Engineering that you feel every time you open and close
In the summer of 2023, Samsung returned to the foldable frontier not with a bold reinvention, but with the quiet confidence of a craftsman refining a familiar form. The Galaxy Z Fold 5, priced at $1,799, carries forward the promise of its predecessor while addressing the small frictions that separate a good tool from a trusted one — a flatter hinge, a faster mind, and software that finally begins to honor the potential of a screen that unfolds like a page. It is a device that asks not what a phone can become, but how much better it can simply be.
- Samsung faces a crowded foldable market where Google's Pixel Fold is thinner and rivals are closing the gap, making incremental upgrades a risky bet at a $1,799 price point.
- The new Flex hinge eliminates the telltale gap when folded and shaves weight and thickness, signaling that the physical awkwardness of early foldables is finally being engineered away.
- The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip injects meaningful performance and efficiency gains, but the unchanged 4,400 mAh battery and unimproved under-display camera leave visible gaps in the upgrade story.
- Samsung's software team is working hardest to justify the large inner screen, adding a smarter taskbar, floating windows, and a two-handed drag-and-drop system that turns multitasking into something approaching fluency.
- Preorder incentives — a free storage upgrade and up to $1,000 in trade-in credit — suggest Samsung knows it must sweeten the deal to keep loyalists from looking elsewhere.
Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Z Fold 5 at Galaxy Unpacked 2023 with a clear philosophy: refinement over revolution. At $1,799 — identical to the Z Fold 4 — the company is betting that a better-engineered version of a proven idea is more valuable than a dramatic reinvention.
The headline change is the new Flex hinge, a dual-rail design that reduces moving parts and, for the first time, allows the phone to close completely flat with no gap between panels. The result is a device that is thinner at 0.24 inches unfolded and lighter at 8.9 ounces — modest but perceptible improvements. Google's Pixel Fold remains the thinnest foldable available, though the Z Fold 5 now beats it on weight. Durability also improves, with Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on front and back and an IPX8 water-resistance rating, though dust resistance did not make the cut.
Inside, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 — the same overclocked chip powering the Galaxy S23 line — brings performance gains that have shown competitive results against Apple's iPhone 14 Pro in graphics benchmarks. The battery remains at 4,400 mAh with 25W wired charging, but Samsung expects the chip's efficiency to extend endurance. The inner display now peaks at 1,750 nits of brightness, matching the Galaxy S23 Ultra, while the camera system carries over unchanged from the Z Fold 4, including the underwhelming 4MP under-display selfie camera.
Software is where Samsung's ambition is most visible. The taskbar now surfaces four recent apps instead of two, edges can be swiped to launch multitasking views, and a corner gesture turns any app into a floating window. A two-handed drag-and-drop system lets users grab content with one finger while navigating with another — a small gesture that speaks to the larger inner screen's unrealized potential finally being addressed.
The S Pen stylus, now 41 percent thinner, is sold separately at $54 and still has no home on the device itself. Samsung launched preorders with a free storage upgrade from 256GB to 512GB and up to $1,000 in trade-in credit, softening the premium ask. The Z Fold 5 is not a leap — it is a long, careful stride toward making the foldable form feel inevitable.
Samsung's latest foldable flagship arrived in the summer of 2023 with a familiar price tag and a promise of refinement rather than revolution. The Galaxy Z Fold 5, unveiled at Galaxy Unpacked 2023, costs $1,799 for the base 256GB model—the same price Samsung charged for the Z Fold 4 the year before. The company's strategy here is deliberate: rather than chase dramatic innovation, Samsung has chosen to perfect what already works, focusing its engineering effort on a redesigned hinge and a faster processor as the main pillars of this generation's upgrade.
The most visible change is the new Flex hinge, a dual-rail structure that reduces the number of moving parts and delivers a tangible improvement in how the phone feels in hand. When you open the Z Fold 5, it now closes completely flat—no gap between the two panels when folded. The hinge also allows Samsung to shave the phone's thickness down to 0.24 inches when unfolded, a modest but meaningful reduction from the Z Fold 4's 0.25 inches. The phone is also lighter, weighing 8.9 ounces compared to its predecessor's 9.2 ounces. Google's Pixel Fold remains the thinnest foldable on the market at 0.2 inches, but Samsung has narrowed the gap. The Z Fold 5 also beats the Pixel Fold's weight, coming in lighter than Google's 10-ounce device.
