Foldable smartphones have come on leaps and bounds in the last couple of years, and its arguably Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip line leading the way. Last year’s Z Flip 3 sold millions of units worldwide, and while it was the best foldable around at the time, it still has some pretty undeniable flaws.
That’s all changed with the Flip 4. While this is for the most part an iterative upgrade, it’s one that’s focussed on improving the battery life and camera performance that held last year’s phone back, along with myriad smaller quality-of-life tweaks. Read our Z Flip 4 review to find out what we think, or read on for all the details on the phone.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4.
Is the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 on sale?
Samsung announced the new phone at its Galaxy Unpacked event on 10 August, and you can buy it now.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
Similar to last year’s Galaxy Z Flip 3 launch, Samsung unveiled the Flip 4 along with the Z Fold 4, Galaxy Watch 5, and Galaxy Buds 2 Pro headphones.
How much does the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 cost?
The Z Flip 4 is available in three versions with different storage, plus the Bespoke Edition:
- 128GB: $999/£999/€1,099
- 256GB: $1,059/£1,059/€1,159
- 256GB Bespoke Edition: $1,139/£1,099/€1,199
- 512GB: $1,179/£1,199/€1,279
In the UK and Europe that’s a £50/€50 increase on the starting price of the Flip 3, though with current inflation levels that should really come as no surprise – and lucky US buyers can get it for the same price as before. The addition of a 512GB storage option is a welcome change for everyone though.
Samsung is also offering Bespoke Editions of the phone again this year, which allow you to customise the colours of both the front and back panels of the phone, along with the frame. This is only available for the 256GB model of the phone, and adds an extra $80/£40/€40 to the price.
Check out our dedicated guide to where to buy the Z Flip 4 for the best prices and deals we can find, updated monthly.
What are the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 specs and features?
Design and build
The Z Flip 4 isn’t a radical design departure from the Flip 3, and instead it’s more of an evolution.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
At first glance the phone looks almost identical to last year’s but there are subtle differences. The cover display is fractionally larger, and the camera lenses here jut out from the body a little more. The phones edges are slightly more squared off, making it feel slimmer, and Samsung has also slimmed down the bezel on the internal display – though only fractionally.
The biggest build change is the hinge, which has been significantly redesigned to be much more compact. That makes it less visible when the phone is open, and also reduces how much you can feel the crease in the display.
Hopefully that will improve durability too, as will the enhanced ultra-thin glass used to coat the panel. The outer casing gets an upgrade to Gorilla Glass Victus+ too, though the IPX8 rating remains unchanged – meaning the phone is water-resistant, but not rated for dust.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
One other substantial change is to the phone’s colours. The phone will initially be available in four standard finishes: Bora Purple, Blue, Pink Gold, and Graphite.
These will be added to with a range of colours in the phone’s Bespoke Edition. This includes more options than last year, with three frame colours (black, silver, and gold) and five for the main panels (green, navy, red, yellow, and white).
Displays
Samsung hasn’t changed the screens too much either. The internal folding screen is once again a 6.7in AMOLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate, while the outer screen has grown very slightly from 1.83in up to 1.9in.
Samsung has added new software tricks for that out cover screen though – it can now display custom images, gifs, and even videos. It also has new widgets, including a speed dial option for up to three contacts, SmartThings smart home controls, and toggles for settings like Bluetooth and Airplane mode.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
As already mentioned, the redesigned hinge seems to have also made the screen crease less noticeable. The new crease is much shallower, and is both less visible and harder to feel while swiping.
Chipset, RAM, and storage
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor in the Z Flip 3 has had an upgrade to the new Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, which brings with it upgrades to both pure performance and to power efficiency.
The 8GB of RAM is unchanged, but storage is improved. As mentioned above, the existing 128GB and 256GB options return alongside a new 512GB storage SKU – a welcome addition since, like the Z Flip 3, there’s no MicroSD card slot.
Cameras
At a glance the cameras in the Z Flip 4 seem unchanged, but there have been some subtle upgrades – especially to the main sensor.
Once again, there’s a 10Mp selfie camera alongside a pair of 12Mp rear cameras (main and ultrawide). The selfie and ultrawide cameras are essentially unchanged, though will benefit from the enhanced image processing of the 8+ Gen 1.
The bigger benefits are to the main camera. This uses a new, larger sensor, which is 65% brighter, with 1.8μm pixels – up from 1.4μm last year. The result is improved detail and dynamic range, especially in low light – though I saw improvements even in brightly light shots.
Battery and charging
Battery life was one of the Z Flip 3’s big weaknesses, so it makes sense that Samsung has worked to improve things here. For one thing, it’s put in a bigger battery: 3700mAh, up from 3300mAh in the Flip 3.
That doesn’t sound like a lot, but combined with the extra power-efficiency of the 8+ Gen 1 it should be a decent improvement – Samsung told me that it’s seen an extra three hours of usage time on average compared to the Flip 3, with one tester even managing to keep the phone going for a full 36 hours.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
That’s backed up by modest improvements to charging, which jumps from 15W up to 25W. Naturally, wireless charging returns too.
To see what the Flip 4 is up against, take a look at our guide to the best phones coming in 2022. We also reviewed the phone on an episode of our weekly podcast Fast Charge, which you can watch right here:
