Verdict
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 nonetheless appears like a futuristic smartphone a 12 months after launch, however with the introduction of the Z Fold 5 with an improved hinge, higher efficiency and a brighter show, it’s not fairly as tempting an choice because it as soon as was.
Professionals
- Good UI tweaks
- Digital camera not a difficulty
- The shape issue actually does work
Cons
- Lack of apps making true use of the large internal display screen limits usefulness
- Crease and thick physique stay from the earlier iteration
- Worth nonetheless places it out of attain for many
Availability
- UKRRP: £1649
- USARRP: $1649
- EuropeRRP: €1799
- CanadaRRP: CA$2500
- AustraliaTBC
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Deal with sturdinessIPX8 score for water resistance and Gorilla Glass Victus -
High-end internalsSnapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chipset, 12GB RAM and as much as 1TB storage -
Two showsOne outer 6.3-inch panel and one other, bigger 7.6-inch display screen inside
Introduction
Samsung’s Fold sequence has come a great distance since its disastrous debut, which noticed the first-generation mannequin all however collapse in my hand.
The Z Fold 4 represented the top of Samsung’s foldable tech at launch in 2022. Though it wasn’t an enormous change from the Z Fold 3, it boasted key enhancements that made it really feel extra reined.
The issue is that the Z Fold 5 is now right here, providing much more enhancements to the book-style design, together with a much-improved hinge mechanism that’s each extra sturdy and all however removes the hole when folded and boosted efficiency within the type of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy. That makes the Z Fold 4 rather less tempting than it did at launch in 2022.
Nonetheless, if you could find the Z Fold 4 at a reduction and also you’re pleased to just accept the slight technical variations, the Fold 4 stays a tempting choice.
Display screen and Design
- Foldable form-factor delivers a smaller outer show and a bigger, tablet-like panel inside
- Way more sturdy than the primary few iterations of the Fold
- Wildly versatile system
Samsung has stood agency in what it believes a flagship foldable smartphone ought to seem like, and the Z Fold 4 concurs on that entrance.Â
Whereas the Z Flip4 and newer Z Flip5 are for those who desire a foldable merely for the truth that the idea takes a typical smartphone and makes it smaller, the Z Fold 4 and 5 really profit from the folding show tech in my thoughts. That is each a telephone and a pill, delivering a much bigger display screen for these occasions you wish to watch a video or play a sport, and changing into smaller for all the pieces else.
The blueprint for this Z Fold 4 is similar as all of the earlier variations of the telephone. The telephone is house to a smaller outer panel and a bigger, 7.6-inch internal show that folds out. Samsung has made the display screen barely wider this time spherical, with a 23.1:9 side ratio on the within. The change isn’t monumental, nevertheless it does make the expertise of watching wider content material a bit higher.
Having a wider outer show is a bonus too, since utilizing the Z Fold 4 appears like utilizing an everyday telephone. You gained’t be enjoying video games or watching movies right here, nevertheless it’s helpful for WhatsApp and Google Maps – or just answering telephone calls.
It’s an expertise that Samsung continues with the Z Fold 5, with no distinction to the dimensions of both show, so that you’re not lacking out on a lot by going with the year-old mannequin.
The Fold 4 is marginally lighter than the Z Fold 3, weighing 263g as a substitute of 271g. Which may seem like a minor discount, however I observed the lighter body instantly. The Z Fold 4 stays a thick telephone, nevertheless. Roughly the thickness of the 2 iPhone 13s, it may be difficult to slot in smaller pockets or baggage.
It’s value noting that Samsung has managed to cut back the Z Fold 5’s thickness, measuring in at 13.5mm thick when folded, and in contrast to the Fold 4, there’s no annoying hole between the 2 halves of the fold both. These aren’t monumental adjustments however they do make the telephone seem extra premium.
The internal display screen itself is full of all the same old high-end options you’d discover on a telephone at this value. Samsung claims it could possibly hit 1000 nits of peak brightness in HDR conditions, packs a 120Hz adaptive refresh fee for clean scrolling, helps the S Pen stylus, and has a digicam tucked beneath.
It’s honest to say that the under-display digicam (UDC) on the Z Fold 3 was horrible, and I can’t say there’s been a lot of an enchancment right here. It’s arduous to identify the sensor until you’re actively searching for it – otherwise you’re on a white web page – however the total high quality of snaps is murky and washed out. I believe the aim of this digicam is extra for fundamental video calls fairly than snaps of your self, and as such, its high quality isn’t overly vital to me.
