Editor's note: Newer versions of this phone have been released. See a snapshot of our original review.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 Review: The Verdict
For better or worse, the things that make the Galaxy Z Flip4 Samsung’s best foldable also undermine the larger story that the company is trying to build around the form factor.
What we love
Premium flourish
Better battery life
Top-tier performance
What could be improved
Cover display remains half-baked
Camera remains behind the curve
The essentials
Performance: Great! The best processor you can buy in an Android phone right now
Battery: Good enough that I didn’t have to turn off features to make it through the day
Screen: Bright and detailed, but the glossy texture and visible crease are becoming hard to forgive
Camera: Despite improvement, this is still behind where it needs to be for the price
As someone who went so far as to buy a Galaxy Z Flip3 last year only to have it end badly after six or so months, it’s fair to say that Samsung’s new Galaxy Z Flip4 had a few things to prove.
The good news is that Samsung’s latest addition to its flippable line of foldable smartphones provides key improvements on almost every front. The difference is not quite so huge that I’d recommend that those who jumped on the bandwagon last time around consider upgrading, but it is enough that I wish I had waited another year. Almost.
The bad news? This iterative and detail-oriented update to the Z Flip only serves to draw attention to the bigger and more fundamental ways in which Samsung’s vision of a foldable future might be primed to fall flat.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 gets so close to perfecting the formula that it raises uncomfortable questions about what’s next.
Samsung
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 5G 128GB
Description
Samsung's new flip 5G-capable smartphone with a 6.7-inch display and a 1.9-inch front screen, double 12MP rear cameras and 10MP selfie camera
If you’re looking to pick up the Galaxy Z Flip4, chances are more like than not that it’ll be your first foray into foldables. With that in mind, it’s worth starting with the facts.
Fact number one: The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 is a premium Android smartphone. The bendy screen aside, the specs here (with a few exceptions) aren’t all that different from the less flexible (but equally expensive) alternatives out there.
The Galaxy Z Flip4 runs on Android 12 out of the box. The device comes in three storage configurations (128GB, 256GB, and 512GB) and is powered by 8GB of RAM plus Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor. That last detail is probably the most consequential inclusion, particularly for power users. It actually makes the Galaxy Z Flip4 one of the most high-performance Android devices you can find right now, which is a refreshing change.
The Galaxy Z Flip4 is similarly kitted out when it comes to features. Like the previous model, it’s got IPX8 water resistance, support for wireless charging via Qi, AKG-tuned stereo speakers, an in-display fingerprint sensor, and 5G connectivity when paired with an appropriate mobile provider.
This brings us to fact number two: The Galaxy Z Flip4 is the latest in Samsung’s line of portability-oriented foldables. With a form factor that’s reminiscent of flip phones like the original Motorola Razr, the idea here is that you get a bigger 6.7-inch 1080p+ screen without the hassle of having to try and squeeze it into your pockets between use.
If the Galaxy Z Fold4 is a phone that gets bigger when you need it to be bigger, the Z Flip4 is one that gets smaller whenever you need it to take up a little less space in your life. Where the fourth-generation spin on this idea differs is the feel factor. Samsung’s third-generation clamshell may have been a rerun of the Google Pixel 2’s two-tone aesthetic, but the follow-up opts to embrace the mostly glitzy but sometimes garish touches that you’d expect from the brand in question.
While the baseline Galaxy Z Flip4 is launching at the same price as its predecessor did, the frosted glass and steel edges on the exterior of the device make it much better at living up to the premium price tag involved. Despite this face-lift, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 struggles to eke out meaningful improvements over the previous model.
There are gains to be found here, but they feel overly iterative compared to the leaps that the Z Flip3 offered over its predecessors. A bigger battery and snappier silicon are nice. However, they’re mere tweaks rather than a truer sort of transformation.
There is no better example of this than the camera on the Z Flip4. As with last year’s Galaxy Z Flip3, you’re looking at an almost symmetrical dual-lens setup. The back of the device houses two 12MP cameras. One of these is a wide-angle lens with an f/1.8 aperture; the other has an ultra-wide lens with an aperture of f/2.2. There’s also a 10MP selfie camera squeezed into the dot-shaped notch perched at the top of the main display.
This arrangement is an almost invisible improvement on the Galaxy Z Flip3’s rear camera, which was almost something of an embarrassment for an otherwise compelling smartphone. This time around, Samsung has opted to arm the Z Flip4 with a sensor that offers a larger pixel size.
This seemingly minor revision makes for better low-light performance and less noise across the board. The pictures I took with the camera on the Z Flip4 didn’t look that much better, but they did look better. Unfortunately, all this is still well behind where it needs to be for the price. An improvement is an improvement, but what’s on offer here still falls short, even compared to the triple-lens setup found on the cheaper Galaxy S22.
This is especially frustrating given that the camera has been such a sticking point for previous Z Flip devices. The last three generations of foldable devices have provided ample evidence that Samsung can, and does, listen to feedback and can iterate faster and more meaningfully when it needs to.
As Samsung has steadily whittled down the finer points of executing this idea of a compact foldable like the Z Flip, the final product feels much less revelatory and much more routine.
