It feels like just yesterday when Samsung had to cancel the launch of its first foldable phone because it fell apart in people’s hands, but now the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 is on its way — the fifth iteration of this device.
We reviewed the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4, doting on its beautiful design and battery life, but we were disappointed by some of the boring updates that were delivered. We’re hoping that the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 can show up its predecessor, and according to some of the rumors, it might.
Here’s everything we know so far about Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5, from the rumored release date and price to the specs and features.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 release date and price
We have seen Samsung foldables launch in August before, so it’s an easy assumption to make that the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 would launch in August 2023, but reports suggest otherwise.
Leaker @Tech_Reve on Twitter claims that "Samsung Electronics usually starts mass production of foldable phone hinges at the end of June, but this year they will start mass production at the beginning of June. It's also possible that the Galaxy foldable will be released in July this year."
To back this up, leaker Ross Young also claimed that the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 would begin production in June, with the display development beginning in May.
Pricing is still up in the air, but since the Galaxy Z Flip 4 costs $999 / £999 / AU$1,449, we don’t imagine it’ll be cheaper than that. It’ll either match in price or climb over that.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 design and display
Rumors suggest we might see some big changes to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 in the design and display area.
Specifically, Ross Young claimed that the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 would feature a new hinge design with the intention of virtually eliminating the display crease. The “waterdrop” display, as it’s dubbed, allows a part of the screen to roll inside the phone itself, which would prevent the display from creasing. Apparently, the phone would also be built with lighter materials.
Our favorite rumor so far is that the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 might get a larger external display, jumping from a 1.4-inch display to a 3.4-inch screen (via Ross Young and Ice Universe). These rumors are made all the more valid by the leaked Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 case photos via Ice Universe.
Thanks to Steve H. McFly (@OnLeaks), we know what the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 could look like with a larger screen via some renders. That notch in that specific render is also consistent in the renders from SamMobile.
We don’t know much about the main display, but it’s likely that it won’t change and all of the focus will be on the exterior display. The Galaxy Z Flip 4 features a 6.7-inch AMOLED Full HD display, with an 120Hz refresh rate. It would be nice to upgrade that resolution to QHD, but that might kill the battery life further.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 cameras
We liked the cameras in the Galaxy Z Flip 4, but they didn’t really change from the Flip 3, so we’re really hoping we see some kind of change in the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5.
However, leaker Yogesh Brar suggests that the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 will have a pair of 12MP rear cameras, matching the Galaxy Z Flip 4. While that is disappointing, apparently the sensor on the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 is supposed to be bigger, which means it’ll capture more light in photos.
There’s not a lot of change here that’s exciting, but a rumor out of left field suggests that the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 (yes, the sixth one), will come with a 50MP camera (via @Tech_Reve).
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 specs
It would be nice to see the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 with a shiny new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 CPU, but it’s more than likely going to get stuck with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy, since the former won’t launch until later this year.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 was slotted in the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and it did very well. When we ran our synthetic benchmarks like Geekbench 5.4, the S23 Ultra got 4,882. It easily outpaced the Google Pixel 7 Pro and its Tensor G2 CPU which notched 3,046. However, the iPhone 14 Pro Max's A16 Bionic chip still got the win at 5,333. However, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 benchmarks reportedly leaked (via SamMobile), and the score that the Flip 5 produced was 5,022.
Additionally, SamMobile claimed that the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 offers UFS 4.0 storage on devices with at least 256GB of storage. That means faster read and write speeds for users who cash out with bigger storage. UFS 4.0 features 4,200 MBps read and 2,800 MBps write speeds, which practically doubles against the UFS 3.1 speeds of 2,100 MBps and 1,200 MBps. UFS 4.0 also offers 23.2 Gbps per lane speed, which again is double that of UFS 3.1, and uses 46% of the power.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 battery
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4’s 3,700 mAh battery lasted 8 hours and 33 minutes, which was just enough for us to like it, especially since it flew over the previous Flip 3’s 5-hour runtime. But we need more battery life, Samsung.
According to SamMobile, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 will have easily replaceable batteries by using less glue and a pull tab. Unfortunately, we haven’t heard much about what the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5’s battery could look like. We do know that the secondary battery might be smaller (971mAh vs. 1,040mAh), but we can’t make any claims about the overall battery size until we know what the primary battery size is.
Outlook
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 is shaping up to be yet another exciting foldable phone, but will it be another minor upgrade from its predecessor? Or will it actually usher in some meaningful changes?
It’s hard to say right now, so stay tuned to this rumor hub for more news and updates on the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5.