You still have to pay a pretty penny for this tip. The Galaxy Z Flip 4 costs £999 ($999 / A$1,499), which is roughly in line with what you’d pay for a premium standard phone, but you’re likely to find it discounted quite often. In four versions, the Flip has lost none of its innovation. Opening it up to reveal the large 6.7-inch OLED display still feels like magic. Its compact pocket size is a welcome relief from bulky phones and its attractive design still turns heads. You can even choose a custom color scheme with Samsung’s custom studio tool. The two parts of the phone slide smoothly over the metal hinge cover on the back and it has enough tension to stay open at any angle. Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian A big advance was made last year with water resistance. This year is all about small improvements. The new version is slightly shorter and narrower, with a smaller hinge and thinner bezels around the screen. The sides of the phone are flatter and have a luxurious sheen, which with the frosted glass makes the closed Flip 4 a great, tactile thing to hold. It feels like a truly premium piece of consumer electronics, which makes it easy to forget that the folding technology at the center of the Flip 4 is still very cutting edge. You can still see and feel the crease in the middle of the screen where it bends, but otherwise it looks like a normal slab of glass in operation. It’s not regular tempered glass, however, and needs to be handled more carefully than traditional devices. The Flip 4 is not a phone I would ever recommend giving to your kids.
Standards
Main screen: 6.7-inch FHD+ 120Hz AMOLED Infinity Flex Display (425ppi) Cover screen: 1.9 inch AMOLED (302 ppi) Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 RAM: 8 GB RAM Storage: 128, 256 or 512 GB OS: One UI 4.1.1 based on Android 12 Camera: dual 12MP rear, 10MP front Connectivity: 5G, nano sim + esim, wifi6, NFC, Bluetooth 5.2 and GNSS Water resistance: IPX8 (1.5 meter depth for 30 minutes) Folded dimensions: 84.9 x 71.9 x 17.1 to 15.9 mm Unfolded dimensions: 165.2 x 72.2 x 6.9 mm Weight: 187g
Top performance, average battery life
The two halves of the phone lock into place when fully opened. The fingerprint sensor embedded in the power button is fast and accurate. Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian The Flip 4 comes with Qualcomm’s latest flagship processor, the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, which is the same chip used by the latest Android smartphones, such as the OnePlus 10T. As such, it’s a fast and responsive phone with the highest performance available on Android, matching or surpassing regular phone rivals. Battery life is still below average, despite the fact that the Flip 4 has a larger battery capacity than its predecessor. It lasts around 31 hours between charges with the screen being used for less than five hours, meaning you’ll need to charge it every day. It takes about 95 minutes to fully charge with a 25W power adapter, but it is not included in the package.
Sustainability
The screen stays on at any angle, but turns off when closed, so you can simply close the phone to end calls or suspend an app. Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian Samsung doesn’t provide an expected life for the battery, but it should last over 500 full charge cycles with at least 80% of its original capacity. The phone is generally repairable and the battery can be replaced by authorized service centers in the UK. Internal screen repair costs £339. The display is covered by a two-year warranty, but Samsung evaluates cracks for “evidence of product misuse” and may charge a fee for repairs. Insurance is recommended. Many internal components are made from 20% recycled nylon or plastic. Samsung offers trade-in and recycling programs for old devices. The company publishes annual sustainability reports but not impact assessments for individual products.
One UI 4.1
Fully open, the Z Flip 4 behaves like a standard flat Samsung Android phone. Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian The Flip 4 ships with One UI 4.1, which is the same software as the Galaxy S22 series and is based on last year’s Android 12. It’s a polished version of Android that offers plenty of customization options and useful tools, including “flexible mode” , which splits the screen into different modes when you fold the phone into an L shape. The Flip 4 will receive at least five years of software updates from launch, including four major Android version updates and monthly security patches, making it one of the longest-lived Android devices available and just behind Apple’s six-plus years of iPhone support.
camera
The camera can be used in a number of different orientations, including flex mode, which moves the buttons to the bottom of the screen and the viewfinder to the top half. Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian The dual 12-megapixel camera on the back has a regular lens with optical image stabilization and an ultra-wide angle. Similar to last year’s model, both cameras take very good images in most lighting conditions with slightly improved low and mid-light performance. The ultra-wide camera loses a little detail and can look a little gray in dim light, but it’s still good. The 10-megapixel selfie camera is also very good. But one of the best things about the Flip is the ability to take selfies with the rear cameras using the cover screen as a viewfinder. You can use either the regular or ultra-wide camera, which produce much better images than any dedicated selfie camera, especially in low-light or party situations. You can also prop the Flip up halfway open for a variety of fun camera shooting opportunities. Video capture is also very good, and fold the phone into an L shape and you can pretend you’re using a camcorder from the early 2000s. The biggest disappointment is the lack of a telephoto lens. Digital zoom is fine at 2x magnification, but anything beyond that and it starts to look horrible.
Price
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 costs £999 ($999/A$1,499) with 128GB of storage, £1,059 with 256GB or £1,199 with 512GB. For comparison, the Galaxy Z Fold 4 costs £1,649, the Galaxy S22 Ultra costs £1,149, the Galaxy S22+ costs £949, the Microsoft Surface Duo 2 costs £860, the Google Pixel 6 Pro costs £649 and the Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max costs £1,049.
Verdict
The Galaxy Z Flip 4 is one of the most interesting phones available. Where standard phones have become stale and boring, there’s something fun about unwrapping the Flip. While you can do original things with the rig, like take photos at unusual angles and selfies with the rear camera, for the most part, it behaves like a standard Android phone when it’s on. Only one you can fold in half for a much more compact pocket size. It’s water-resistant, but the cutting-edge screen technology is still more fragile than regular tempered glass and needs care. Buying insurance can be wise. You also trade the battery life for the small size compared to a regular Samsung. Little has moved on from last year’s model – just minor improvements across the board. But the Flip 4 is still a fun phone that proves that foldable devices are more than just a novelty. Pros: great big screen that folds in half, good screen coverage, IPX8 waterproof, good camera, different and fun, One UI 4 with five years of updates, nano sim and esim. Cons: less durable than a regular phone, no dust resistance, no telephoto lens, only a day’s battery life, not much of an upgrade from last year. The 1.9 inch cover screen can display the time, date, notifications, various widgets like your calendar and can have various designs. Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