The most important problem with the show stays, although – and that’s the crease. Whereas different foldables from the likes of Oppo and Xiaomi have managed to work at eradicating the annoying line down the center of the display screen, Samsung doesn’t appear to have bothered. It’s as distracting because it was on the very first Fold system – and that’s disappointing.
Following use of the telephone for per week, the crease does begin to develop into much less of a difficulty – till I scroll down a web page and my finger runs over it. It’s additionally much more apparent when utilizing the telephone outdoor and on brighter days, since daylight displays off it.
It’s additionally not one thing that has improved a lot with the newer Z Fold 5.
Nonetheless, the standard of precise content material reproduced on the display screen is nice. I’ve watched numerous hours of Netflix on the Tube and browse two books by means of the Kindle apps by means of the evaluation course of – one thing I’d by no means have achieved on a typical Android telephone. But, the floor of the display screen may be very totally different to one thing just like the Samsung Galaxy S22 Extremely. The usage of ultra-thin glass provides up a plasticky, overly reflective end that I’ve discovered turns into grubbier so much faster than regular glass.
The Z Fold 4 stays one of many solely foldable telephones round with an IPX8 water-resistance score, and it has Gorilla Glass Victus Plus protecting the entrance show. Powerful aluminium stays across the sides and Samsung says it’s tweaked the hinge barely this 12 months, too.Â
It’s fairly unbelievable how far Samsung has are available such a brief period of time by way of sturdiness right here, particularly when you think about how horrible the primary model was. You continue to should be cautious, in fact, however I don’t discover myself taking any extra care of the Z Fold 4 than I’d do with different telephones.
Digital camera
- Digital camera not a cause to not purchase
- Inferior to one of the best round, however very succesful
- Solely actual letdown is the under-display digicam on the within
Samsung spent numerous time forward of launch hyping up the enhancements it’s made to the digicam, and whereas the corporate doesn’t come near the standard on show within the Galaxy S22 Extremely in all conditions, it’s on par with the S22 and S22 Plus.
This isn’t one of the best digicam telephone going, then, however the cameras not really feel like a cause to keep away from a Z Fold system.
On the again of the Galaxy Z Fold 4 you’ll discover three cameras: a primary large 50-megapixel unit, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide, and a 10-megapixel zoom lens with 30x digital zoom and 3x optical. There’s additionally a 10-megapixel digicam on the entrance and, as talked about, that 4-megapixel under-display digicam inside the interior show. You’re actually not wanting snappers right here.
Samsung instructed me forward of the launch that the principle sensor provides 23% brighter pixels, and this performs into the deal with low-light efficiency within the Nightography pictures modes. The corporate additionally stated that low-light video must be extra steady.
Each of these claims are completely legitimate; I’ve been impressed by the low-light efficiency of the Z Fold 4. It could possibly carry out the brightness in darkish bar scenes and landscapes, with the software program doing a lot of the heavy-lifting. It isn’t as succesful because the Pixel 6 Professional, which I discovered reproduced pores and skin tones higher, displaying better lifelike element; however many of the snaps had been usable and this wasn’t one thing I’d have stated about earlier Fold telephones.
For snaps taken in vivid, well-lit environments, I believe you’ll be hard-pushed to inform the outcomes from the 50-megapixel primary digicam aside from the competitors.
Colors pop with a bit extra saturation than the identical shot taken on an iPhone 13 Professional Max, which is perhaps extra pleasing to those that view most of their images on a telephone.
Blues in pictures of the sky, or the inexperienced in vegetation show loads of punch, though to not the extent that they appear lurid. Pores and skin tones aren’t as pure as these on snaps taken with the Pixel 6 Professional or iPhone 13 Professional, with some element misplaced – that’s simply me nit-picking, although.
The obvious space the place the Z Fold 4 loses floor to the Galaxy S22 Extremely is with the zoom. The 3x optical lens right here is merely ample, and the AI-assisted 30x House Zoom often left me with a grainy picture. This isn’t true zoom in the best way the S22 Extremely has a system constructed for zoom pictures, however fairly a neat additional which you can swap to when you really want to get nearer to a topic and are pleased to just accept some loss in high quality.
