Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 review: what can the new foldable do?

A few weeks ago, Samsung introduced the ZFold5 and the flip5 finally officially the next generation of foldables. I have found out for you what advantages and disadvantages you have when using the Fold5 in everyday life and whether it is worth buying.

Unlike the Z Flip5, the Fold5 did less than its predecessor. The weight has been slightly reduced and the smartphone is a bit thinner thanks to the new hinge. The battery life should improve thanks to the new Prozessors have also improved. What else has improved or worsened, you can read in the following.

tl; dr

Overall, I quite liked the Z Fold 5. The displays, the performance and the battery life are at a very high level and I really liked them. The design and workmanship are also very good. Unfortunately the camera isn't as good as the rest. It's quite serviceable, but I don't think the images quite match the high price, which is a shame. Another minus point on the Fold is the high price of at least 1.899 euros. Nevertheless, I can recommend the Z Fold5 to all people who have the necessary change, can live with the camera quality and always want to have a small tablet with them.

• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 on Amazon

Test report as video

Design & processing

I really liked the design and the workmanship of the Z Fold5. When unfolded, it is 154,9 millimeters high, 129,9 millimeters wide and 6,1 millimeters thin. When closed, it is 67,1 millimeters wide and 13,4 millimeters thick. At 253 grams, the weight is slightly less than the predecessor, but still relatively high for a smartphone. Both the front and the back are made of Gorilla Glass Victus 2, with the back being matt, which I really like. The frame and the exterior of the hinge are made of shiny Amor aluminum, which looks good but is very fingerprint prone. The first of two speakers and the USB-C port are located on the underside. On the right are the fingerprint sensor and the volume rocker, which offer a good pressure point. The second speaker is at the top and the SIM slot is on the left.

What is new in the Fold5 is the hinge, which can now close flat so that when it is closed there is almost no gap between the displays. Despite the new hinges, the fold is still protected against water ingress according to IPX8, which is really very impressive for a foldable. The workmanship is really at a very high level. There is no rattling or creaking and everything feels very high quality.

Display

In the Fold5, Samsung has installed two Dynamic AMOLED 2X displays with a refresh rate of 120 Hertz. The external display is 6,2 inches and has a resolution of 2316 x 904 pixels. The interior display is 7,6 inches and has a resolution of 2176 x 1812 pixels. Both displays are very bright and can score with vivid colors and very good black levels thanks to OLED technology. While I don't like the aspect ratio of the outer display, I like the inner display all the more. The outer display is very long, which makes one-handed operation and typing on the keyboard much more difficult. This is also the reason why I mostly used the fold unfolded. The external display is only interrupted by a small punch hole with the 10 megapixel front camera. The bezels aren't very thin, but they're not thick either.

The aspect ratio of the main display is almost square and I liked it much better than that of the outer display. The display bezels are slightly thinner than those of the predecessor and are now similar to those of the external display. The front camera is located under the display at the top right. The pixel density on it isn't quite as high as on the rest of the display, which is why you can see it. In everyday life, the under-display camera fades out after a while if you don't look at it directly. The inner display is a bit brighter than the outer display, but otherwise only differs in size and resolution. Overall, I really liked the displays of the Fold5 and were almost completely convinced.

Proprocessor, memory & performance

Samsung installs the currently fastest Qualcomm chip in the Z Fold5 with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy. This is supported by 12 gigabytes of RAM and at least 256 gigabytes of mass storage. The performance is at a very high level. Everything runs very smoothly and without stutters. Apps open very quickly and images don't take long to trigger. Almost all games can also be done without Proplay smoothly. Samsung has managed to keep the heat development within limits even under high load. With normal use, the fold never got uncomfortably warm, which I think is a good thing. The device can only get a little warm during long gaming sessions.

Charge the battery

The not exactly large 4400 mAh battery offers a solid battery life. I always got through a day and usually had about 10 to 20 left at the end of the day Procent charge left. I always had an average screen time of 4 to 5 hours, with around 80 Procent of the time have used the large interior display. Once the battery is empty, it can be charged in about 25 minutes via the USB-C port with 90 watts. Unfortunately, this value is not really good compared to the competition, some of which charge with over 60 watts. On the other hand, it is positive that the Fold can also be charged wirelessly with 15 watts.

The camera – The biggest point of criticism

main camera

Samsung uses a 5-megapixel main camera for the Fold50. In good lighting conditions, it takes relatively good, colorful pictures with a high dynamic range and good image sharpness. In poor lighting conditions, the images start to become noisy and lose sharpness, which is a shame. Videos in 4k can be recorded with up to 60 fps. They look good in good lighting conditions and offer solid stabilization. In poor lighting conditions, they clearly lose quality, but are just about usable. Videos can be recorded at up to 8 fps in 30k. However, these are not really suitable, since the videos then start to noisy and the colors and dynamic range are also significantly worse.

