold 5 will be well-suited to more cinematic, widescreen content.
With a peak screen brightness of 1200 nits in high brightness mode, it should be easy to see what's on-screen in all but the sunniest environments. Samsung's also ramped up the peak spot-brightness, so when playing HDR content, the phone can crank out through-the-roof contrast ratios and beam highlights as brightly as 1750 nits.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5: camera
The Z Fold 5 has very similar camera hardware to the Z Fold 4, with the primary 50MP sensor measuring 1/1.56 inches. Matched with an f/1.8 lens, a 23mm wide-angle, and phase detection autofocus (PDAF), this is all competitive with other foldables on paper.
While there's no periscope zoom camera, unlike the Huawei Mate X3, the telephoto camera is a 10MP sensor that clocks in at 1/3.94 inches, producing a 1-micron pixel size. As for the optics, there's an f/2.4 lens with a 66mm focal length, PDAF, and OIS.
Onto the ultra-wide, it's a 12MP sensor with 1.12-micron pixels, an f/2.2 aperture, and a 123˚ field of view, equating to a 12mm focal length.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5: additional features
Powered by the same chipset inside the Galaxy S23 Ultra – the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile for Galaxy – matched with 12GB RAM, the Galaxy Z Fold 5 is an absolute powerhouse.
You can buy the phone with either 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB storage, though there's no memory card slot, so you can't bump that capacity.
Running Android 13, with Samsung's One UI over the top, Samsung has added a few features to take advantage of the Z Fold 5's big inner screen. The taskbar has been refined, so you can quickly activate multi-tasking, with one app in each half of the screen, and another mini floating window hovering over the top.
Samsung's also introduced a nifty multi-touch feature, so you can hold onto an item – ready to drag it into another app – keep it under-finger while you open another app and drop it in. This is an update to the Z Fold 4's drag and drop across windows, which is a very handy tool.
The Galaxy Z Fold 5 also promises an 85% larger vapor chamber to help it keep its cool even when gaming and Samsung's also investing in apps to launch with the phone – specifically iPadOS favorite, Goodnotes – the popular notetaking app for iPad.
Goodnotes for Android – currently in Beta on the Google Play Store – will launch exclusively for the new Samsung Z Fold 5 and Tab S9-series for a period before it's opened up to non-Samsung devices. We've seen this strategy before with the video editing app, Lumafusion, and the Tab S8 line, and it's great to see Samsung propelling ports of creative tools in the Android space.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5: early verdict
Costing £1,749 for the 256GB Galaxy Z Fold 5, £1,849 for the 512GB model, and £2,049 for the maxed-out, 1TB option, Samsung's raised its prices for 2023 and matched the Pixel Fold's asking-price directly.
On many levels, Samsung's been pretty smart not overhauling its Z Fold line with its latest release. Techies may grump that this isn't the thinnest or lightest foldable in the world, but existing Fold customers should be pretty happy with this launch.
Galaxy Z Fold owners who dropped the best part of $2000 on the Galaxy Z Fold 3 or Z Fold 4 won't look at the Z Fold 5 and feel like they're missing any killer features, but that doesn't stop the new phone from being a powerhouse.
What the Z Fold 5 does, therefore, is demonstrate Samsung's long-term thinking, commitment, and conviction when it comes to its Z Fold formula, and refresh the specs as much as it needs to keep things competitive in Western Markets.
Available in three storage capacities, the 256GB version costs $1,799/£1,749, the 512GB option costs $1,919/£1,849, and if you want a maxed-out 1TB Z Fold 5, it'll set you back $2,159/£2,049.
So while we would have loved an upgraded camera system for the Z Fold 5, and it doesn't look set to challenge some foldables available in China, it still looks set to be a superlative foldable in Europe and the US, particularly for creatives who want pen input, and the most powerful internals on offer.
Want to know more about the Z Fold 5's competition? These are the best flip and fold phones flexing their features right now, and if you aren't sold on the fold, check out our guide to the best camera phones of 2023.
