Samsung Galaxy Z Flip review

Our Verdict

The Galaxy Z Flip was the best foldable telephone, at least until the Galaxy Z Fold 2 came along. As clever as the design of the Flip is, at a still-high $1,380, it'due south hard to recommend this telephone over more traditional flagships like the iPhone 11 Pro and Milky way S20 Plus.

For

Snapdragon 855 Plus is plenty powerful
Ultra-thin glass aids immovability
Compact design when folded
Less expensive than other foldables

Confronting

Subpar bombardment life
Exterior smudges easily
Nonetheless pretty pricey at $1,380

Tom's Guide Verdict

The Galaxy Z Flip was the best foldable phone, at least until the Galaxy Z Fold 2 came along. As clever as the pattern of the Flip is, at a still-high $ane,380, it's difficult to recommend this telephone over more than traditional flagships similar the iPhone 11 Pro and Galaxy S20 Plus.

Pros

+
Snapdragon 855 Plus is plenty powerful
+
Ultra-thin drinking glass aids durability
+
Compact design when folded
+
Less expensive than other foldables

Cons

-
Subpar bombardment life
-
Exterior smudges easily
-
Even so pretty pricey at $i,380

The Samsung Milky way Z Flip has pulled off a feat that eluded the Galaxy Fold, Samsung's original foldable device: The Z Flip can fit in your pocket when it's closed.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip Specs

Price: $i,299 (LTE), $1,199 (5G)
Screen (open): half-dozen.vii-inch Super AMOLED (2636 x 1080)
Exterior screen: 1.i-inch Super AMOLED (300 x 112)
CPU: Snapdragon 855 Plus
RAM: 8GB
Storage: 256GB
Cameras: two 12MP (primary: f/1.eight; ultra broad: f/ii.2) rear/10MP (f/2.0) front end
Battery: three,300 mAh
Size (open up): 6.6 10 2.9 x 0.28 inches
Size (folded): 3.4 10 ii.ix x 0.61-0.68 inches
Weight: 6.five ounces

That wasn't the case with the original Fold, a device that opened up horizontally like a book to unveil a 7.3-inch brandish. The Galaxy Z Flip is different. This time around, Samsung uses a flip-telephone design. (Yes, exactly like the Motorola Razr.) The Z Flip flips open vertically to reveal a 6.7-inch display that includes a layer of ultra-thin glass for an extra level of polish. More than importantly, when the phone is shut, information technology'south tiny — a airtight-up Z Flip fits easily in my hand and my paws aren't exactly meaty.

That's a promising kickoff for the Milky way Z Flip, simply is it enough to make this the foldable phone to beat? And more chiefly, has Samsung done enough to justify the Z Flip's four-effigy request price? Our Samsung Milky way Z Flip review gets to the bottom of those cardinal questions.

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Samsung Milky way Z Flip review: Price and availability

Earlier you even examine the relative merits of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip, one of its almost appealing attributes may be its toll. Debuting at $ane,380 last year, the Galaxy Z Flip isn't cheap by any stretch of the imagination. But in the world of pricey foldable devices, Samsung's flip phone feels like a bargain.

The Milky way Z Flip's $1,380 price was a $600 drop from the debut price of the Samsung Milky way Fold. The Milky way Z Flip likewise costs less than the $1,500 the Motorola Razr. And the price has fallen even further in the subsequent months, equally yous can at present pick up a Galaxy Z Flip for $1,299.

Y'all can become the Milky way Z Flip from AT&T, Best Buy and Samsung. All the same, these days, the focus is on the Galaxy Z Flip 5G, an updated version of the phone that came out later we published our Galaxy Z Flip review. The Galaxy Z Flip 5G features a more powerful Snapdragon 865 Plus processor with a 5G modem, and it makes some improvements to the multitasking features. Originally, $one,499, the Galaxy Z Flip 5G at present now costs $1,199, which is the same price as the Galaxy S21 Ultra.

Nosotros're focusing on the Galaxy Z Flip for this review, but everything with the exception of performance would exist the same with the Galaxy Z Flip 5G.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip review: Design

The distinctive thing virtually the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip's blueprint is its horizontal hinge, a contrast to the vertical hinge that the Milky way Fold used. Samsung claims information technology can flip open up 200,000 times.

We haven't put the hinge to that much employ in our fourth dimension with the Z Flip, just it does experience pretty durable. (According to the YouTube channel JerryRigsEverything, the Galaxy Z Flip'south brandish behaves more like plastic than glass when subject to various torture tests.) We've dropped the phone on a hardwood flooring without damaging the hinge, outer instance or display.

