Another Samsung Unpacked event has come to pass, and this one brought us the fourth generation of foldable Galaxy smartphones. This is a formula that’s been in use for years now as the technology cannot advance as fast as makers are bringing a new version of their phones.
Samsung has improved on the Galaxy Z Flip3 by tweaking all weak points both reviewers and users have agreed upon – low-light camera performance, battery life, charging speed.
But thanks to reduced bezels around the foldable screen and a flatter aluminum frame, the Z Flip4 is now a bit shorter and with a thinner hinge. The Z Flip4 is IPX8-rated for water resistance – a feature that only Samsung offers across its third and fourth generation of foldable devices. Samsung and Sony are the only two makers that aim to offer water protection on most of their phones, and we truly appreciate the effort.
It is still a dual-camera setup, but the main shooter now relies on a larger 12MP sensor with 1.8µm pixels coupled with a wider 24mm f/1.8 OIS lens. Body: 165.2×71.9×6.9mm, 187g; Plastic front (opened), glass back (Gorilla Glass Victus+), aluminum frame; IPX8 water resistant (up to 1.5m for 30 mins), Armour aluminum frame with tougher drop and scratch resistance (advertised). Misc: Fingerprint reader (side-mounted); NFC; stereo speakers; Samsung Pay (Visa, MasterCard certified). There is no charger or case within the retail box, and if you don’t own Samsung’s 25W power adapter, it’s probably a good idea to buy one so you can use that fast charging.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 review
The Galaxy Z Flip4 has two displays, something that is typical for any flip phone – be it a recent one, or from the golden age of the GSMs. So, there is little to talk about the external 1.9-inch Super AMOLED – it is the same as seen on the Flip3 with a resolution of 512 x 260 pixels and 60Hz refresh. The internal display is also lifted from the Z Flip3 – it’s a 6.7-inch Foldable Dynamic AMOLED 2X with the same 2,640 x 1,080 px resolution (426ppi, 22:9 aspect). It supports dynamic 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10+ and up to 1,200 nits peak brightness. One small update since the Flip 3 is that the screen’s adaptive refresh rate is even more dynamic now with alleged support for as low as 1Hz. We’ve completed our display test and the results are in line with what we’ve captured on the Galaxy Flip3 one year ago.
The maximum manual brightness we measured at the end of the slider was 505 nits – that is what most good OLEDs usually offer. The color settings on most Samsung phones are handled in a similar fashion.
The default one is Vivid, which corresponds to DCI-P3 color space, and the accuracy is excellent with an average deltaE of 2.6.
The Natural color mode switches to sRGB and the accuracy here is outstanding with an average deltaE of 1.5.
The Galaxy Z Flip4 display supports two Refresh Rate modes (called Motion smoothness) – Adaptive (up to 120Hz) and Standard (fixed 60Hz). The Adaptive one is supposed to switch dynamically between 1Hz and 120Hz depending on the shown content.
The Android 12 support APIs on the Galaxy Z Flip4 list that the panel can refresh in one of the following modes: 10Hz, 24Hz, 30Hz, 48Hz, 60Hz, 96Hz and 120Hz. And the integrated refresh rate indicator showed 24Hz for static picture and movies, 60Hz across some apps that were incompatible with 120Hz, and we saw 48Hz for some specific videos. We have never had issues anu streaming app on high-profile Galaxy phones before, so we are pretty sure the Z Flip4 won’t be an exception once it hit the shelves. This produced lower results for the 2022 clamshell than what we got initially, which can be explained by many factors, but mostly the different software between the two tests. The endurance rating denotes how long the battery charge will last you if you use the device for an hour of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. To adjust the endurance rating formula to match your own usage – check out our all-time battery test results chart.
The Galaxy Z Flip4 now supports up to 25W fast charging, you just need Samsung’s 25W charger for that to work. One of the most notable issues with the Galaxy Z Flip3 was the slow charging and we are happy Samsung has upgraded this rather crucial feature.
You can see that the Galaxy Z Flip4 charging times are not impressively faster than the Flip3’s, but don’t forget that the new Flip4 also comes with a larger battery. If you are going to use in portrait mode, then the top speaker will play the left channel. Naturally, the top speaker is quieter and less bassy than the bottom one, but those are tuned just right, and the balance is great. The audio quality through the speakers is satisfying – there vocals sound good, and so are the high tones.
Use the Playback controls to listen to the phone sample recordings (best use headphones).
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 review
There is an upgrade, though – the primary camera now features a larger sensor with a different lens. And in terms of other extras, the sensor still has Dual Pixel PDAF tech, while the lens is also stabilized. The ultrawide relies on the same 13MP Sony IMX258 sensor as the Flip3, a Type 1/3.06″ unit with 1.12µm pixels, but the phone still outputs 12MP photos. The camera app on the Flip4 is, for the most part, identical to what you’d get with any other recent Samsung phone, but with a few tweaks to make use of the Flip4’s unorthodox form-factor.
A Flip exclusive, there’s a tiny icon in the far top right corner to activate the cover display for viewfinder purposes, whether it’s for your own personal use or your subject’s. There’s a Pro mode, and it’s still the full-featured variant with control over ISO (50-3200), shutter speed (1/12000s-30s, or up to 0.5s for the ultrawide), manual focus (with peaking), and white balance (by light temperature, with icons next to the number corresponding to a common light source). Metering mode and AF area options are available, too, as well as a set of picture controls for contrast, saturation, and whatnot. Particularly useful is the option to move it to the bottom section and use the half-folded phone for waist-level or above your head shooting.