Ultra wide angle camera

The ultra-wide-angle camera has a resolution of 12 megapixels. In good lighting conditions, the recordings are quite usable and have an okay dynamic range. Unfortunately, the images are even worse than those of the main camera in poor lighting conditions. The biggest criticism of this camera is that videos can only be recorded in 4k with 30 fps, which in my opinion is not appropriate for this price. The videos don't look very good either, since the image noise is extremely high and are therefore only of limited use.

zoom camera

For the zoom, Samsung has opted for a 10 megapixel optical zoom. The 3x zoom does a good job in good lighting conditions and scores with sharp images with a good dynamic range. In low light conditions, the image quality is significantly better than that of the ultra wide angle and comparable to that of the main camera.

External front camera

Picture: TechnikNews

The outer front camera has a resolution of 10 megapixels. It delivers good image quality and depicts skin tones relatively realistically. Videos can be recorded with it in 4k at 60 fps. These are usable, but could also be better. But since you can also take selfies with the main camera, I find that you don't need more than that camera as it's perfectly adequate for things like video calls.

Under display camera

Picture: TechnikNews

The under-display camera is one of the highlights of the Z Fold5, although the image quality leaves a lot to be desired. The recordings have a lot of image noise and lack sharpness and dynamic range. For video calls, however, I mostly closed the fold, since the outer front camera is much better suited for this. Still, it's impressive that cameras can now be below the display. I think that this technology will continue to improve in the future and that the image quality will eventually be almost on par with normal cameras.

Camera - conclusion

Picture: TechnikNews

Overall, the camera delivers a solid performance, which in my opinion does not correspond to the price. I would place the picture quality somewhere between an S21 FE and an S23, which are smartphones that cost less than half the Fold. With the successor, Samsung should place a much greater value on the cameras, since almost nothing has changed compared to the predecessor.

Other

fingerprint sensor

The Z Fold5 is unlocked via a fingerprint sensor, which also serves as a power button. He is easily accessible and works relatively quickly and reliably.

Loudspeakers

With the Fold5, Samsung uses stereo speakers that sound really good. They get pretty loud and sound pretty balanced. In my opinion, the speakers are exactly what you can expect for this price.

S Pen

A pretty cool feature of the foldable is the support of the S Pen. With this you can use the inner display as a notepad and thus get even more out of the smartphone. However, the stylus has to be purchased separately, which I think is a pity, since Samsung is one of the few manufacturers to include the S Pen with its tablets free of charge.

connectivity

The Fold has a USB-C port that supports the 3.2 Gen 1 standard. Not only can data be transferred very quickly via it, but monitors can also be connected, which then use Samsung Dex to turn the smartphone into a desktop PC replacement. The smartphone also has the latest Bluetooth 5.3 standard and an ultra wideband chip. 5G mobile communications and NFC are of course also on board.

Software

The Z Fold5 comes with Android 13 in the L version, which is specially optimized for foldables and tablets, and Samsung's One UI 5. The One UI is known to be quite overloaded and to have many small bugs. In recent years, however, Samsung has managed to significantly improve the One UI. Everything looks much smoother and better optimized. The software offers extremely many functions that are very useful. I like the many functions that simplify multitasking and operation on the large display. The taskbar, which is always displayed at the bottom of the interior display by default, is also very useful. Samsung promises major Android version updates and 4 years of security updates for the Fold 5, which is well above average.

An exclusive software feature that is only available for foldables is Flexmode. This allows many apps to share the interior display in two. For example, you can watch the video on YouTube on the top half and read the comments below. Or you can use the fold like a small notebook by using the lower half as a touchpad/keyboard and opening Chrome at the top, for example. The camera settings and the last picture taken are displayed at the bottom of the camera app. Many apps use a sidebar on the interior display, which provides clarity and I like it. Overall, I liked the software and I think it's implemented quite well.

Prices & Availability

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 is available from all major consumer electronics stores such as MediaMarkt, Saturn and Amazon, as well as from the Samsung online shop. The recommended retail price for the foldable is 256 euros with 1.899 gigabytes of storage. You have to pay 512 euros for 2.019 gigabytes and even 1 euros for 2.259 terabyte. I find the price a bit high for what's on offer, but I think the prices will soon drop significantly, which is typical for Samsung. Buy Z Fold5 at:

• Amazon
• Samsung

Recommendations for you

• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 Review: Unboxing & First Impression
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 review: unboxing and first impression
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 review: strong despite fewer innovations
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 review: Unrivaled despite some weaknesses