More significantly, the Z Flip's hideaway hinge is designed to keep out dust. It's got a thin layer of fabric to make sure particles tin can't detect their way into the gap that exists between screen and hinge. Grit is what felled the original version of the Galaxy Fold, forcing Samsung to delay that phone's release. This suggests that Samsung has learned its lessons.

When open, the Milky way Z Flip's screen measures 6.7 inches from corner to corner. Rather than using plastic to protect the panel — the tack taken by every foldable maker prior to the Z Flip — Samsung has turned to a new ultra-thin glass material that seems to brand the display less prone to damage. The about definitive thing we can say in that regard is "and then far, so adept," only at to the lowest degree the Galaxy Z Flip feels more than polished than other foldable phones.

Speaking of polish, you lot'll need to apply a lot to the exterior metal instance of the Galaxy Z Flip. On our Mirror Majestic edition of the phone, our fingerprints are very visible on the reflective glass exterior. That's a shame, because information technology mars an otherwise stylish expect that you'd be eager to testify off, as the Mirror Purple is especially eye-catching.

You lot tin can too opt for Mirror Black and — in some countries — Mirror Aureate. When nosotros first laid eyes on the Milky way Z Flip, we thought Mirror Gold was the sharpest of its looks, just the low-cal lavender glow of Mirror Purple has grown on us.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip review: Display

Samsung has turned to a full-Hard disk+ display for the Galaxy Z Flip, with a resolution of 2636 ten 1080 pixels. That's a lower resolution than the quad-HD+ panels inside the Milky way S20 series, but it'due south certainly sharper than the Razr's six.2-inch, HD+ screen.

If you had hoped that Samsung would figure out a way to go rid of the crease that marred the Galaxy Fold experience, you're going to be disappointed. There is indeed a crease where the top and bottom halves of the Z Flip'southward extended screen encounter, and information technology'south non that difficult to spot when the screen'due south not in utilise.

Still, when we were watching a video on Netflix or playing PUBG Mobile, the crease was lost in the inky black of the Galaxy Z Flip'south AMOLED console. While you wish that a $1,380 telephone wouldn't have any visible crease, at least the Z Flip's pocket-size bend isn't as noticeable as the Razr's gigantic crease.

Samsung has managed to fit a pretty colorful display into the Milky way Z Flip'southward folding frame. In its default Vivid setting, the screen captured 200.8% of the sRGB color spectrum, which means brilliant, if saturated, colors. For context, the Galaxy S20 Plus captured 224.4% of the sRGB color spectrum.

Switch the viewing mode to Natural, and you'll see 122.1% of the sRGB color spectrum on the Galaxy Z Flip, comparable to what we registered when testing the Milky way Fold's Natural mode (124.8%.).

Those colors could be more accurate. The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip has a Delta-Eastward rating of 0.31 in Vivid manner compared to the S20 Plus' 0.36 rating — numbers closer to zippo are ameliorate — just Apple tree'due south iPhone 11 Pro Max tops both, with a Delta-Due east rating of 0.28. You'll become more authentic colors when switching over to Natural mode on the Z Flip, where the color accuracy rating improves to 0.21.

In real-earth use, yous'll bask watching video on the Galaxy Z Flip's screen, even if the 21.9:9 aspect ratio is probably more narrow than y'all're used to on a mobile device. (For context, the 6.7-inch Galaxy S20 Plus offers a 20.9:9 aspect ratio, and the difference is noticeable.)

On other phones, some scenes of the No Time to Die trailer on YouTube can seem overly dark, but you can even so make out James Bail's facial features even in the shadows. The phone too did justice to the colorful costumes in Dolemite Is My Name on Netflix.

Shining a flashlight at the Galaxy Z Flip screen, we recorded 677 nits of brightness with a light meter. That's not as bright as the Galaxy S20 Plus (847 nits) or iPhone 11 Pro Max (761 nits), just it'southward a big improvement over the 552 nits we recorded when testing the Galaxy Fold. All the same, when using the Galaxy Z Flip in wide daylight, we had to squint to see the photographic camera controls until we maxed out the display brightness.

That internal display is not the only screen on the Milky way Z Flip. On the phone's exterior, you'll find a 1.1-inch Super AMOLED panel that'due south just big enough to notify you lot of incoming calls, texts and alarms. It can as well display the date and time, so y'all're not flipping open up the phone just to see what time information technology is.

