Galaxy Z Flip 5 arrives with a bigger screen (and price)

There’s something incredibly charming about the Galaxy Z Flip. Whether you’re looking to relive the mid-00s heyday of flip phones (let’s be honest, even 23 years on, nobody has yet invented a more satisfying way of ending a call than snapping the phone shut) or want to find a modern flagship phone that suits jeans with smaller pockets …or most likely, no pockets at all.

Samsung has a winning formula on its hands – the previous entry in the series earned four stars in our Galaxy Z Flip 4 review, so it’s not that surprising that the Galaxy Z Flip 5 remains largely unchanged from its predecessor.

Yes, that means there’s still a crease that runs across the middle of the foldable 6.7-inch AMOLED display, which feels a little odd under your fingertip. And there’s no telephoto camera in the dual-camera system, so you won’t be able to take advantage of lossless zoom for any of your snaps from the Galaxy Z Flip 5.

But that’s not to say that the Samsung R&D department hasn’t been busy over the 12 months since the release of the Galaxy Z Flip 4. The South Korean brand has tweaked the hinge so there’s no longer a gap when it’s folded away – shrinking the thickness from 17.1mm down to 15.1mm in the process.

Samsung has also updated the chipset to the speedier Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy processor found in the Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23 Ultra. There’s a gorgeous new Mint colour, more recycled materials in the design to make your new phone kinder on the planet, and stronger Gorilla Glass Victor 2 on the outside of the handset to protect against scuffs, scratches and (the occasional) accidental drop …the list goes on.

These are all very welcome additions but aren’t likely to drive hundreds of thousands to trade-in their Galaxy Z Flip 4 for the new model.

But that upgrade that will turn heads is the new Cover Screen, which has expanded from 1.9-inches on Galaxy Z Flip4 up to an expansive 3.4-inch on the Galaxy Z Flip 5. Dubbed the Flex Window, this new interface works a bit like a Galaxy Watch on the outside of your Z Flip 5.

You can swipe between interactive widgets that display your calendar, current time, Spotify playlist, and much more. There are only 13 compatible widgets at launch, which is a pretty short list. That’s because Samsung is working with each developer individually to ensure their apps take advantage of the (slightly odd shaped) screen.

Based on our experience ahead of launch, this approach has resulted in stunningly refined experiences on the new Cover Screen. We’d imagine there are already conversations taking place between Samsung and the biggest networks, fitness apps, and music streamers on Android …but if your favourite app is an obscure independent developer who hasn’t rolled out an update within the last year, you might be unlikely to ever seen an update to take advantage of the new 3.4-inch Cover Screen.

Like the Galaxy Watch, Samsung lets you customise the colour scheme, background, and font on the Cover Screen so that it feels personal to you. It’s a really nice touch and means that Samsung’s family of Galaxy devices feel apiece in a way that we usually only see from Apple.

The larger Cover Screen size means that Samsung has been able to add support for a QWERTY keyboard, so you can type out replies to incoming texts. If you’re someone who juggles your Galaxy Z Flip and morning coffee on the walk to work, this feature alone will save you from dozens of accidental spillages each year.

The improvements to the Cover Screen mean you’ll only ever flip open the 6.7-inch screen when you want to, not because you’re forced to by an incomplete experience on the Cover Screen as has been the case with previous generations in the Galaxy Z Flip series. Sure, that might mean you flip open the Galaxy Z Flip 5 fewer times than its predecessor, but that just means it’ll feel even more of a treat when you settle down to play games, binge a boxset from Disney+, or run two apps in splitscreen for some extra productivity on the gorgeous 6.7-inch AMOLED screen.

We’ll need to spend a little more time with the Galaxy Z Flip 5 before we give our definitive verdict, but in our brief time with the handset ahead of its release, we’d recommend those who have been holding off taking the plunge with the Galaxy Z Flip series to start saving…