Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5: what we know so far

24 July 2023

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 will join the Z Fold5 at Samsung's summer Unpacked event in Seoul in the last week of July. Being one of the most anticipated phones of the year, there've been plenty of rumors and leaks to give us more than a rough idea of what the phone will bring.

Interestingly, there are some official details too - the Z Flip5 is featured heavily in Samsung's promotion of the upcoming Z series, more so than the pricier Z Fold5.

Bigger cover display

The biggest change, quite literally, is the cover display. It's ballooned up from a barely-usable 1.9-inches and 260x512px to a 3.4-inch 720x748px screen that takes most of the cover.

The new display has an interesting, folder icon-like look, and makes room only for the dual camera system and flash.

Samsung will make better use of the bigger cover display by running specially optimized Google apps on it. Maps, Messages, and YouTube will all be functional on the new screen, finally making the Galaxy Z Flip usable without the need to open it. Still, unlike the Z Fold5 cover display, which can run every app, running on the Z Flip5 cover display seems to require special support by the developer.

New hinge that closes flat

One of the biggest user complaints with Samsung's foldables has always been the crease and the fact that they don't clasp shut flat. It seems that Samsung got tired of the speculation and confirmed that the Galaxy Z Flip5 will close shut without a gap. Check out this official video:

IP58 resistance

Samsung was the first - and for a while only - company to make foldable phones with water resistance. The IPX8 rating is as high as non-rugged phones go and makes short dips in water (up to 1m for 30 minutes) not an issue

There were rumors that Samsung will debut IP5X protection (against dust) with the Z5 generation. However, Ice Universe was quick to shoot down these rumors - the Galaxy Z Flip5 (and Z Fold5) will remain IPX8 rated and there will be no IP5X.

Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 with 8GB of RAM

This is rather obvious, but the Galaxy Z Flip5 will get a bump to the newest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy (meaning a higher-clocked version than the standard one) with 8GB of RAM, and 128GB (UFS 3.1) and 256GB (UFS 4.0) versions.

While on the subject of specs, the Galaxy Z Flip5 will keep the 3,700mAh battery and 25W charging speed from its predecessor, as well as the display and camera specs - that means a 6.7-inch FHD+ display with a 120Hz refresh rate, and three cameras - an ultrawide and a wide and the back, and a selfie on the inside.

The screen could get a bump in brightness and the cameras a bump in lenses or sensors.

Also on the specs side, expect the Galaxy Z Flip5 to get DeX support. To use it, you need a compatible HDMI cable or wirelessly on TVs and monitors that support Miracast. On PCs, you only need a USB cable, provided the OS is Windows 10 or Windows 11.

Release and price

The Galaxy Unpacked event is set for July 26 and pre-orders for the new devices should start that same evening. Samsung typically waits for the first Friday that comes two weeks after the announcement to start open sales, which in this case falls on August 11.

Early rumors on the price mentioned a modest increase, but a leak from Samsung itself showed a more significant bump - we could be looking at a €1,300 price tag for the base Galaxy Z Flip5. Different EU countries have different VAT, so it's hard to nail down the difference between the 128GB and 256GB model.

This might not be particularly relevant during the pre-order period anyway, as Samsung should offer a free storage upgrade as a pre-order perk (similar to the S23 series launch).

Samsung increased the S23 prices in most countries, though the US and Canada were spared. So there is a chance that the Z Flip5 price hike will be limited to some regions, we just haven't seen a price leak from North America yet.

Finally, Samsung is rumored to double the production for the Galaxy Z Flip5 over its predecessor, signaling higher expectations.