Samsung announced the Galaxy Z Flip 5 at an Unpacked event held in Seoul, South Korea on July 26th. The competition in the Flip-style foldable market has increased in recent years, with Motorola and Oppo coming with some impressive offerings. In comparison, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 is an iterative upgrade over the Flip 4, with the highlight being the bigger 3.4-inch cover display. It allows you to do much more on the Flip 5 without flipping it open.

Coupled with faster internals, double the base storage, and various software enhancements, the Flip 5 is among the best foldable phones to launch this year. If you find book-style foldables too big, the Flip 5 is for you. Samsung has not bumped the 3,700mAh battery capacity on the Flip 5, so battery life could be a concern. But the more efficient Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 'for Galaxy' chip should help here.

Below is everything you need to know about the Galaxy Z Flip 5, its bigger cover display, a.k.a Flex Window, specs, and more.

Design and display

Samsung has retained the same design language for the Galaxy Z Flip 5 as its last few Flip phones. There's nothing new here, with the phone featuring the same IPX8 water-resistance rating as last year.

The biggest upgrade on the Galaxy Z Flip 5 compared to last year's model is the upfront cover display, which Samsung is now calling Flex Window. It dominates the front and measures 3.4 inches diagonally — an increase of 3.78x from the Flip 4. This makes the 720p 60Hz cover display a lot more practical, with quick access to widgets letting you control the music playback, check the weather, catch up on the latest news, and more. A pinch gesture on the cover screen brings up the Multi Widget View, from where you can go through the list of available apps and widgets.

You can even bring up the full QWERTY keyboard on the cover display to reply to messages. While handy, the 3.26-inch panel is still small for such tasks, so typing will be challenging. Samsung will let you run a handful of apps on the Flip 5's cover display. At launch, this includes Netflix, YouTube, Google Maps, WhatsApp, and Messages, but that's about it.

Samsung updated Good Lock and its MultiStar module to enable some cover display functionality for additional apps. But it's far from the experience we've seen on other clamshell phones, marking one of the biggest differences between the Galaxy Z Flip 5 and the Moto Razr+.

Summary

• The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 features a bigger 3.4-inch cover display, allowing you to watch videos, check notifications, and reply to messages without opening the phone.
• With faster internals, double the base storage of the Z Flip 4, and various software enhancements, the Flip 5 may be one of the best foldable phones of the year.
• The Flip 5 retains the same design as previous models and has a 6.7-inch internal display, 8GB RAM, and a 3,700mAh battery. It runs on Android 13-based One UI 5.1.1.

The outer screen on the Flip 4 and older models was of limited use. But the bigger screen on the Flip 5 should be a lot more useful in daily use. With the Moto Razr+ and Oppo Find N2 Flip sporting big cover displays, this was a much-needed upgrade that Samsung's Flip phone needed this year.

We were impressed with the outer display in our limited time with the Galaxy Z Flip 5 during our hands-on. What remains to be seen is how Samsung updates its software to take advantage of the bigger cover display.

Samsung has left the internal screen untouched. It measures 6.7 inches with a resolution of 2640 x 1080 and a refresh rate of 1~120Hz. Unlike the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5, it does not appear that the Flip 5 is using a brighter AMOLED panel. Flex Mode is still present, so you can pull some cool tricks with the phone, including taking high-quality selfies from the rear cameras.

Like the Galaxy Z Fold 5, the Flip 5 uses the slimmer new Flex Hinge. Samsung says this new hinge has a dual rail structure that can diffuse external impacts. For added durability and protection, the cover screen and the rear panel use Gorilla Glass Victus 2.

You can get the Galaxy Z Flip 5 in four colors: Mint, Graphite, Cream, and Lavender. And if you purchase the Flip foldable from Samsung's online store, you get four additional color options: Blue, Gray, Green, and Yellow.

Specs

Like the best Android phones on the market, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 is packed with the top-notch internals you can ask for in this compact form factor. A Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 'for Galaxy' chip does all the heavy lifting, backed by 8GB RAM and 256GB or 512GB storage. The base storage has doubled from previous Flip models, thanks to the switch to the faster UFS 4.0 standard.

A 3,700mAh battery provides juice to the internals, which is the same as last year. The Snapdragon chip is fabricated on the 4nm TSMC node and uses more efficient cores, so the Flip 5 should last longer than previous Flip models. Sadly, the charging speed remains on the slower side, just like on many of our favorite Samsung phones. Wired charging speed tops out at 25W, while wireless charging is limited to 15W.

The Flip 5's IP rating sees no upgrade and is still IPX8 certified. So, while you can expose the phone to liquid, dust is a strict no-no. Some may find this inferior to the Moto Razr+ and its IP52 rating. From a connectivity viewpoint, the Flip 5 is loaded. There's Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 53, dual-SIM 5G, eSIM support, NFC, and USB Type-C.

You can go through our Galaxy Z Flip 5 vs. Flip 4 comparison to see how Samsung's newest Flip foldable fares against its predecessor.

Software

Out of the box, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 runs on Android 13-based One UI 5.1.1. This slightly newer version of Samsung's skin packs many foldable-specific improvements. One UI 5.1.1 should reach its other premium Galaxy devices in the coming weeks. All the new cover display enhancements are a part of the latest One UI release, with the likes of Flex Window, Flex Mode, and Flex Cam all getting some improvements as well.

Samsung promises four years of Android OS updates and five years of security patches for the Flip 5. The phone is launching with Android 13 and will get at least Android 17, with security updates landing until July 2028.

The Korean giant should start public beta testing of Android 14-based One UI 6 sooner than later. While the Flip 5 might not initially be a part of the program, it should join the list later.

Cameras

Samsung is continuing with the same camera setup on the Galaxy Z Flip 5 as its predecessor. You get dual 12MP rear cameras, with the primary sensor having an f/1.8 aperture and OIS. The 12MP ultrawide retains its f/2.2 lens and 123-degree FOV. Samsung has upgraded the selfie camera with a faster f/2.2 aperture. It now also offers a wider 85-degree field of view, but this change is unlikely to have a massive impact on image quality.

Samsung switched to a bigger 12MP primary camera on the Flip 4 last year, and you get the same sensor on the Flip 5. But it is still a smaller shooter than the Galaxy S23's 50MP camera, so the dynamic range and low-light performance won't be as good. The lack of a dedicated telephoto shooter means the Flip 5 can't compete with the best Android phones when it comes to optical zoom.

With the underlying camera hardware unchanged, any imaging enhancements offered by the Galaxy Z Flip 5 will come from the faster ISP of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip. Samsung claims you should see improvements in the night shots, though this is something only time will tell. Overall, expect the camera experience to be similar to the Flip 4.

Release date and price

Despite the minor upgrade, the Galaxy Z Flip 5's price starts from the same $1000 before taxes. Samsung is accepting pre-orders for the device beginning July 26th. Like the Galaxy Z Fold 5, the Flip 5's retail availability will begin starting August 11th.

Samsung offers attractive trade-in offers and pre-order deals for the Flip 5, which you can take advantage of to save up to $900 on your purchase. It is also running a free storage upgrade promo for pre-orders, so if you opt for the 256GB Flip 5, you'll get the 512GB configuration. There are several Galaxy Z Flip 5 preorder deals you can take advantage of to get your hands on Samsung's latest Flip phone at a lower price point.