Durability received attention too. Samsung applied Corning's Gorilla Glass Victus 2 to both the front display and back cover, and the phone carries an IPX8 water-resistance rating, meaning it can survive submersion. Dust resistance, which had been rumored, did not make the cut. The device comes in three standard colors—Icy Blue, Phantom Black, and Cream—with two exclusive options, Blue and Gray, available directly from Samsung.
Under the hood, the Z Fold 5 runs Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, the same overclocked version found in Samsung's Galaxy S23 lineup. This is the processor that has shown promise in early benchmarks, with some Android devices using this chip outpacing the iPhone 14 Pro in graphics tests. Samsung is betting that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2's power efficiency will extend battery life beyond what the Z Fold 4 achieved, even though the battery itself remains unchanged at 4,400 mAh with 25W wired charging.
The display situation is largely static. The outer screen stays at 6.2 inches with a tall 23.1:9 aspect ratio, while the inner display remains 7.6 inches. The notable upgrade is brightness: the inner panel now reaches 1,750 nits, matching the Galaxy S23 Ultra and promising better visibility in direct sunlight. The refresh rate tops out at 120Hz on both screens, though the outer panel still maxes at 60Hz.
The camera system is unchanged from the Z Fold 4—a 50MP main wide-angle lens, 12MP ultrawide, and 10MP telephoto with 3x optical zoom on the back. The 4MP under-display camera on the inner screen, which reviewers had flagged as a weak point, returns unchanged. The outer display has a 10MP selfie camera.
Software improvements are where Samsung has invested more creative energy. The taskbar now displays four recently used apps instead of two, and you can add apps to the multitasking view with a swipe from the bottom or left edge. A diagonal drag from the top right corner converts any app into a floating window. There's also a hidden pop-up feature that lets apps run in the background—Samsung's example is watching video while texting in a chat window. A two-handed drag-and-drop system lets you grab content with one finger while opening an app with another to drop it in.
The S Pen stylus, sold separately for $54, is now 41 percent thinner and more responsive, though it still cannot be stored on the phone itself. Preorders began immediately, with the phone launching August 11 through carriers including AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, and Xfinity Mobile. Samsung offered a preorder incentive: a free storage upgrade to the 512GB model at the 256GB price, plus up to $1,000 in trade-in credit. The Z Fold 5 is not a dramatic leap forward, but Samsung's argument is that it doesn't need to be—the focus is on making the foldable experience smoother, flatter, and more capable at multitasking on that expansive inner screen.
Notable Quotes
Samsung is equipping its top-of-the-line foldable with Qualcomm's top-of-the-line silicon— Tom's Guide reporting on the Z Fold 5's processor choice
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why didn't Samsung lower the price? Google's Pixel Fold launched at the same $1,799.
That's the question everyone asked. Samsung had an opening to undercut the competition, but they chose not to take it. The message seems to be: we're confident enough in what we've built that we don't need to compete on price.
So what's actually different if the cameras and battery are the same?
The hinge is the real story. It's engineering that you feel every time you open and close the phone. No gap, completely flat, thinner overall. That's not flashy, but it's the kind of refinement that matters in daily use.
The display brightness jumped to 1,750 nits. Why does that matter?
Sunlight readability. The Z Fold 4 was hard to see outdoors. Now it matches the S23 Ultra, which is one of the brightest phones you can buy. For a device this expensive, that's table stakes.
The software changes sound more interesting than the hardware ones.
They are. The multitasking improvements—the expanded taskbar, floating windows, the drag-and-drop—those are designed to justify the large inner screen. Samsung is saying: here's what you can actually do with all that space.
Is this phone worth upgrading to from the Z Fold 4?
That depends on how much the flat hinge and the brighter display matter to you. If you're happy with your Z Fold 4, there's no urgent reason to jump. But if you're new to foldables, this is the most refined version Samsung has made.