By Holly, Mozillion Team
Should you flip or fold?
Foldable technology for smartphones is getting increasingly impressive with every device that gets released, as imperfections are ironed out and more features and functions are added to both the inner and outer screens.
Probably the most popular player in the foldable smartphone space is Samsung with its two types of foldable phone; the Galaxy Z Fold and the Galaxy Z Flip.
As the name suggests, the Z Flip is more of a clamshell design and flips out to double its size in a vertical manner, very similar to the original flip phones from the late-nineties.
The Z Fold series opens up more like a book and is very tall and narrow when closed, but has the benefit of a larger, more tablet-like inner screen
Both models have two screens; the main inner display that is visible when the phone is opened out and the exterior screen which is used when the phone is closed. The latest additions to the series are the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and the Galaxy Z Flip 5 and both are best in class within the foldable phone category, but which one suits your lifestyle and your pocket (quite literally as they are both very different shapes)?
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5
This is the most portable of the two options and despite having an immersive 6.7-inch 120Hz OLED screen, packs down to half the size to fit neatly in your hand, handbag, or pocket.
It is a great design for content creators who like to show themselves on camera as the clamshell design lends itself to a stand alone, tripod structure for hands free streaming and sharing. This is called Flex mode and means you flip it halfway so it stands up by itself and sits on a surface whilst you create your video masterpiece.
The smaller 3.4 inch outside screen is clearly not as useful as the larger one but there is plenty you can do on it such as check the weather, reply to messages, control music or use Google Maps. You even have access to the camera when the phone is closed but will need to open the phone up for the full app experience and to play games, etc.
Memory-wise, the Z Flip 5 offers 8GB RAM and 256GB or 512GB storage. The Z Fold offers more RAM but you’ll find most apps only need 4GB RAM to run effectively so both models have more than enough. The battery provided with the Z Flip 5 is also smaller at 3,700 mAh. As a result, the price tag is significantly more palatable so it is a great fit if you want all the fun of a foldable without the Fold’s price tag.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5
In short, the external screen on the Z Fold 5 can do more than the Z Flip 5’s. It is larger at 6.2 inches so an app’s available features don’t have to be as limited to account for the screen size.
The Z Fold’5’s outer screen far more resembles a standard smartphone display, as opposed to the more ‘smartwatch-style’ of the Z Flip 5’s. This larger external screen however means the device is slightly less portable and looks quite similar to a TV remote. It’s not ridiculously big when folded closed though.
Another difference is the fact that you can use the S Pen with the Z Fold 5 which is ideal for annotating, signing or drawing and gives you that extra grasp of multitasking and multimedia. It’s for this reason that the Z Fold 5 is more targeted towards people that use their phone a lot for work.
This foldable is also better for anyone that wants a dedicated telephoto camera as it has a 10MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom compared to the Z Flip 5 that doesn’t. Memory wise, you are looking at 12GB RAM and 256GB or 512GB storage and the battery is also bigger than the Z Flip 5 at 4,400 mAh.
Similarities
These phones are Samsung Galaxy flagship models which means they have all the latest tech onboard. To keep things running smoothly, they both have a top of the range chipset under the hood – the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy. They both also offer drop durability with an IPX8 rating for water resistance and the Gorilla Glass 5 protection. But let’s face it, you don’t want to be dropping either of these phones, they’re by no means invincible.
Other cool stuff available on both models are stereo speakers, 5G, GPS, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth, NFC, a USB Type-C port, 25W fast wired charging, fast wireless charging, and reverse wireless charging for charging your earbuds or friend’s phone. Both phones will get four major Android OS updates and five years of security updates from launch.