In the past year, the Indian foldables market has picked up significantly, with new entries from OPPO, Techno, and Motorola. Priced cheaper than Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold series, these new entries have proven to be competitive in this emerging market. Samsung enjoyed the title of leaders in the foldable market for quite a bit now, but can they still hold on to that title?
The Galaxy Z Fold 5 launched a little over a month ago in India. They have not increased the price, however there aren’t any major improvements either. So is the device still worth the price? Read on in my review.
Hardware refinements
With the Galaxy Z Fold 5, it is clear that Samsung is committed to this form factor. In particular, the aspect ratio has remained the same as the Galaxy Z Fold 4. The Pixel Fold and OPPO’s Fold have wider aspect ratios, and they have been received quite well in the market. Samsung on the other hand has stuck with their choice of narrow aspect ratio for the Fold 5’s front display. It has become a matter of preference at this point – some people like it, some people don’t. Personally, it doesn’t bother me as much. Although I did find it a bit cramped to type on the keyboard sometimes.
Design-wise, there aren’t any other major changes with the Galaxy Z Fold 5. The displays go edge-to-edge with minimal bezels, and you get Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection on the front outer display and the rear panel. The inner display is still made out of their UTG (Ultra-thin glass) material. Side railings are made out of metal and the phone features their Armor Aluminium frame for increased durability and protection. The phone is still as slippery as before, and I would strongly recommend getting a case or a skin. You do not wanna drop a phone that is this fragile.
The biggest visual change to the device is easily the lack of a gap between the two panels when the phone is closed. Competition devices have not had a gap in their devices, and it is great to see Samsung finally catch up.
The placement of the buttons and ports are identical. The volume rocker and the power button (with an integrated fingerprint sensor) are present on the right edge, and the USB Type-C port is on the bottom. The SIM tray can be found on the left edge, and there are dual speakers at the top and bottom edges.
Similar to the previous model, the Z Fold 5 features IPX8 water resistance, which is quite useful. Just don’t expose the device to sand or a lot of dust. It will get into the hinge and damage your phone.
Speaking of the hinge, Samsung has updated the hinge with a simpler design, and it feels just as robust as before. Hopefully the new design will improve longevity, which is unfortunately beyond the scope of this review.
The best display on a foldable
The inner display is mostly the same, measuring 7.6-inches and features a resolution of 2176 x 1812 pixels. The peak brightness is higher this time, capable of reaching 1750 nits, which is the same as the Galaxy S23 Ultra. It continues to support variable refresh rates, capable of switching between 1Hz and 120Hz. As expected, the display is fantastic, with beautiful contrast and vibrant colours. Sunlight visibility was never an issue, even under the harsh direct sunlight. The display is HDR10+ certified, however there is no Dolby Vision support.
The situation with the crease is unchanged. It is just as visible as before, and I didn’t notice it within 10 minutes of using the device. It rarely bothers me, and I only become aware of it when I run my finger over it.
The outer display is a 6.2-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel with a refresh rate range of 48-120Hz. The aspect ratio is quite tall, just like the Z Fold 4, and it as usable as before. Good enough for a quick glance at apps or answering calls, but not great if you want to be productive or watch a lot of content.
Software: A version upgrade and nothing more
For the OS, the phone features Samsung’s latest OneUI 5.1.1 based on Android 13. At the time of this review, it is running the August security patch, and it should receive the September patch soon. Just like other Samsung flagships, the Galaxy Z Fold 5 will receive 4 Android updates and 5 years of security updates. Samsung continues to lead the market in terms of software updates, which is a major positive for them.
The software experience is largely the same as what you get on the Galaxy Z Fold 4. There is a persistent taskbar that can show 5 pinned apps and up to 2 recent apps. Running multiple apps simultaneously is quite simple thanks to Samsung’s implementation of pop-up windows and easy split-screen gestures.
OneUI has become quite refined over the years and the number of issues I have with it have reduced a lot. The software feels stable, fast and feature-rich. One of the only issues I had were with third-party apps and their support for tablet mode. The Android tablet ecosystem has a long way to go, and developers need to optimize their apps for larger displays. It is happening, but maybe not fast enough.