Importantly, Samsung has included the identical digicam {hardware} within the Z Fold 5, so that you gained’t see any significant increase to digicam high quality by choosing the newer mannequin.
Efficiency
- High-end specs ship wonderful efficiency
- Software program tweaks assist make higher use of the show
- Most apps nonetheless don’t make use of the large show
Powering the Galaxy Z Fold 4, throughout all areas, is Qualcomm’s 8 Plus Gen 1 chipset. There isn’t a model of the system with an Exynos different obtainable – a change from Samsung’s launch technique with S-series telephones.
This can be a supremely succesful chip – in truth, it was the top-end chip obtainable at launch. It’s environment friendly, pumps out sturdy scores in our suite of benchmark checks, and hasn’t felt sluggish or laggy in any respect throughout my week with the telephone. Contemplating the worth of the Z Fold 4, I wouldn’t actually count on something much less.
Gaming on the internal show is a pleasure, particularly with a controller hooked up. The Qualcomm chip has no bother dealing with even probably the most intensive titles on excessive graphical settings. The 12GB of RAM can also be greater than adequate for the a number of apps I exploit every day to remain in reminiscence, not requiring fixed reloading.
It’s value noting that the Z Fold 5 is much more highly effective with Snapdragon’s unique Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy, making the Fold 5 probably the most highly effective smartphones round in 2023, not simply by way of foldables. Nonetheless, you’re not prone to discover a distinction in day-to-day use, with each smartphones delivering a comfortably highly effective, clean expertise.
The bottom mannequin comes with 256GB of storage, however the lack of SD enlargement means you would possibly wish to spend much more should you’re planning on loading this system with content material.
Lots of the extra vital adjustments are centered on the software program. The Z Fold 4 runs a type of Android 12L – a model of Google’s OS designed particularly for bigger telephones and tablets – alongside the One UI software program. That is the primary system I’ve was operating Android L and it actually appears like a powerful begin.
Probably the most apparent additions is a desktop-style taskbar. This sits on the backside of the display screen and shows extra apps than the standard Android dock. It may also be pulled up whenever you’re in different apps, permitting you to open a number of apps directly with out having to leap again to the homescreen. Whereas this concept isn’t something new, feeling much like the setup on iPadOS, it makes such a distinction in precise use.Â
All through my time with the Z Fold 4, I’ve discovered myself multitasking way over I’ve on a telephone earlier than. With the display screen unfurled, you’ll be able to have three apps seen directly, with the squared-off show making every one usable. You may pull apps out into floating, resizable home windows too.
The state of affairs with apps is much less of a win – particularly by way of third-party companies. All of Samsung’s personal apps are nice, making wonderful use of the show, as do most of Microsoft’s. Spotify defaults to a tablet-like state that crams extra data into view, making it really feel like the larger display screen is definitely a profit.
After I initially went hands-on, the vast majority of the apps I used every day gave the impression to be simply stretched telephone apps that look fantastic on the outer show however odd on the within. Instagram stretched footage out far an excessive amount of, as did BBC Sport and Audible. These apps weren’t designed for a sq. display screen of this dimension and it actually confirmed.
Nonetheless, the state of affairs has modified considerably in 2023, with extra big-name apps like Instagram and Reddit now providing devoted full-screen designs for the Z Fold 4 and newer Fold 5. It’s nonetheless not good nevertheless it’s an enormous enchancment in only a 12 months, and it’s a a lot better expertise than you’ll discover from the likes of the Google Pixel Fold.
Battery Life
- Lack of charger feels stingy on the value
- 25W most speeds are removed from one of the best round
- Wi-fi charging obtainableÂ
There’s a 4400mAh battery contained in the Z Fold 4 – which is similar to the unit within the Z Fold 3, and the newer Z Fold 5 – together with quick wired and wi-fi charging. This stays a reasonably small cell contemplating the necessity to energy two screens. Battery life is barely higher than we achieved with the Z Fold3, seemingly as a result of extra environment friendly chipset tucked inside.
All through my week with the Z Fold 4, I’ve managed to at all times get by means of till bedtime with at the least 15% battery life remaining. That is with roughly 5 hours of screen-on time per day. You will get extra with different Android handsets, and definitely with the iPhone 13 Professional Max, however contemplating I used the within show lots for Kindle reads and watching YouTube on the practice every morning, I’m really pretty impressed with the endurance on provide right here.
