One of Samsung's folding phones is getting a massive makeover – and one isn't

(Image credit: Samsung)

published 20 March 2023

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4 are some of the best foldable phones you can buy, but in this highly competitive and fast-changing market, you can't rest on your laurels. New versions of both phones are in development, but reports suggest that Samsung is taking a very different approach to the Flip 5.

Where the Galaxy Z Flip 5 is expected to have a huge screen upgrade, the Galaxy Z Fold 5 is not expected to look dramatically different from the current model.

That's according to well-connected tipster Ice Universe, who reports that the Galaxy Z Fold 5 will have the same 6.2-inch cover display with the same aspect ratio as the Galaxy Z Fold 4. However, it will be improved in some other key respects.

What can we expect from the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5?

While the Z Flip 5 is reportedly getting a much larger outside display, the Fold 5's overall design is apparently the same as before. It'll be thinner, though, albeit by just 0.2mm, and it'll fold more neatly without any visible gap between the two halves of the phone. The difference is apparently due to a "water droplet" hinge that almost eliminates visible screen creasing.

According to SamMobile the Galaxy Z Fold 5 is 9mm lighter than the current model, and will feature the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy chipset that we've already seen in the Galaxy S23, S23+ and S23 Ultra. That means it's going to be significantly more powerful than the Z Fold 4.

Don't expect a massive change in the cameras, though: reports indicate that the video recording capability may be closer to that of the S23, presumably due to the better chipset, but Samsung is not believed to be considering a significant upgrade to the camera hardware this time around.

It looks like Samsung has decided to make these two foldable phones for two different kinds of customers, much like it did with the Samsung Galaxy S series and the Samsung Galaxy Note. The Flip appears to be positioned as the fun, fashion, more forward-thinking phone; the Fold is its more serious, sober-suited sibling.

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Writer, musician and broadcaster Carrie Marshall has been covering technology since 1998 and is particularly interested in how tech can help us live our best lives. Her CV is a who’s who of magazines, newspapers, websites and radio programmes ranging from T3, Techradar and MacFormat to the BBC, Sunday Post and People’s Friend. Carrie has written more than a dozen books, ghost-wrote two more and co-wrote seven more books and a Radio 2 documentary series; her memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, was shortlisted for the British Book Awards. When she’s not scribbling, Carrie is the singer in Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind (unquietmindmusic).