Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 long-term review

Design, hinge

The Fold4 looks exactly as you'd expect. If you're aware of the Fold line, and someone tells you they're going to show you the latest model in the family, this is pretty much what you'd imagine beforehand. It looks almost exactly like the Fold3, and the tall aspect ratio when closed also makes it instantly identifiable as part of the same series as the Fold2, despite the different-looking camera island on the back.

So it's a Samsung Fold, for sure. If there are huge upgrades compared to its predecessor, they're definitely on the inside. The overall look and feel is identical, and that unfortunately includes the fact that there's a gap between the two sides when the phone is closed. It's not a humongous gap, but it's there, and we've seen a bunch of Chinese foldables come out recently with zero gap, so Samsung is definitely trailing here, resting on its laurels perhaps as the company with the most foldable sales.

Aside from that, when it's closed there's glass all over with a metal frame and metal hinge. The glass is upgraded to Gorilla Glass Victus+, and the finish on the back is a very nice feeling matte, at least on our review unit. It's great to the touch, but very slippery. That surprisingly doesn't make the entire phone excessively so, because there isn't a lot of back glass, due to the tall aspect ratio.

So you end up mostly holding the frame when the phone is closed, and a combination of that, the rear glass, and the front glass when it's opened. The frame is shiny which means less slippery than the rear but more prone to fingerprints, and the front glass is a similar story. Overall, this is among the least slippery glass devices we've handled in recent times.

The top and bottom parts of the frame are flat and so the phone can 'stand' either way when it's closed, and with the hinge being very flexible, this also means you can half-open it and it will still 'stand'. Speaking of the hinge, it's great.

You can have the device open at any angle, and that gives you a lot of flexibility in use. One of our most used scenarios is having the phone laying on its back with the hinge opened at around 45 degrees, watching videos on the outer screen. In that case, the hinge is basically acting like a stand. We've also gone the other way round, opening it past 90 degrees but not fully, and then enjoying the inner screen. No matter what position you want it in, it will comply, and as such we are very happy with this hinge - aside from that one little thing, which is its inability to leave no gap when the phone is closed.

Handling

Handling is, unsurprisingly, complicated by the form factor. This is definitely not a device for those with small hands. That said, for average to large hands, when closed, it's actually a breeze to handle thanks to how narrow it is. We have this feeling that this is the reason why Samsung keeps the outer screen so tall, but it's just speculation so take it as that.

Anyway, when opened it gets much slimmer, of course, so it's just like a small tablet, and again, excellent to handle if your hands aren't tiny. Opening it up isn't the easiest of things, however, since the hinge almost feels like it wants to stay shut, and you're trying to grip the shiny and reasonably slippery frame. But it could be worse - if the frame was matte metal, we're not sure anyone would be able to open the phone, so there's that.

This is a hefty device, there's no way around that, but when closed you get the impression that it's warranted, since there's a lot of it. It's basically like two phones sitting on top of each other, and for that expectation, it's actually much lighter than you'd imagine. In fact, consider that it's not a lot heavier than an iPhone 14 Pro Max, while having much more total screen real estate. We wouldn't call the weight troubling in any way, it's just right - not too light that you feel like it would fly out of your hands, not so heavy that it's unbearable. Especially when opened, it actually feels pretty light.

So, overall, the Fold4 looks and feels like a Samsung Fold, with minor improvements here and there. Its outer screen is ever so slightly less tall than its predecessor's, it's also a little bit lighter, stuff like that. It's a very well built handset that feels incredibly sturdy and, dare we say it, even drop-proof from small distances when it's closed. Samsung has really perfected the art of making sturdy-feeling foldables in recent years, it's just a shame about the hinge gap, since it makes the device look rather antiquated compared to its Chinese competitors.

We like the minimalist branding too - there's a Samsung logo only on the hinge, and thus when the phone is open it's not visible. The camera island is very tame too, compared to those you'd see on a top of the line slab-style smartphone, and that's at the same time nice to see, and also indicative of the fact that your expectations regarding image quality should be adapted to the reality of smaller sensors.

Retail package

It's a high-end Samsung, we hope you weren't expecting a charger in the box. Or a case. Neither is present, but of course the company will happily sell you an assortment of both for additional money. We've ranted about this enough in the past, it is unfortunately just how things are right now.

You can make an argument that at such a high price it's laughable to have to spend extra on a charger and a case, but this goes both ways - one can also make an argument that since you've already spent this much on the phone, what's a little bit extra on top?

Biometrics

The Fold4 has a side-mounted fingerprint sensor embedded in the power button, and it's great. It's one of the, if not the best side-mounted scanner we've ever used. It's fast (and even more so once you turn "Show unlock transition effect" off), it's accurate, and we really have no complaints. It accurately read our fingerprint over 95% of the time on the first try, which we call outstanding.

It's also very useful in that you can swipe down on it to bring down the notification shade, and then swipe up to take it away when you want to. This is a tiny feature that we wish all phones with a side-mounted fingerprint sensor would have. It's so incredibly useful dozens, if not hundreds of times each day, sparing us a ton of finger gymnastics.

Biometrics settings

The Fold4 has face unlocking too, as you'd expect, but as usual we'd caution against it. It relies on the cameras only, so it's way less secure than the fingerprint scanning, and it's also ever so slightly slower in itself, and slower still when you factor in that you're touching the power button / fingerprint sensor to unlock the phone which prompts it to scan your face - but you could have already been 'in' with the fingerprint. So this is one for those who only want to use double tapping the screen to unlock, we assume.

Speakers

The Fold4, subjectively, has hands-down the best speakers on any smartphone we've ever reviewed long-term. They sound rich, full (for a phone, of course), and have plenty of volume so that you'll only have issues hearing things when you're in a loud environment.

These are pretty much the benchmark right now, and it makes some sense - thanks to the form factor, there's more room for speakers in this phone. It probably also helps that the earpiece isn't pulling double-duty as the second speaker here, as it generally does on slab-style Samsungs, and instead there's a separate full speaker up top too.

The speakers seem pretty much matched in terms of output too, which is good, and stereo separation is outstanding when you use the phone unfolded in landscape mode, due to the speakers' positions. And if you hold the phone in landscape with the back side pointing down, then you aren't covering the grilles either. We wish all phones would have speakers this good, but naturally you need to keep in mind that they're still phone speakers - so if you love bass, you'll always have a need for a Bluetooth speaker or some headphones.

Vibration motor

The Fold4's vibration motor is outstanding, though perhaps not the absolute best we've ever encountered in a phone we've reviewed long-term. Still, it's better than most, and you aren't likely to be disappointed by it in any way. Its vibrations are rich and deep, and it does the job without feeling brash in any way. It's subdued, but not in a 'can't even feel it' way.

You can set a specific intensity for calls, notifications, media, and system-related vibrations, and there's also a weird "vibration sound for incoming calls" toggle which basically plays a vibration sound through the speakers at the same time to ensure you don't miss any calls. In reality, that is exactly as odd as the description makes it sound, and we're not really sure it actually helps achieve what it sets out to - at least we didn't feel any huge improvements, but obviously, as they say, your mileage may vary.

Vibration settings

That brings us to an important point - this is one of those 'feel it more than you hear it' vibration motors, so if the phone is on a hard surface in your vicinity you'll definitely hear it vibrating, but not from another room. Unfortunately that's how they all are these days, so there's not much you can do about it. Samsung used to have much more 'hearable' vibration motors a few years back, but those seem to be gone forever, so our assessment of this one is comparative to what else is on the market right now.