Galaxy Z Flip5 Quick Review Philippines Initial Verdict: Unlike how the Galaxy Z Flip4 was to the Z Flip3, the Z Flip5 is a notable upgrade with a significantly larger cover display that adds more functionality to the phone when folded
Pros
-More usable cover display
-Gapless design
-Better cameras
Cons
-Crease is still visible
-Undersized battery
It’s that time of the year, and Samsung has unveiled its latest foldable devices–with the Galaxy Z Flip5 filling up the compact foldable segment. While housed in a familiar form factor, Samsung finally joins the trend of large cover displays on the Galaxy Z Flip5–along with incremental upgrades to the internals. We got our hands on the Galaxy Z Flip5 ahead of Unpacked, and here are our initial impressions:
Galaxy Z Flip5 Quick Review Philippines: Design
While the design and form factor looks similar to the Galaxy Z Flip3 and Flip4, a notable improvement on the Z Flip5 is that there’s practically no gap when the phone is folded. This is a big development for the Galaxy Z Flip series, especially with the competition pushing for gapless designs. You still get the same Armor Aluminum frame for the Galaxy Z Flip5, along with the same button and port layout that includes a side-mounted fingerprint scanner. The same goes for the IPx8 rating, making the Z Flip5 one of the very few foldable devices to have an actual water resistance rating.
While you still get the same glossy finish for the back panel (especially with the Awesome Violet colorway we tried out for this quick review), the biggest change with the Galaxy Z Flip 5 is the cover display, which has grown to 3.4 inches and surrounds the dual rear camera setup.
Galaxy Z Flip5 Quick Review Philippines: Display
The main selling point of the Galaxy Z Flip5 is the large cover display. Unlike what Motorola did with the RAZR 40 Ultra, the large cover display of the Galaxy Z Flip5 does not wrap around the cameras; instead, the display has an unconventional curve (which we last seen on the original Galaxy Fold) that gives the illusion of bezels on the cameras and LED flash.
Having a larger cover screen increases the functionality of the Galaxy Flip5 when folded. Aside from having a bigger viewfinder when taking selfies using the main and ultra-wide cameras, you can send messages with the cover display for quick replies, along with a clearer view of the quick settings panel.
We only had limited time with the Galaxy Z Flip5, but we look forward to using the cover display for different things–maybe for checking social media or web browsing without needing to unfold the phone.
The inner display is the same as the Galaxy Z Flip4 and Z Flip3. To recall, it is a 6.7-inch 120hz Dynamic AMOLED display with a punch-hole for a 10-megapixel selfie shooter. Despite the updated hinge that gives it a gapless design, the crease on the inner display is visible–but again, not annoying enough with prolonged use. Being the same panel, the colors of the Galaxy Z Flip5’s display are just as good as its predecessors.
Galaxy Z Flip5 Quick Review Philippines: Cameras
Samsung believes in the saying “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, and the Galaxy Z Flip5’s cameras are practically the same hardware you’d find on the Galaxy Z Flip4. While we’ve seen an improvement in camera performance in the Galaxy Z Flip4 compared to the Z Flip3, the improvement on the Galaxy Z Flip5 is significant. We’d even describe the photos we took with the Galaxy Z Flip5 as close to the Galaxy S23, with notable improvements in detail preservation and background separation.
We will test out the cameras when we have a longer time with the Galaxy Z Flip5, so stay tuned for that on our full review.
Galaxy Z Flip5 Quick Review Philippines: Internals
Just like the Galaxy S23 series, the Galaxy Z Flip5 uses a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy processor–which is essentially an overclocked version of Qualcomm’s 2023 flagship chip. You also get faster LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.0 storage, and while the latter caps out at 512GB like its predecessor, the Z Flip5 now has an option for 12GB RAM. This marks the first time that Samsung is offering 12GB RAM for its Flip series–and perhaps a response to the competition.
With OneUI 6.1 still in the beta phase, the Galaxy Z Flip5 comes with Android 13-based OneUI 5.1. You will most likely need to wait for a few months before Samsung formally rolls out Android 14 for it. Like most Galaxy devices, the Z Flip5 will have 4 major Android updates (Android 14 included) and 5 years of security updates, making Samsung the current benchmark for Android phones when it comes to software commitments.
Despite the updated internals, you get the same 3700mAh battery on the Galaxy Z Flip5, along with 25w wired charging and 15w wireless charging. This is an aspect where the Galaxy Z Flip5 is lagging behind–even the RAZR 40 Ultra and its bleeding-edge wraparound cover display has a bigger battery at 3800mAh, while the competition has a battery pack that’s bigger than 4000mAh.
Galaxy Z Flip5 Quick Review Philippines: Wrap-up and Initial Verdict
If you’re coming from the Galaxy Z Flip4, the Z Flip5 is a suitable upgrade, especially with the newer gapless hinge design and the large cover display that increases its functionality when folded. The cameras–despite looking to have the same hardware on paper–do appear to be significantly better as well. The updated internals are well appreciated, though we have to see if the battery life is decent since Samsung did not upgrade the battery capacity on the Z Flip5.
Galaxy Z Flip5 Quick Review Philippines: Price
The Galaxy Z Flip5 is priced at Php 64,990 for the 256GB model and Php 71,990 for the 512GB model.