Clearly, the battery will drain way more shortly should you’re enjoying video games on the within show, nevertheless it’s additionally simple to eke it out by utilizing simply the outer panel.
That is largely what you’ll get from the Z Fold 5 too, with our reviewer discovering it’d get to bedtime with at the least 20% cost left within the tank – and that’s with a number of hours of use in the course of the day.
Often, I wouldn’t bemoan the dearth of a charger inside a telephone field, however when a telephone prices this quantity, it actually ought to include the fastest-possible unit.
Quick charging has by no means been a key ability of Samsung’s telephones, and that doesn’t change right here. The Z Fold 4 helps a most 25W, and utilizing a succesful plug it topped up from 0-50% in half-hour. That’s fantastic, nevertheless it then took on common an extra 60 minutes to succeed in 100%. Having just lately used the OnePlus 10T, a telephone that may be charged from 0-100% in simply 19 minutes, I felt I used to be spending numerous time hanging round for this telephone to cost.
Newest offers
Must you purchase it?
You desire a pill and a telephone in a single: The Galaxy Z Fold 4 is the one system round that blends each a pill and a telephone. The internal show is healthier for studying, watching and shopping than another telephone I’ve used.
You desire a pocketable system: Though The Z Fold 4 is lighter than the earlier mannequin, it stays a chunky, weighty telephone that gained’t comfortably slip into smaller pockets.Â
Remaining Ideas
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 is a minor improve in some ways – Samsung has taken an already good telephone and added finesse to some areas to make it barely higher.
The broader display screen is welcome, if not a game-changer, and the improved chip and digicam are additionally welcome. Samsung has achieved its finest with the software program, too, though till builders and Google actually begin pushing this display screen dimension, you’re left with a majority of apps that don’t really feel fairly proper.
It’s additionally arduous to disregard the worth. On the excessive value, this system shall be out of attain for a lot of – whereas additionally being a daft quantity to spend on a telephone that isn’t essentially higher in any single space than a tool costing half the worth. The state of affairs is. a bit extra tempting with the reveal of the Z Fold 5 nevertheless.
Whereas the Fold 5 boasts key enhancements to the hinge, chipset and show, the Z Fold 4 is now cheaper than ever, making it a tempting purchase contemplating simply how comparable the 2 are.
How we check
We check each cell phone we evaluation totally. We use business customary checks to check options correctly and we use the telephone as our primary system over the evaluation interval. We’ll at all times let you know what we discover and we by no means, ever, settle for cash to evaluation a product.
Used as our primary handset for per week throughout check interval
Digital camera in comparison with rivals
Examined with artificial benchmarks and actual world use
FAQs
There’s no charger included; there’s only a USB-C cable within the field. The telephone helps as much as 25W charging.
Whereas the Z Fold 4 helps S Pen enter for notes or doodles, you’ll have to purchase it individually.
Trusted Critiques check knowledge
UK RRP
USA RRP
EU RRP
CA RRP
AUD RRP
Producer
Display screen Measurement
Storage Capability
Rear Digital camera
Entrance Digital camera
Video Recording
IP score
Battery
Wi-fi charging
Quick Charging
Measurement (Dimensions)
Weight
Working System
Launch Date
First Reviewed Date
Decision
HDR
Refresh Fee
Ports
Chipset
RAM
Colors
Sustainability
TrustedReviews’ holds the truth that world warming just isn’t a fantasy as a core worth and can constantly endeavor to assist shield our planet from hurt in its enterprise practices.
As a part of this mission, at any time when we evaluation a product we ship the corporate a sequence of questions to assist us gauge and make clear the influence the system has on the setting.
We at present haven’t acquired solutions to the questions on this product, however will replace this web page the second we do. You may see an in depth breakdown of the questions we ask and why in our sustainability data web page.
Jargon buster
IP score
An abbreviation for ‘Ingress Safety Code’, which helps you to know to what extent a tool is perhaps waterproof or dustproof.
Nits
The brightness stage of a show. 300 nits is considered the minimal goal for high-end screens.
OLED and AMOLED
Sorts of shows that use self-lighting pixels to offer better distinction and extra vibrant colors than a typical LCD show, in addition to sharper blacks.
