Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 review: not everything is an improvement

Samsung’s foldable Galaxy Z Fold5 smartphone can be opened and closed (flush – finally!) like a book. It’s even waterproof, which isn’t a given for a foldable smartphone. The phone also has a lot to offer in other areas, but it still has room for improvement.

Design: a narrow nugget that closes flush

The folded Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 is slightly narrower than most standard rectangular phones. The 6.2-inch AMOLED display is 60 millimetres wide. My Oppo Find X5 is 10 millimetres wider. Typing on the foldable works well, but the keyboard is narrower than I’m used to.

The display measures 7.6 inches when opened, giving it an area of 125 × 150 millimetres. With just a diagonal of just 1.4 inches more, the area of the opened display is more than twice as big.

Folded, the phone is quite thick at 13.4 millimetres. That amounts to just under two conventional smartphones stacked on top of each other. And it’s noticeable on the scales: the Z Fold5 weighs 253 grammes.

The front display boats a wide colour palette and good contrasts. The peak value for the display’s brightness is enormous – up to 1,400 nits. I can see everything wonderfully even in direct sunlight. You can increase the refresh rate from 60 to 120 hertz on both the inner and outer display.

The inner display only partially satisfies me. Depending on the viewing angle, it presents a somewhat flabby image due to the flexible material. Mind you, it’s not an issue when looking straight at the screen. The fold, however, is quite pronounced and annoying in everyday use.

This kind of closing mechanism is quite complex, so I’m amazed that the Z Fold5 is water-resistant. It’s IPX8 certified, meaning it can easily survive up to 30 minutes in 1.5 metres of fresh water.

Software with foldable-specific adaptations

To take advantage of the large display, the manufacturer may also need to adapt certain apps. These adaptations are particularly interesting on a foldable. This includes the camera app, for instance. If you fold the Z Fold5 to a 90-degree angle, you’ll see the pictures you’ve taken on the left edge and the normal camera on the right.

Samsung has also brought Instagram on board: I can see my feed in large format, with the menu bars on the left and bottom instead of on top. It’s a pity you can’t rotate by 90 degrees within the app; that would allow me a better grip on the phone.

Spotify has also been adapted. You see what’s playing on the left, and have your song list on the larger portion of the right. I find it really fun to go through apps and see if they behave differently than on a regular phone as a result of the screen size or fold.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 is up to date with Android 13 and One UI 5. Samsung promises to deliver Android updates for four years and security patches for five years. That’s decent.

The big screen isn’t always a boon

Whether you think it’s worth it or not, the fact is a larger screen offers you a better overview. I tested how the large screen performs in everyday life when scrolling through pictures, reading, watching movies and, of course, doodling – the latter because Samsung offers a quite handy case that includes a stylus. With the case, the phone also rests level on a table. Drawing, however, takes some getting used to.

The pen allows me to let loose in the Notes app. The initial enthusiasm fades somewhat because the fold is too uneven for painting pictures, prohibiting me from using the entire surface of the display. If I turn the phone by 90 degrees, I can at least use the crease as an orientation line for taking notes. The pen is responsive and pleasant to write with. For jotting down spontaneous ideas, it’s enough.

When resting my hand on the phone, I have to make sure the stylus is close to the display. That way, the Z Fold5 recognises the pen and I don’t accidentally end up drawing with my hand or moving the page.

If you like watching YouTube videos, you can place the phone in a half-closed position. The app then splits between the screen halves. On the top, you’ll see the video, and on the bottom, the video info and recommendations. Unfortunately, the red seek bar is right in the crease. So, if I set down the phone when it’s half-folded, I can’t use it to fast-forward or rewind the video. Unfolded, it’s great to have videos be a bit bigger.

When gaming, I notice pros and cons. The software and hardware are fast and reliable. Of course, the big display makes for an additional fun factor. However, I find it tedious to hold the big phone while gaming. This is partly due to the weight and partly due to the fact that in certain games I can’t reach the centre of the screen. The phone feels uncomfortable in my hands during longer gaming sessions. Big hands are a clear advantage here.

The racing game Asphalt 9 is especially cool to play in a bigger format. The side controls are wonderful. On the other hand, a game like Candy Crush, which requires me to access every point of the screen, benefits less from the large size. The RPG Souls would be beautiful, but again, many of the controls are centred. Fortunately, I can choose whether I want to play on the outer or inner display.