Cameras – Nearly Flagship Quality
The camera hardware on the Galaxy Z Fold 5 is unchanged, which is quite disappointing. Here are the specifications:
- 50 MP (f/1.8, OIS, Dual Pixel AF)
- 12 MP Ultrawide (f/2.2, 1.12 μm)
- 10 MP telephoto (f/2.4 1.0 μm, OIS, PDAF, 3x optical zoom), 30X space zoom
- 10 MP Front 1.22 μm, f/2.2
- 4MP Under Display (f/1.8, 2.0μm, FOV: 80˚)
The phone benefits mainly from the improved ISP of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. It is able to process images faster and the photo quality is improved. The front-facing camera in particular is now capable of shooting video at 4K 60fps.
Regarding the quality of the cameras, the photos have overall improved. Exposure was correct, dynamic range was excellent and colours were vibrant. In well-lit conditions, the phone excelled. Ultra-wide photos were good, and portrait photos were amazing too. Samsung continues to have some of the best subject cut-outs too.
It was in low-light conditions where the phone struggled a bit. It does a decent job most of the time. However, it could not match up to Samsung’s own Galaxy S23 Ultra. Another weakness of the Galaxy Z Fold 5 is the zoom capabilities. The S23 Ultra has a dedicated 10x zoom lens that offers more detailed and sharper photos. The Galaxy Z Fold 5 on the other hand can only do 3x optical zoom.
The inner front facing under-display camera is not great at all. The photos it produced looked smear-y and over sharpened. I would rarely use it, if at all.
Here are some camera samples from the Galaxy Z Fold 5:
Performance and Connectivity
The Galaxy Z Fold 5 has been upgraded with Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, paired with 12GB of RAM and our model has 256GB of storage. In fact, the phone features the same “Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy” chipset that is used in the Galaxy S23 series.
As expected, the phone performs well at nearly any task you can throw at it. It handles running multiple apps simultaneously with no issues and the graphics improvements are significant. Games like COD and BGMI can run at maximum framerate easily and in demanding games, the phone performs admirably.
Here are some benchmarks of the Galaxy Z Fold 5:
For connectivity, the phone supports Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth v5.3, Ultra-wide band, NFC and USB 3.2 Gen 1 speeds via the USB Type-C port. Location services support include GPS, Glonass, Beidou, Galileo and QZSS. It supports a wide range of 5G bands along with Carrier Aggregation, VoWiFi and VoLTE.
Battery
The story with the battery on the Galaxy Z Fold 5 is a bit mixed. The rated capacity is the same at 4400mAh, and the charging speed is the same at 25W.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is pretty efficient, so that should contribute to an increase in battery life. However, during my review, I noticed that the battery life was basically the same. Depending on which display I used, I was able to get just under 6 hours of screen-on-time, which is enough for a day of light use. But with heavy use and if you use the inner display a lot, the battery can drain much quicker. It simply cannot last two days like the Galaxy S23 Ultra.
Conclusion
The Galaxy Z Fold 5 is Samsung’s smallest update to their foldable line-up till date. The company has not made any drastic new upgrades, and it feels like they have settled a bit, the Fold 5. The Flip 5 on the other hand has much bigger upgrades, such as the larger front display.
So should you buy the Galaxy Z Fold 5? It depends on a couple of factors. If you have a Galaxy Z Fold 4, I would recommend sticking with it, as the upgrades are not worth the price. If you have an older Galaxy foldable, then the Z Fold 5 might be worth looking into.
Samsung hasn’t changed the starting price of the phone, starting at Rs. 154999. That is a lot for a phone, but you are getting the best foldable smartphone out in the market right now. There are cheaper options in the market such as the Tecno Phantom V Fold which is nearly half the price. However, the Galaxy Z Fold 5 is definitely the most refined, most complete, foldable smartphone out there and for those reasons, Samsung charges a high price. Hopefully, the upcoming OnePlus foldable could meaningfully shake things up in the market.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 is priced at Rs. 1,54,999 for the 12GB+256GB model, 12GB+512GB model costs Rs. Rs. 1,64,999 and the 1TB model costs Rs. 1,84,999. It is available across all leading online and offline retails stores.