Nosotros had doubts about the utility of this screen, and nosotros don't like that Samsung placed it just to the left of the telephone'due south dual outside cameras. But the exterior panel serves several functions: You tin use it equally a mini-view finder to shoot selfies with the Z Flip closed. Just press the ability button twice to summon upward the viewfinder and and so hit 1 of the volume buttons to snap the shot. You only see a sliver of your face, simply it's however an ingenious manner to save you from opening upward the phone but for a cocky-portrait.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip review: Using the device

Once you start using the Milky way Z Flip, you'll immediately notice how solidly built and sturdy information technology is. Meaty though it may be, this is no flimsy phone. The outer example feels very substantial and opening the Z Flip takes some try — we couldn't pull it off one-handed, so we used ane mitt to steady the device and the other to lift its screen. Forget about whipping the Galaxy Z Flip out of your pocket and snapping information technology open with a moving picture of your wrist similar the flip phones of old.

Then once more, if you've used the foldable Motorola Razr, you wouldn't see this as much of a problem. The build on Motorola'due south new flip phone is one of its weakest points. The Razr proved difficult to flip open, it didn't await like it would last long after too many accidental drops, and due to a design flaw, the flexible display really lifts upwardly from the chassis every bit you lot shut the device. None of these flaws are in show with the Galaxy Z Flip.

There's no sound when you open or close the Galaxy Z Flip — in dissimilarity to the creaky noise the Motorola Razr makes. The nature of the free-finish hinge means y'all tin can stop adjusting the angle of the flexible brandish wherever you lot wish and the device volition hold its orientation. That's extremely useful if yous want to capture a selfie or video conversation while going easily-gratuitous.

Samsung has dubbed this Flex fashion, and when you enable it past opening the Z Flip into an L-shape, the top one-half of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip's screen serves every bit a viewing area while all your actions are on the bottom of the screen. Apply the photographic camera app in Flex way, for example, and the top of the screen becomes a viewfinder while the lesser houses the shutter button and card options.

YouTube, which Google updated specifically for the Z Flip, displays the video in the upper portion of the screen, letting y'all scroll through comments and related content on the bottom. It's a very clever use of the Z Flip's unique pattern, only it would be fifty-fifty ameliorate if more apps took advantage of Flex mode.

1 other affair we appreciated when using the Galaxy Z Flip was how flat the phone lays against surfaces when fully opened. That allows you to set down the Z Flip and tap away without experiencing any wobbles.

If that sounds like a small thing, consider that there'southward always an bending at play with the Motorola Razr, even when fully opened. It's slight, but it'southward there and it'south difficult to ignore. It'southward another flaw Samsung managed to avoid with its own foldable.

Samsung Milky way Z Flip review: Camera

If y'all're a mobile-photography addict, you might exist ever and then slightly disappointed by the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip's main camera module, which pairs two 12-megapixel sensors — ane with an ƒ/1.eight regular broad lens, and the other with ƒ/2.two ultra-broad optics.

While that's half the number of lenses you lot'll become from the Milky way S20 Plus and Galaxy S20 Ultra, the Samsung Milky way Z Flip's cameras produced impressive results during our testing. Samsung'south computational photography chops have been very close to Apple tree and Google's levels over the past several years, and the Z Flip should more suffice in this section.

For case, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip's ultra-wide camera squares upwards nicely with the 12-megapixel one inside the iPhone 11 Pro. Samsung'due south algorithms definitely burnish the darker regions more aggressively than Apple's, and in that location are some regions — like the brick walkway toward the bottom of the frame — that seem a tinge blown out. Otherwise, there's a lot to similar hither.

The Galaxy Z Flip does a decent job capturing this steak dinner, recreating the array of colors on the plate. But the same photo shot with an iPhone 11 Pro Max is warmer and presents a greater variety of textures on objects like the homemade murphy chips and the lettuce leaves in the salad.

The Z Flip too captures a wider view even though I hadn't switched to the phone'southward ultra broad angle lens. The result is more of the surrounding area, simply in that location's too a noticeable bend to the Z Flip's perspective.

The Night mode on the Galaxy Z Flip can hold its own confronting similar features on other devices, even if we're not crazy virtually the fact that y'all take to dig into the More than options on the Z Flip to enable it.

The iPhone eleven Pro Max takes night shots automatically and its rendition of a mural features the kind of well-balanced coloring nosotros wait from Apple tree's phones. It also didn't struggle with calorie-free from a nearby street lamp that casts a glare on the Galaxy Z Flip's shot.

Nevertheless, the Z Flip captures more detail around the mural, like the trees on the correct side of the frame and the house on the left. These details sink into the shadows on the iPhone's shot.