The hardware leaves nothing to be desired

My test device is equipped with 12 GB of working memory and 256 GB of internal storage. That’s generous – you’d be hard-pressed to find an app that needs 12 GB of working memory. The Galaxy Z Fold5 offers room for two SIM cards and also supports eSIM.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip is installed, with Samsung’s processor clocked a bit higher than the competition’s at 3.36 instead of 3.2 GHz. For this reason, it’s interesting to see how the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 compares to the competition in benchmarks – especially that with the same chipset. One such candidate is the ASUS ROG Phone 7 in normal mode (I ignore its high-performance mode for the sake of the comparison). I also include the Google Pixel Fold as one of the latest folding phones. It has a Tensor G2 chip installed. Finally, I also include the current Samsung flagship, the Galaxy S23 Ultra.

The Z Fold5 beats not only the competition, but even the brand’s own non-foldable flagship by a hair’s breadth. This is remarkable performance that you can feel with everyday use. For example, you can enjoy very smooth scrolling and fast app launches, even with several apps already running in the background.

The 4,400 mAh battery charges with up to 25 watts. With my 25-watt power supply (none is included with the phone), a full charge takes 1 hour and 45 minutes. That’s quite long, but it protects the battery. I get about 12 hours of use on one charge. Throughout the day, I surf the web, edit pictures, and edit the odd Instagram video. If I use only the outer display, I get about one extra hour, perfect for long days.

Great camera

The Galaxy Z Fold5 is equipped with several cameras. The specs sound promising. What’s exciting to look at is the quality of the under-display camera.

Below are a few photos to give you a visual impression after all those specs.

• Main camera: 50 MP, f/1.8
• Telephoto camera: 10 MP, f/2.4, 3x optical zoom
• Ultra-wide-angle camera: 12 MP, f/2.2
• Selfie camera: 4 MP/f/1,8 (under-display camera)
• Front-facing camera on the outside: 10 MP, f/2.2

In the test, the cameras – in combination with Samsung’s software – pull off a top-notch performance in the smartphone range. In good weather, photos taken with the main camera boast superb lighting, good contrasts and are extremely sharp. Almost too sharp for my taste. But this is how the software on many cameras works and is a matter of taste. If you ask me, this results in landscapes often having too little depth. The colours also gleam a bit too unnaturally for me. Especially the green – I find it a bit much.

The wide-angle camera comes in handy when I discover a wall full of graffiti. It allows me to capture it wonderfully in one shot. On the sides, the image looks blurry and slightly distorted. Again, the colours look extremely bright – in reality, they weren’t quite so intense. For an artistic subject like this, I think the bright colours are fine.

The optical zoom works great. Even the tenfold digital zoom manages quite well, in my opinion. Go past that and the edges of the font, for instance, become quite spongy. You can zoom all the way up to 30x. Mind you, the result is incredibly noisy and two-dimensional.

The Galaxy Z Fold5 has two selfie cameras: one on the outer display when the phone is closed, as well as an under-display camera on the large inner screen. The usefulness of the second one isn’t entirely clear to me, unless I want to participate in a video call on the big screen. If that’s the case, it’ll do. It’s not very sharp, but still of good quality.

The selfie camera, on the other hand, looks as good as the main camera in terms of quality.
It takes sharp pictures with the same bright colours. Again, it’s a matter of taste. Portrait mode works quite well. As always, I find that the software can’t quite optimally process hair with bokeh (blurred background). But this is something I notice mostly on the computer screen. On the phone, I have to look very closely to see it. All in all, I’m satisfied.

So, the cameras perform well in optimal lighting and weather conditions. What about dusk and nighttime? Here, the image benefits from the sharpening and bright colours. At dusk, the otherwise too dark areas are still clearly visible. And night mode brightens the concrete platform and trees well in a way that looks natural. I’m happy with the results.

The lowdown: dominant crease detracts from the overall positive impression

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 is extremely versatile. My personal highlight is doodling and note taking with the pen that’s available separately. The apps adapted to foldables are great, and Netflixing and gaming is also a lot of fun on the big screen. And the cameras achieve very good results for a phone – on par with Samsung’s flagship.

However, the crease is just too annoying. With my smaller hands, the phone is also too chonky for me – and quite heavy at 253 grammes. Last but not least, it’s a hell of an investment. Fun and big screen or not, the price is too high for what I consider a tool that I want to carry around with me everywhere. The price and weight would have to be slimmed down quite a bit for me to consider it.

If you have big pockets or always have a bag with you anyways (filled with a mountain of change), the chunky heavyweight might be worth considering. The large display does make plenty of things more fun. The fact that the phone is also weatherproof is another plus. If you treat yourself to this piece of true luxury, you won’t have to do without anything – except perhaps the budget for your next holiday.

Header image: Michelle Brändle