Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 And Z Fold5 Review: The Folding Phones To Beat

The Galaxy Z Flip5 and Z Fold5 run on Samsung's One UI 5.1.1 skin on top of Android 13. Although we much prefer Google and Moto’s simple, lightweight, and close-to-stock Android user experience, One UI 5.1.1 delivers a comprehensive set of features that cater to a broader range of users. Our only real beef with Samsung's skin is the ongoing need to scroll horizontally to navigate the app tray, which just isn’t very intuitive.

Flex Mode lets supported apps (like the Gallery, Calendar, and YouTube) split their interface into custom top and bottom halves when the Z Flip5 or Z Fold5 are partially folded. For example, in Flex Mode the camera app will switch from its standard interface to the viewfinder on the top half and the settings and controls on the bottom half. Flex Mode panel extends this functionality to any app by adding a customizable control panel to the bottom half.

But we’re more excited about the Z Flip5’s upgraded cover display. Besides being significantly larger than last year’s, the functionality is also much improved. In addition to providing a simplified camera interface for selfies, the cover display gains a number of features that make the Z Flip5 easier to use when closed. By default, the Flex Window – as Samsung calls it – shows the date, time, battery level, and a notification indicator.

Press the power / lock key or double tap on the cover screen and it comes to life, showing a customizable home screen. Swipe right to see a list of notifications, or swipe left to see widgets, like weather, stocks, calendar, timers, fitness, etc... You can also tap and hold the home screen to switch between favorite home screens, or tap and hold any widget to change the order of the widgets, or add and remove widgets from the cover display.

Customizing home screens and managing widgets can also be done from within the cover display menu in the settings. In addition, you can swipe down on the home screen to access the quick settings, or swipe individual notifications to dismiss them (or clear them all) from the list of notifications. Tapping on individual notifications expands them, and gives you the option to dismiss them or to launch the matching app on the Z Flip5’s inner screen.

Finally, you can swipe up from the bottom edge in any widget to return to the home screen, and pinch the home screen to see a grid of widgets for direct access. Besides widgets, the Z Flip5 can also run full Android apps on the cover screen. This is a little confusing because there are two ways of doing this, using two additional (and separate widgets) – the Apps widget in the Labs menu, and the Launcher widget in the Good Lock app.

In the Labs widget, you’re limited to running apps curated by Samsung – currently Google Maps, Messages (Google or Samsung), Netflix, and YouTube. The Launcher widget lets you run virtually any Android app on the cover display. But to do this, you first have to install Samsung’s Good Lock app from the Galaxy Store, then install MultiStar, then select the apps you want to run on the cover screen from within the “I ❤️Galaxy Foldable” menu.

It’s currently much easier to run full Android apps on the cover display with Moto’s Razr+ (2023). Then again, the Z Flip5’s widgets are a lot more polished – and interactive – than the Razr+ (2023)’s. Another lovely home screen feature on the Z Flip5’s cover screen is the tiny Dynamic Island-like pill that appears in the area to the right of the cameras when audio is playing. Tapping on it takes you to the music widget. It’s really well done.

Finally, we were pleasantly surprised by the minimal amount of bloatware on our unlocked review units. Besides Google and Samsung’s familiar apps, our Z Flip5 and Z Fold5 came with a few Microsoft apps (Office, OneDrive, and Outlook) preinstalled, plus LinkedIn, Netflix, and Spotify – all of which we successfully disabled or uninstalled. Also, Samsung's commitment to providing 4 years of OS updates and 5 years of security updates is great news.

Here in the US, the Galaxy Z Flip5 and Z Fold5 are available beginning today from Samsung, Best Buy, and Amazon, plus all three carriers (AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon). Prices start at $999 for the Z Flip5 (8/256GB) and $1,799 for the Z Fold5 (12/256GB), but we suggest you keep an eye on the various launch deals, trade-in offers, bring-one-get-one sales, and installment plans available from Samsung, its retail partners, and the carriers.

As for the competition, consider Moto’s $999 Razr+ (2023) if you want a larger, sharper cover screen with a higher refresh rate and a better full Android app experience than the Z Flip5, but can live with an older SoC and lesser cameras. Google’s $1,799 Pixel Fold offers a nicer passport-like form factor and better shooters than the Z Fold5, at the expense of a less efficient chipset and less-refined multi-window features.

We are conflicted about the Galaxy Z Flip5 and Z Fold5. On the one hand, it’s clear that these are still the best folding phones available in the US. But on the other hand, these are fairly iterative products. Putting aside the new and improved fold-flat hinges, upgraded Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, and larger 3.4-inch cover screen on the Z Flip5, the rest of the specs are mostly unchanged. Depending on your point of view, this could be a good thing, though. Samsung's got a winning formula, and it's been refining it with each generation.

Ultimately, these are extremely competent foldable handsets that deliver a superior user experience and benefit from Samsung’s expertise. So, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? While that’s true, we can’t help but think that the Z Flip5 and Z Fold5 would benefit from better cameras and higher-capacity batteries. And considering what’s available outside of the US – like Oppo’s Find N2 Flip and Honor’s Magic V2 – we were hoping for a bit more. We suspect the next generation will be a more significant departure, now that Samsung has things mostly dialed-in.