The Fix Is In
The fiction that Samsung is trying to sell you on with the Galaxy Z Flip 4 isn't new, but it is fairly easy to grok. This is the first portability-oriented foldable (as opposed to the performance-oriented Z Fold4) that’s ready for prime time.
The facts in favor of that narrative add up neatly. Even as someone whose affair with the Z Flip3 ended poorly, it’s hard not to concede that the battery life, camera, and processor found here are much better than they were there.
My experience with Samsung's latest foldable hybrid handset saw it regularly manage around one and a quarter days of usage on a single charge. That’s not quite enough that I didn’t want to charge it up overnight, but it was enough that I didn’t have to worry about making it through a particularly long day.
Where the previous generation forced me to turn off features like the high refresh rate to reach this sort of screen time, the Z Flip4 managed it right out of the box. The device would usually clock out almost 6 hours of screen time (on a 4G network, rather than 5G), and it took 14 hours and 38 minutes to burn down from 100% to 0% using video content streamed via YouTube.
Nevertheless, the question of what it means for foldable phones to be ready for prime time invites a whole host of thorny follow-ups. There’s an argument to be made that if foldables have reached a point where they’re ready for mainstream audiences, then they ought to be held to the same standards as everything else.
Within that framing and upon closer inspection, the things that Samsung hasn't managed to fix this time around stand out a lot more than the stuff it has. For example, the 1.9-inch display cover on the exterior of the device remains a massive missed opportunity.
It’s capable of a few new tricks like video playback and animated .GIFs, but it’s still held back by its small size and limited utility. I used it as a glorified lock screen most of the time, and it’s hard to shake the idea that this feature could be far more than just a way to offset the cumulative and physical inconvenience of having to unfold your phone every time you need to use it.
Another crack in the narrative that Samsung’s latest foldable is the one that’s finally worth buying is the persistence of the crease. Even if the hinge underneath it proved much sturdier than earlier iterations, the glossy compromises involved with getting the Galaxy Z Flip to fold inwards remain doggedly intact and infuriatingly visible.
Given that some of the other brands playing in foldable space have managed to seemingly solve this quirk, you have to scratch your head and wonder why the market leader for foldables hasn’t.
It's hard not to suspect there’s an underlying reason why Samsung doesn't want to deviate too far from the basic blueprint that it has refined over the past three product years. Asking for a larger cover display, an additional lens, or a new camera layout is one thing. Actually redesigning the internal layout of the Z Flip to accommodate those changes without also risking the recent gains made when it comes to comfort and durability is probably quite hard.
Is that really a gamble worth taking? The answer hinges on whether or not Samsung sees foldables as an alternative or a substitute for a standard form factor. Is our collective future one characterized by ubiquity or domination? Are foldables another size of screen in the mix, or are they something else entirely?
Four years into the foldable era, the messy beginnings of the category are fast fading behind us. However, the road ahead seems to have little to offer beyond novelty. In a rush to sand down the edges of foldables, it feels like much of their transformative potential is being wiped away.
Relying on the Z Flip4 made my phone easier to carry around with me, but it wasn’t all that much better or meaningfully different. To me, at least, the magic of foldable screens has already begun to give way to the mundane, and the argument for why it’s worth paying more for them has begun to feel ever more fraught.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4—Final Thoughts
Every time I write a review like this one, I inevitably hurtle and stumble toward a conclusion that’s equal parts awkward and familiar.
Yes, this phone has issues. It’s also got solid improvements over the previous model. Yes, it’s still a little more expensive than I’d like it to be. It’s also probably still closer to an 8/10 than a 7/10 in the grand scheme of things. It’s not worth upgrading if you bought a new phone in the last twelve months, but it is probably worth a look if you’re in the market for a new one.
Professionally, I can respect what Samsung has done here. If you’re dead set on buying a foldable phone, the sum total of facts says that this is probably the best one to buy. Personally, though, I’m a little disappointed. As someone who pulled the trigger on a Z Flip3 and came away disillusioned with the whole prospect of foldable phones, I don’t know if I can bring myself to wholeheartedly recommend the follow-up as much as I’d like to.
It’s not impossible to imagine that all this is a little more fragile than it appears. When I put in my preorder for the Galaxy Z Flip3 at this time last year, I felt like Samsung had finally managed to nail everything that is compelling and unique about this particular form factor. I fell for the same fiction that’s at the forefront this time around.
Unfortunately, this enthusiasm quickly waned for material reasons. After one month with the Galaxy Z Flip3, the screen began to become marred by dust and scratches. Two months in, it began to make a strange clicking noise. A few months after that, it began to warp and peel. By May, my Z Flip3 had become completely unusable.
That experience inevitably haunts the enthusiasm I have for the Galaxy Z Flip4. As much as I like the improvements that Samsung has made here, I can’t say there’s anything that gives me confidence that the above wouldn’t happen to me a second time.
By honing in on the best possible version of what this foldable looks like, Samsung has hollowed out the latent potential of the category writ large. Foldables could be something new, but it’s clear at this stage that Samsung just wants them to be another size of screen.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 is easier than ever before to recommend for what it is, but it’s hard not to feel sceptical about what’s next.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 camera samples
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Samsung's new flip 5G-capable smartphone with a 6.7-inch display and a 1.9-inch front screen, double 12MP rear cameras and 10MP selfie camera
