Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 could fix one of the Z Flip 4’s biggest issues
A cover display that's big enough to use
With the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4, Samsung almost perfected the clamshell foldable phone, but there are still a few notable issues, and at least one of them might be resolved with the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5.
According to Ross Young – a leaker with a solid track record – the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 will probably have a cover display of over 3 inches. In a reply to the tweet where they made this claim (spotted by GSMArena) they got more specific, saying that it will likely be around 3.3 to 3.4 inches.
Though they also note that they heard the Galaxy Z Flip 4 would have a 2-inch cover screen, and it actually came in at 1.9 inches, so they’ve acknowledged that they might be slightly out.
In any case though, if the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 has a cover display that’s roughly between 3 and 3.4 inches, then it will be significantly larger than the Z Flip 4’s cover screen, and that could make it a lot more useable and useful.
It will still be too small for any serious interactions, but don’t forget – early iPhones only had 3.5-inch screens, so this could be almost as big as that, while still having a much larger foldable display too.
As I told my Super Followers yesterday, there are a couple of important changes coming to the Z Flip 5... pic.twitter.com/rEcD2DvaWwDecember 1, 2022
But that’s not all, Young also claims that the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 will have a different hinge design which will reduce the visibility of the seam in the foldable display. So if Young is right then it sounds like the Z Flip 5 could be in for some significant upgrades.
We haven’t heard much else about it yet, other than the believable claim that it will use the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, but we’d expect to hear plenty more rumors as we get closer to the launch – which will probably happen around August 2023.
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Analysis: other needed upgrades
Increasing the size of the cover display would make for a substantial improvement, but that’s not the only area where Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip line needs work.
The battery life has so far been a low point, the cameras, while solid, don’t include a telephoto lens, and while Samsung has impressively added water resistance to the Z Flip 4, there’s no dust resistance.
These issues may be hard to fix, especially while keeping the price somewhat palatable, but there’s definitely room for improvement in the Galaxy Z Flip 5, and with the Motorola Razr 2023 likely to offer significant competition, improvements will probably be needed for the Z Flip 5 to rank among the best foldable phones.
James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.