Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 long-term review

10 July 2023

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Anonymous
sfN
02 Oct 2024

The inner screen foldable technology isn't mature. Many have had their inner screen fail just after the warranty including myself as described here https://youtu.be/jI0NkxL5Ovo

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hydrus
arR
03 Sep 2024

I own Fold4 for about a year and... it's great and terrible.

I absolutely love and hate the form factor. Dual-screen design is absurdly fantastic. Can't say how much I love Fold for it's inner screen. But the device is also heavy, which complicates things a bit during phone calls and while recording a video. Thickness is another thing. Recently released Fold6 is whack a ton lot better in that regard.

The battery life is really bad. But to be fair, I only care how much my phone is going to last at a scenario with poor cellular. I use dual SIM and Always on Display. I barely get 2 and a half hours of SoT whilst having my phone unplugged for only 8 or 9 hours. It can barely stay idle for a day and a half.
With better cellular conditions I get about 3 hours of SoT for 10 hours of having phone unplugged, which is a bit better.

The phone also is hot. Hot to the point that it's uncomfortable to touch. I unlock my phone to check messages and in 2 minutes it is quite warm. And at 20 minute mark it is uncomfortably hot to touch. And this is in a room at 26°C.
Wired Android Auto heats phone to the point it's not charging. Yep, realized that after 2 hour trip and my phone has lost it's charge from 90% to 82% or something.

It is also really laggy. Trying to open a notification shade involves "pain" and quite a bit of waiting. There is no single *thing* that this phone won't lag at.

The Fold4 I'm using is a second unit I own and it's the same as the first one. Done a factory reset, my storage is not filled at all. Can't say what it is, but it's really bothering me given that I have an experience of Galaxy A53 on a Fold4... Ok, A53 was completely unusable. I wasn't able to answer a phone call, which says something. But you get the idea.

But given everything else, I love the speakers, I love haptics, I love the foldability. Just everything else makes this a bad phone... I'm thinking of buying S24 Ultra, because this phone might be able to last me though half of my day and won't heat as much as this one.

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Anonymous
Pxn
11 Jul 2024

dont buy fold. just after 3-4 months there were display problems. company didnot respond because its warranty for 3 months only. if display problem araises.. you have to pay 60k. better go for any other model except fold series.

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Anonymous
Hxh
28 Apr 2024

I had bought Samsung galaxy Z fold 4 in January last year and it worked very well and was useful for 1st year. Then 3 months after expiry of my phone's manufacturer warranty, one day the WiFi stopped working. I looked for online help and realised it's a hardware issue. Then I headed to Samsung galaxy store. After explaining the issue briefly, the attendant smiled and replied, It will take at least one week and AED 1650 to fix the issue. This is more than 1/4th of original phone cost. I decided not to repair it until I have a spare phone. In the following week the display started flickering. Then one days I realised second SIM slot was not working and later on even the first SIM slot stopped working. Next day the front camera stopped working and few hours later the front display stopped working. The only way to use the phone was through big internal screen which also stopped working next day. Now this phone is absolutely useless with all my data not backed up because of WiFi and SIM slot issue...
When I asked for quotation from other mobile phone service centers they said this issue is very common and the screen costs a bomb with which all the other parts are connected and repairing the phone is impractical because of exorbitant costs.
When I shared this with my colleagues they advised me to put this experience in public forum for awareness. And hence this long post. Thanks for reading and avoid buying into this primitive technology.

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Cooe
Ib8
11 Mar 2024

"The aspect ratio went from 25:9 to 23.1:9.

As those numbers strongly imply, the problem is that it's less tall by only a teeny tiny amount, and so the issue with typing on the outer screen remains"

🤦 ... What an utterly crap, absolutely nonsensical take... 😑 While a +3mm increase in display width doesn't sound like much in absolute terms, it most definitely WAS in relative terms as that's a SIGNIFICANT difference in aspect ratio! It basically cut the gap between it and a reasonably normal, ala Z Flip's, ≈22:9 aspect ratio practically in HALF!!! And the difference in day-to-day usability on that front display was legit dramatic! (I've owned & used both a Fold 3 & 4 for long periods of time.)

This is literally like saying a modern ≈19:9 phone and an old-school ≈16:9 phone's display shapes are "different by only a teeny tiny amount"... 🤦 ... 😑

Also, making the front screen even wider will turn the internal tablet display into an awful SQUARE that's garbage for BOTH watching widescreen media in landscape and scrolling through modern vertical app feeds & webpages in portrait!

That's is actually the exact problem that the OnePlus Open has. Thanks to that "normal sized/width" 20:9 front display, despite it having a SIGNIFICANTLY larger tablet display in total area, the viewable 16:9 media area on it is actually slightly SMALLER than on a Fold 4/5 simply because the screen is so ridiculously freaking square!!! (≈9:8 vs Fold 4/5's ≈6:5)

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Cooe
Ib8
11 Mar 2024

"The Galaxy Z Fold4 has a main camera similar to that employed by the Galaxy S22 line, although with less sophisticated autofocusing"

🤦😑 Stop it, and do better. Because you guys have had this inaccurate point completely backwards LITERALLY since the original review!!! It's the ISOCELL GN3 in the Fold 4 that's the newer & better version of this sensor family, NOT the older GN5 from the S22 lineup! There's a reason Samsung has reused the GN3 in EVERY, SINGLE flagship they've released since right up to this very day (S23, Fold 5, S24, & even rumored to still be in the S25 as well!) and NOT the S22's GN5!