With the phone folded closed, you can launch the camera with a double press on the power button and use the cover screen as a viewfinder. Sideswipes switch between stills and video while swiping up or down toggles between the main and the ultrawide cameras. Samsung chose to fill the screen completely by taking a center crop from the sensors, making the display not that useful for accurate framing. The 12MP photos from the main camera we shot in broad daylight are outstanding – there is plenty of resolved detail and low noise.
The contrast is great, and the dynamic range is good but not over the top as the Auto HDR isn’t hell-bent on brightening every shadow. They are surprisingly detailed for such type of camera/lens combo, and the per-pixel sharpness is satisfying even if not a match to the primary shooter. The automatic distortion correction is good though the corners are not as sharp as the center – something that’s expected from such ultrawide-angle cameras.
The rest – colors, contrast and dynamic range – is a match to the primary camera performance a.k.a.
Thanks to the external display, the rear camera can and should be used for selfie purposes as it offers autofocus, higher resolution, OIS and better sensors. They are quite good, too, with excellent detail for such a camera, proper exposure, low noise levels, and likable dynamic.
The per-pixel sharpness here is not on par with the primary rear camera, of course, but still a lot better than on many other phones, nevertheless. We took a few portrait selfies with the inner camera, and they are great across the board – exposure, subject separation, detail, colors. The images are still incredibly detailed, with more realistic exposure, brightness, and deeper shadows. Finally, we forced the Night Mode and noticed that sometimes it adds a second or two to the exposure times, meaning some of these took a bit longer to shoot. Scrolling through this batch of photos we found they have little to no difference from the ones we shot at Auto Night Mode. While the ultrawide images aren’t that good at 100% zoom, they will impress at lower resolution when shared across social networks.
Just like with the primary camera, the ultrawide offers a standalone Night Mode, which often uses longer exposure times but delivers simar photos to the default Auto ones. If enabled, it does an outstanding job at stabilizing the footage at the expense of a bit lower FoV and a slight drop in the sharpness.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 is here with redesigned hinge and larger battery
It all starts with the slimmer hinge that brings a narrower gap making the phone more compact and less susceptible to damage. The panel is a Dynamic AMOLED with FHD+ resolution and a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate like last year’s model. The AMOLED cover screen measures 1.9-inches and boasts a 260x512px resolution just like Flip3 but Samsung has expanded its functionality.
The software side is covered by OneUI 4.1 on top of Android 12 and Samsung is bringing new FlexMode options with optimized UX for video calling apps like Google Meet, Zoom and Facebook Messenger. You’ll also be able to configure a Bespoke Edition model via Samsung’s website which allows you to mix and match up to 75 unique color combinations.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 and Z Flip4 hands-on review
Samsung made two leaps in technical innovation by water-proofing its foldables to the IPX8 standard (resistance to water for up to 30 minutes in as much as a meter and a half of freshwater), and making the Galaxy Z Fold3 compatible with the S Pen – those are two unique traits for any folding phone even in 2022. So this year, Samsung did the right thing and gave both sets of cameras some major updates. The ultrawide is of the fixed focus flavor and there’s no telephoto, but it’s still a far more competent setup than last year. Even better, the Galaxy Z Flip4 got a much-needed bump in charging speed – the phone now tops up at 25W, compared to the paltry 15W of its predecessor.
Display: 7.60″ Foldable Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 120Hz, HDR10+, 1200 nits (peak), 1812x2176px resolution, 10.81:9 aspect ratio, 373ppi; Cover display:, Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 120Hz, Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+, 6.2 inches, 904 x 2316 pixels, 23.1:9 ratio. Misc: Fingerprint reader (side-mounted); NFC; stereo speakers; Bixby natural language commands and dictation, Samsung DeX (desktop experience support), Samsung Pay (Visa, MasterCard certified), Ultra Wideband (UWB) support. Body: 165.2×71.9×6.9mm, 187g; Plastic front (opened), glass back (Gorilla Glass Victus+), aluminum frame; IPX8 water resistant (up to 1.5m for 30 mins), Armour aluminum frame with tougher drop and scratch resistance (advertised). 165.2×71.9×6.9mm, 187g; Plastic front (opened), glass back (Gorilla Glass Victus+), aluminum frame; IPX8 water resistant (up to 1.5m for 30 mins), Armour aluminum frame with tougher drop and scratch resistance (advertised).
Misc: Fingerprint reader (side-mounted); NFC; stereo speakers; Samsung Pay (Visa, MasterCard certified).
The Galaxy Z Fold4 is lighter than its predecessor (8g) and brings slightly bigger displays at the expense of slimmer bezels.
The Galaxy Z Fold4 is also 3.1mm shorter than its predecessor and while many hoped for an even bigger reduction it’s definitely a good step in the right direction. The Galaxy Z Flip4 got leaner as well – the hinge is thinner by 1.2mm, the phone is 1.5mm shorter when closed, and the frame is flatter, which played a role in fitting the bigger battery.
The Galaxy Z Fold4 and Z Flip4 are alone at the foldable party as the competition is yet to deliver anything but limited production China-only phones in the segment.
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