This year, we saw the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 smartphone, though the company has been making foldables for five iterations now. In 2023, other companies like OnePlus and Google have taken note and joined the foldable party. Surely, with several other versions under their belt, Samsung should reign supreme. After checking out the competition and spending several weeks with the Z Fold5, I have some thoughts.
I want to start with what I really like about this year’s device. I have always thought the Samsung Galaxy Z Folds were stunning, and that remains true here. This year’s versions come in Cream, Icy Blue and Phantom Black and have a storage capacity of 256 or 512 GB. I have the Icy Blue 256 GB model. The clean lines and sleek design of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 smartphone really make the device stand out amongst the competition.
To go along with the aesthetically pleasing style, Samsung also offers Themes, and I adore being able to deck out my entire phone in a specific style rather than some preset colours and a background image of my choice. This isn’t Z Fold5 specific, but it does give Samsung devices a little boost, in my opinion.
Samsung has also stepped up its game when it comes to multitasking. Making productivity a priority really makes use of the large inner screen. Foldables began as sort of a gimmick, and the inner screen was just fun to watch videos on, but as time goes on and software gets better, companies are finding better ways to make use of the space. OnePlus has done it with the Open, and now, with gestures, split screen, and floating windows, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 makes work and play of the device more manageable. You can watch more about it below.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 supports Android 14 and runs on One UI 6. With a Qualcomm SM8550-AC Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 (4 nm) chipset, Octa-core CPU and Adreno 740 GPU, it is on par with what OnePlus is offering with its foldable. The Z Fold5 is bringing upgrades throughout its internals, compared to the last iteration. This means if you’re jumping into the foldable market and are looking at a Samsung, the Galaxy Z Fold5 is the way to go, especially to guarantee you are futureproofing your smartphone.
“The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 is a serviceable smartphone and a fine foldable, but it’s not leaps and bounds ahead of its competitors despite being in its fifth iteration.”
The dimensions are almost identical, with the only mention-worthy difference being that it is 2.4mm thinner when folded than the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4. What they really needed to do was widen the smartphone. The 67.1mm cover screen is too small to be functional. I am a small woman with small hands, and trying to type on it is a nightmare. Why they haven’t improved this in five iterations is beyond me. What Samsung has done, though, is reduce the weight by 10 grams in Z Fold5. Though it still isn’t the lightest foldable—that goes to the OnePlus Open at 239g—it is significantly lighter than the Google Pixel Fold at 283g.
Here is how the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 compares to other foldable:
| Smartphone | Folded | Unfolded | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 | 154.9 x 67.1 x 13.4 mm | 154.9 x 129.9 x 6.1 mm | 253g |
| Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 | 155.1 x 67.1 x 14.2-15.8 mm | 155.1 x 130.1 x 6.3 mm | 263g |
| OnePlus Open | 153.4 x 73.3 x 11.7 mm | 153.4 x 143.1 x 5.8 mm | 239g |
| Google Pixel Fold | 139.7 x 79.5 x 12.1 mm | 139.7 x 158.7 x 5.8 mm | 283g |
However, not much has changed on the outside of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 from the 4. It still features the same Foldable Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 120Hz, HDR10+ internal display, and the cover display is now Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 120Hz, Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 instead of Victus+. The good news is that the display on the Galaxy Z Fold line has always been bright, clear and really pushes how good media can look on a device, especially a foldable. It also holds the same IPX8 water resistance.
But for me, this time around, I found the crease in the Z Fold5 extremely noticeable. I did have a device on loan from Samsung that has seen other reviewers, so it is possible that it is because of wear on the device. However, the Z Fold5 was only released in August. It can only be about three to four months old, so that doesn’t bode well for the longevity of the screen.
Gaming on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 smartphone is surprisingly functional. Not only do games like Terra Nil and Stardew Valley make great use of the extra large screen, but you can still play them on the smaller cover screen if you’re looking to save some battery. You cannot switch between screens, however, you need to close and reopen each game. You are able to check the status of the phone while gaming, which will give you information about the temperature of the phone, battery life and more.
I found the Z Fold5 warmed up around the camera area quite a bit while playing Terra Nil, and the battery drained about 10% per 40 minutes with the screen brightness at 50%. Though the details told me it would only last around three hours. With Stardew Valley, the battery only drained about 6% in the same time frame, it stayed much cooler, and the time left on the battery stated nearly 5 hours. The numbers didn’t quite add up, but I wasn’t disappointed with the gaming performance on a long drive.
Another strange thing for me is that the camera in the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 is identical to the Z Fold4. Though the 4 was a huge upgrade compared to the Z Fold3’s 12MP camera and felt serviceable “for a foldable,” what OnePlus has done with its Fold’s photo capabilities really stepped up what people should expect from a foldable device. When you take into account the premium cost of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 at $1919 USD for 512GB storage with 12GB RAM compared to the Open at $1699 for the same storage and 16GB of RAM, you need something to blow you away. A camera that makes you say, “It’s fine,” for the second year in a row isn’t going win me over.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 main camera features a 50 MP lens, a 10 MP telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom and a 12 MP ultrawide lens. Its video capabilities make no sense to me since the quality isn’t great, but it can run 8K at 30fps, 4K at 60fps, 1080p at 60/240fps (gyro-EIS), and 720p at 960fps. The inside selfie camera is still 4MP, and the cover camera is 10 MP. If you want to know what I think about the camera’s performance, check out last year’s review since it’s still the same.
The battery in the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 also remains unchanged (are we seeing a pattern here?) compared to the Z Fold4. The 4400 mAh battery means that I am usually stretching the battery until bedtime, with Always on Display on, some light work and things like TikTok, Facebook, X, etc. Getting a day out of my phone is all I ask, but with the competition holding batteries over 4800 mAh, Samsung needs to step up its game. They do, however, still support wireless charging. So that is one point for Samsung’s column in my book.
All in all, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 is a serviceable smartphone and a fine foldable. However, with not one but four previous versions ahead of their competition and a price that is hundreds of dollars more, Samsung should be leaps and bounds ahead of their competitors, and they just aren’t. This year’s phone made the smallest improvements to the guts of the phone and left almost everything else the same.
Thankfully, some productivity improvements are a small light at the end of this tunnel, but if OnePlus and Google are blowing the Z Fold out of the water on their first attempt, I hate to see what that might mean for Samsung in the future.