There's footling differentiating how the Milky way Z Flip and iPhone 11 Pro Max handled this photo of a statue in a residential surface area. You lot could debate that Samsung's phone produces the better image, given that the palm tree fronds have some colour in its rendition. The iPhone'due south version overly darkens the copse.

The real reason to take a photo of that statue, though, was to examination out the ultra-wide-angle lens on the Milky way Z Flip, and the consequence remains pleasing. You lot get a wider viewing angle in the Z Flip'southward shot than what the iPhone 11 Pro Max produces, and the colors remain more than vibrant in the Samsung photograph. (I exception: the patches of blueish sky are more attracting in the iPhone shot.)

If the Samsung phone falls down anywhere on wide-bending shots, information technology's that the phone loses focus. Notice the fuzziness around the parked cars in the right background of the Z Flip's photo. That'due south not something y'all see in the iPhone 11 Pro Max shot, where everything remains abrupt.

The Galaxy Z Flip doesn't come with a telephoto lens, so to run across if that's a worthwhile sacrifice to brand in a $i,380 phone, we relied on the camera'due south digital zoom for a 2x look at the Oakland skyline. The shot's neat — the foreground is in sharp focus, the colors pop and the exposure'south fine.

Only zero in on the details, and you'll see how an optical zoom like the one on the Milky way S20 Plus is more up to the job. The S20 keeps the Tribune Tower and the Wells Fargo sign next to it in focus; those are fuzzier in the Galaxy Z Flip's rendition.

This portrait of my colleague Henry is also quite good, even if at that place are aspects we prefer from Apple's rendition. Henry'due south skin tone is a bit more natural through the iPhone's cameras, and of course the presence of a telephoto shooter on Apple'due south handset provides that more dramatic, zoomed-in await yous probably want from a portrait. But the Z Flip appears to exercise a better chore isolating Henry's clear spectacles frames.

A 10MP forepart camera peeks out of you from a dial-hole cutout in the centre of the Galaxy Z Flip's interior display, just like the selfie cams on the S20 and Milky way Notation x.

It does a decent job, but in this photo, shot in a challenging mixture of shadow and sunlight, the Z Flip produces muted colors and struggles with the shifts in lighting. Colors are more balanced in the photo captured by the iPhone 12 Pro Max'south 12MP selfie cam — not just the person in the photo, but the surrounding garden every bit well. And the iPhone isn't as ambitious with peel smoothing as the Milky way Z Flip.

One nice feature about the Galaxy Z Flip's front camera is a Smart Selfie Bending component that automatically switches to a wide-angle shot when it detects more two people are in the frame. The Milky way Z Flip certainly detected the actress bodies in this shot and adjusted its focus accordingly — the feature probably works all-time for mural selfies — though the issues with overexposure remain.

Samsung Milky way Z Flip review: Functioning

Samsung may have skipped the latest, greatest Android processor in the Galaxy Z Flip when it neglected to give information technology Qualcomm's then-brand new Snapdragon 865. However, at to the lowest degree the company is using the next best flake bachelor.

That would be the Snapdragon 855 Plus, which debuted in 2019 in a pocket-sized number of phones, including the OnePlus 7T. Because it's the 855 and not the 865, the Z Flip cannot connect to 5G networks — though it'south withal very snappy, with 8GB of RAM. (If yous want 5G, opt for the Milky way Z Flip 5G and its more capable Snapdragon 865 Plus chipset.)

Additionally, a standard 256GB of storage provides plenty of space for apps, media and games. Forget about the microSD slot you'll find on most Samsung flagships, though.

Samsung's latest foldable achieved a Geekbench 5 multi-core score of 2,689 points. The OnePlus 7T fared simply slightly better than the Z Flip, notching a 2,759 score in Geekbench 5, while the Galaxy Fold and its slightly less powerful Snapdragon 855 chipset brought upwardly the rear with a ii,619 tally.

In other words, expect the Milky way Z Flip to turn in comparable performance to 2019's Android flagships, even if phones with newer silicon go out it in the dust. The Galaxy S20 Plus, for case, rides its Snapdragon 865 chipset to a three,076 score in Geekbench.

Graphics testing tells a similar story — the Galaxy Z Flip holds its own with devices that feature last twelvemonth's elevation-of-the-line Snapdragon arrangement-on-fleck while lagging behind newer flagship phones. On the GFXBench Aztec Ruins Vulkan exam for loftier-tier phones, the Galaxy Z Flip's score of 1,048 frames was in line with the 1,038 score produced past the Galaxy Fold. The Galaxy S20 Plus handily bested both foldable Samsung devices with a result of ane,319 frames.