If the GN5 really does have Dual Pixel Pro and the newer GN3 doesn't that means Samsung decided it was either not worth using or actively inferior to the older Dual Pixel system. Either that, or you guys just got this backwards too and the GN3's the one w/ Dual Pixel Pro support... Honestly, with your guy's track record as exhibited up above, my guess is on the latter. 🤷

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Anonymous
qHC
27 Feb 2024

not worthy of the price..after the warranty expired phone was dead..disposable phone..

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Anonymous
Kg@
08 Feb 2024

Nam, 14 Dec 2023Truly most annoying product taken out by samsung that too a... moreI also have bad experience, fold screen failed after a year. Not worth it, don't buy it.

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Nam
GRN
14 Dec 2023

Nitin, 15 Oct 2023I purchased Samsunf Fold-3 Phone with 2 years warrenty. Wit... moreTruly most annoying product taken out by samsung that too at such high cost the phone does not survive even 1 year. The inner screen touch and display both stopped working one fine day. Reason given by gallery is that it happened due to phone cover - but then i spenk 8k inr to buy just samsung authorised cover. This is a big scam phone of samsung. Tryly disappointing.

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Anonymous
m2A
10 Nov 2023

Hinge broke after a tumble samsung want 593 to fix still in warranty and samsung brochure says it can survive a fumble and tumble bullshit

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Cosmothz
TC$
23 Oct 2023

Blardy Samsung Z Fold 4 is a scam phone, pls dont buy , used mine for about 4 months plus, and the inner screen was not working, sent to samsung service centre, they said have to change the inner screen and it cost about RM2350,(Malaysia) , no choice, i changed it, There was a 60 days warranty given for the new screen , 15 days after that 60 days period, now there is a black line across the inner screen and unable to touch. Now they say have to pay to change the whole screen again , given 30% discount total RM1645. This is a scam. total if i fix it now will be RM3995. Thought already since its 4 generations later now, its still fucked up.

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Nitin
NwR
15 Oct 2023

I purchased Samsunf Fold-3 Phone with 2 years warrenty. Within 40 days of very very light usage, the Inside screen developed a big black line in between and the right side of screen not sending touch , the left side is ok. This is clearely a manufacturing defect, and Samsung is not ready to accept. The repair cost is another $500 , and after replacement of new screen also there is no warrenty. ?
It's rediculeous. DO NOT BUY ANY SAMSUNG PRODUCT SINCE THEY ARE NOT CUSTOMER CENTRIC AND MAKES LOW QUALITY PRODUCTS . it's better to buy apple product which has a sturdy built quality. -

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Khushboo111
CbE
13 Oct 2023

I had the same issue. Black crease line and touch not responding. The phone was still under warranty so I went to service center. They said it's impact damage and I will have to pay 57000₹, I said no way. Lodged a complaint against them on consumer helpline, they didn't bother to respond. Then went to police, immediately they got the approval and phone got repaired with new screen replacement. That's how things work here I guess. I didn't pay a dime to these people. They are fraudsters sitting at service center.

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Anonymous
7k3
13 Sep 2023

Dont buy fold phone , i am using z fold 4 and its under warranty they will not give warranty to us by saying silly reasons ,worst service

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May T
vaY
06 Sep 2023

Anonymous, 02 Sep 2023Please dont buy samsung fold 4, i spent 2 lakh including co... moreThe fold phone is not only highly prone to crack screen, going through the waranty service is a pain as well. I am a victim. So, a big NO from me. I wish I had done myself a favor staying away from the fold and maybe Samsung as well. Will do though.

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Anonymous
7k3
02 Sep 2023

Please dont buy samsung fold 4, i spent 2 lakh including comprehensive warranty (2 years)of rs 20999/-. Within one year, my inner screen developed a black line and it keeps increasing, when i took to samsung service centre, they say its impact damage, wont cover in first year warranty ,and asked me to use comprehensive warraty,
Here comes the actual problem, i paid 21k already for comprehensive warranty, now they want me to pay 10k to activate that comprehensive warranty, so total 31k . And everytime i want to repair my phone , i need to pay 10k during the comprehensive warranty coverage
Till your phone works fine, no problem, once you get problem, Service centre people wont accept for one year warranty, they will say physical damages, you must pay large amount of money, so if u want fold phone, be ready to pay large amount for service

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Nit
vGc
05 Aug 2023

I will say
Dont buy fold phones.
Screen will create issues...

A black line in between and touch will not work.

Its wasting the entire amount....

Pl dont buy this

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Mkhetwani
7k4
29 Jul 2023

Worse Samsung mobile I have ever used, developed black line in the fold area in warranty period and Samsung refuses to attend it, siting fake reasons

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Jepjephuurrah
y6V
23 Jul 2023

Haider Raad iraq, 16 Jul 2023So bad phone after 60 months from buying this phone fold ca... more60 months?! Fold 4 was only released almost 1 year ago in Aug 25, 2022 that is less than 12 months. How can you use it for 60 months? C'mon hahaha

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Anonymous
vxr
23 Jul 2023

Only reason I got the Fold4 was because of the carrier promo, essentially making it cheaper than the Note 20 Ultra it replaced. Got my screen and battery changed for free under warranty because it died on me. Hoping it'll last until next year when I get a new loyalty phone.

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