Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 review

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The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 has a MSRP of €1,900, which is €100 more expensive than the Fold4 at launch, though the pre-orders once again offered higher-tier storage at the price of the lower-tier. Still, the €1,900 price tag makes the Fold5 one of the most expensive mainstream smartphones in the world.

And now that the previous Fold4 has dropped down to the €1,200-€1,300 range, it offers far superior value to the Fold5. It doesn't close flat, but it's basically the same smartphone with the previous Snapdragon chipset and UFS 3.1 storage. Oh, and the glass panels use the previous Gorilla Glass Victus+ version. Do these updates cost an extra €700? We know our answer, but we will leave it for you to decide.

And if you already have a Fold4 in your pocket, it just makes no sense for you to upgrade this year.

Looking at the competition helps put the Galaxy Z Fold5 in a better light. The Google Pixel Fold, for one, costs €1,900 in Germany! It is also an IPX8-rated glass phone, but its 5.8-inch cover screen has a more typical (and useful) aspect ratio of 18:9. The inner screen seems nearly identical to Samsung's. The Pixel runs on the inferior Tensor G2 chip and has arguably better camera experience with 5x optical zoom and the whole Pixel quality across the board. The clean Android experience does matter to some as well, but when it comes to multi-tasking, the Fold5 can run laps around it

The Honor Magic V2 should premiere next month on the global markets, and it is a phone we are really looking forward to. It has two incredibly intriguing displays - the foldable one is almost 8 inches, an LTPO OLED panel with 1B colors, 120Hz refresh, HDR10+ and IMAX support, plus stylus support. The cover one is a 6.43-inch LTPO OLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate, and stylus support, too. The Magic V2 also uses the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, has a similar camera experience, and offers much faster 66W charging. The Magic V2 is expected to be about €300 cheaper than the Fold5 and feature a far slimmer profile, but do bear in mind that it is not a waterproof smartphone.

If you want a more compact foldable smartphone and you have access to an Oppo store, you may want to consider the Find N2 for its pleasing size. It offers a similar all-around experience to the Fold5, but it runs on the older Snapdragon model and has no ingress protection. It's also not available outside China, which means it's not really an option for the majority of users.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 • Google Pixel Fold • Honor Magic V2 • Oppo Find N2

Our verdict

The Galaxy Fold5 offers the best foldable experience on the market - while its hardware seems to trail certain competitors there's no matching its complete software package. The new S-Pen Slim Case is an excellent addition to the Fold accessory lineup, too, and it has become an instant must-have for the power users.

The Fold5 offers ingress protection, displays, performance, even cameras. Its battery life is solid even if charging is rather slow, and so are the speakers and the connectivity options.

We applaud Samsung for the multi-tasking implementation on the Fold5 and all neat software tricks available throughout One UI 5.1.1 Plus, Android 14 with One UI 6 are not that far away and the Fold5 should be among the first to get it.

There is no denying the Fold5 is a minor update over the Fold4, but the previous model was indeed that good and now a year later we can confirm it's plenty durable, easing off the worries caused by the early foldable phones. And it's still great, so if the Fold5 does not fit your budget, maybe the largely similar Fold4 would.

Samsung did hold back updating the Fold5 hardware. The charging speed could have been faster and the camera system would have benefited from an update of the ultrawide camera at least. And that body, while looking pretty cool on its own is nowhere near as striking as the Honor Magic V2 or the Huawei Mate X3.

But at the end of the day the Fold5 is an easy decision for any tech-addicted user, or any power user. In most countries it runs virtually unopposed as Chinese competitors are slow to bring their horizontal foldables to global markets. And when it does finally get properly tested it can always rely on the OneUI card to keep it ahead.

Pros

• New Flex hinge for gapless design.
• IPX8-rated for water resistance.
• Outstanding OLEDs, bright, color-accurate, 120Hz.
• Impressive battery life in onscreen tests for a foldable.
• Feature-rich software with unmatched multi-tasking functionality and S Pen support.
• Excellent photo and video quality across the board, UD cam excluded.

Cons

• Charging could have been faster.
• The ultrawide camera should have been upgraded.