This isn't to say that the Galaxy Z Flip is a laggard. Information technology kept upwards with any app I threw at it, even demanding games similar PUBG Mobile. Android users who want the absolutely fastest phone available will want to plough elsewhere, but that's hardly the appeal of the Galaxy Z Flip. And even if you do prize functioning, the Z Flip is no slouch.

We haven't benchmarked the Galaxy Z Flip 5G yet, just we'd wait its functioning to outshine the original Flip and to behave more like the Galaxy Z Fold two, though that phone boasts more RAM.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip review: Battery life and charging

Inside the Samsung Milky way Z Flip is a 3,300-mAh battery, a respectable size for a foldable where there's not a lot of room to spare. Consider that the Razr uses a tiny two,510-mAh power pack and its battery life suffered every bit a consequence: Motorola's phone lasted only half dozen hours and iv minutes on our demanding battery test, which involves continuous surfing over LTE until a fully charged phone runs out of ability.

The Galaxy Z Flip fared better than that, though you won't fault this for a long-lasting telephone. Over the class of iv unlike battery tests, the Milky way Z Flip lasted an boilerplate of 8 hours and xvi minutes. That'southward ii hours better than Motorola'south foldable phone but more than than ninety minutes less than the boilerplate for a smartphone. The Galaxy Fold was able to last 10 hours, though -- its 4,380 mAh battery is much larger than what you become with the Galaxy Z Flip.

Like other recent Samsung flagships, the Galaxy Z Flip supports Wireless PowerShare, meaning you'll be able to wirelessly charge other Qi-compatible devices with this phone.

The Galaxy Z Flip likewise supports fast charging, though "fast" is a relative term in this case. After a half-hr of charging a drained Z Flip, the phone'due south battery indicator was back up to 43%. Nosotros got to 55% with the Galaxy S20 Plus in the aforementioned time frame, though that phone comes with a 25-watt charger to the 15-watt charger that the Galaxy Z Flip uses.

Samsung Milky way Z Flip review: Software

Thanks to Android ten and its support for foldable devices, the Samsung Milky way Z Flip offers multitasking through a Multi-Active Window feature. You'll be able to select the apps you want to use on different parts of the screen, though that feature just works with select apps. You're limited to 2 apps at once as opposed to the 3 you can use on the Galaxy Fold, merely that makes sense given the dimension of the displays on the different foldables.

Multitasking on the Galaxy Z Flip is merely a thing of swiping right from the side of the screen to bring upwards a tray of apps that back up the characteristic. I was able to sentry YouTube videos in one panel on the Z Flip screen while browsing through mail on the other.

Some apps work ameliorate than others with the Multi-Active Window feature. I wouldn't advise playing PUBG Mobile while running another app in a unlike window, though you could in theory. The feature works whether you're holding your phone in portrait or landscape mode.

Samsung Milky way Z Flip review: Verdict

It didn't take long a lot of testing for our Samsung Galaxy Z Flip review to realize that Samsung had built the virtually polished foldable phone yet — at least until the Galaxy Z Fold 2's subsequent release. Even though the new Fold at present sets the standard for foldable devices, the Galaxy Z Flip remains a well-built telephone that provides a large, colorful screen all the same capable of folding into a device that fits neatly into your pocket.

Features like Flex Mode that take advantage of the Z Flip's screen mean that foldable devices are more than just gimmicks, though Flex Manner would exist fifty-fifty more useful if more apps took reward of the feature.

That doesn't mean the Galaxy Z Flip is gear up to get toe-to-toe with the leading flagships. For starters, those phones may be pricey, just with the exception of the Galaxy S20 Ultra, they're still cheaper than the Milky way Z Flip. And while the Z Flip's cameras certainly produce pictures that match upwards well with what you lot'd become from the best camera phones, you'd expect a little something more for a phone that will set you back $1,200 to $1,300, even after Samsung'due south price cuts. (There's besides the possibility of a new Galaxy Z Flip coming out later this year, which might make you lot wary of springing for an older foldable phone.)

So yes, the Galaxy Flip Z is among the all-time foldable phones you can purchase. That'south non enough to make it an alternative to something similar the iPhone 12 Pro Max or Galaxy S21 Plus, but the advances Samsung made with this device over the Galaxy Fold makes united states call back that foldable phones actually have a future.

Editor Adam Ismail contributed to this review.

Philip Michaels is a senior editor at Tom'southward Guide. He has strong opinions about Apple, the Oakland Athletics and old movies. Follow him at @PhilipMichaels.