As we are set to witness the launch of the new iteration of foldable from Samsung at the Galaxy Unpacked July 2023 event which is being physically hosted at the company's home turf in Seoul, South Korea, this may be the best time to revisit the last year's Galaxy Z Fold 4. The young world of foldable smartphones is not so young anymore and the space is seeing intense competition from the likes of Google, Motorola and Oppo, to name a few. However, there's no denying that Samsung has been pretty much dominating the space as it is the only smartphone OEM that is taking foldables seriously. This year, the tech giant would unveil its fifth-gen foldable devices. Out of the two foldables launched last year, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 was clearly more exciting and more powerful. Should you still go for one of it in 2023 or buy the Galaxy Z Fold 5 that will be unveiled soon?
High Points Of The Galaxy Z Fold 4
The Galaxy Z Fold 4 is a powerful Android smartphone and it quickly turns into a 7.6-inch tablet that fits comfortably in the pocket. With the Z Fold 4, you get five cameras, two displays and a folding form factor in a single foldable phone. The Galaxy Z Fold 4's display has a wider aspect ratio than the previous-gen Galaxy Z Fold 3 and it is not as cramped. The internal display has smaller bezels. In fact, the screen's aspect ratio is also changed from the Fold 3 and it is less tall and wider. The 7.6-inch screen is beautiful, bright and gorgeous and makes colours pop. The sunlight legibility is excellent too. The screen has a density of 374ppi which, like the screen size, is also the same as the Galaxy Z Fold 3. The AMOLED screen also feels slightly harder under the finger than the first version of the foldable phone that I had used.
The hinge has a sturdy feel to it, and I felt the foldable shut with a satisfying snap. The main display, when opened, makes for a perfect tablet for multi-tasking, reading and even gaming. Look at the Z Fold 3 and the Galaxy Z Fold 4 side by side and the latter looks and feels less bulky this time. Samsung has made the hinge slimmer. In terms of dimensions, the Z Fold 4 measures 6.1 x 2.6 x 0.55-0.62 inches closed and 6.1 x 5.1 x 0.21 inches when open -- this is slimmer and shorter than the Z Fold 3.
Even as the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 doesn't reveal surprises over the previous-gen Galaxy Z Fold 3 but a little attention to detail would make you see a more durable body, prominent volume and power keys as well as more angled edges. Samsung said it has used Corning Gorilla Glass Victus on the rear glass and cover screen for protection along with an Armour aluminium frame and hinge. The Galaxy Z Fold 4 was the toughest foldable ever made, Samsung claims.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 has the same 4400mAh battery that we also saw on the Galaxy Z Fold 3. However, there has been an upgrade in charging speeds; the Z Fold 4 comes with support for faster 25W wired charging, which is claimed to reach full battery from 0 in 1.5 hours. Samsung also onboarded wireless charging and reverse wireless charging on the Fold 4.
Even though the camera array of the Galaxy Z Fold 4 looks very similar to the Galaxy Z Fold 3, Samsung has made a big upgrade in camera specs and the rear camera setup has the same loadout as the Samsung Galaxy S22. The Z Fold 4 camera setup is led by a 50MP camera coupled with 12MP+10MP sensors whereas the Fold 3 came with 12MP+12MP+12MP cameras.
Talking about durability, the Galaxy Z Fold 4's screen is 45 per cent more durable than the previous iteration. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 and the Galaxy Z Flip 4 both feature the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC and also bring good news: during our time spent with the Galaxy Z Fold 4, we did not notice any heating issues, unlike some flagships with Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC and the Galaxy Z Fold 3 that was launched with a Snapdragon 888 chipset.
Low Points Of The Galaxy Z Fold 4
You'd still notice a crease along the fold of the Z Fold 4 which can be seen at an angle and also felt under the finger. There's an under-display camera too which is hidden and it won't be visible unless you're specially looking for it. In some of the images, I found the primary sensor to kind of overexpose the shots a bit, but that is not the case always. There has been a repeated design rehash in the Z Fold 4 which also makes the phone boring. But then, there is a lack of competition outside regions in China. The smartphone is definitely expensive considering how the foldable space is seeing competition from smartphone players like Motorola, Oppo and Tecno. The Tecno Phantom V is the first foldable phone to be launched under Rs 1 lakh.