Hands on: The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 has the screen you want

After months of leaks, rumors, and speculation, Samsung held its Galaxy Unpacked event today. Holding it in Seoul for the first time, it showed off its new range of wares, such as the Galaxy Z Fold 5, Galaxy Z Flip 5, Galaxy Watch 6, and Galaxy Tab S9 series. We're here to talk about the Z Flip 5, though, because frankly, it's the more interesting of the two foldables that Samsung announced today.

It's worth noting that neither device is particularly groundbreaking. They're both extremely similar to their predecessors, just one has a few things differentiating it.

The external display is bigger

It's about time

The big change on the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 is that it now has a 3.4-inch 720x748 display on the outside, which is now called the Flex Window. It's three times the size of the external display on the Galaxy Z Flip 4.

By default, this external screen can be used to display and interact with a variety of widgets, similar to how it worked on its predecessor. You can change that, though, and run full apps like you can on the external screen on the Motorola Edge+.

The Flex Window is a bit smaller than the external screen on the Razr+, but that's fine. The end goal is the same, and that goal is just to be able to do more with your phone without having to unfold it.

From my brief usage of the Flip 5 in pre-briefing sessions and more extensive use of the Motorola Razr+ (provided by AT&T and tested on its network), I do think that the Razr+ is better at that. At Moto's event, there was way more of an emphasis on being able to do anything with the phone closed, including anything between sending a text with a full keyboard and playing games.

It's just clear to me that while Samsung definitely aimed at a larger display for more obvious benefits like the camera viewfinder, Motorola definitely had the goal of making your phone more useful without having to open it.

Samsung uses widgets by default, rather than letting you just launch apps, but you can still turn it on. It's just clear to me that while Samsung definitely aimed at a larger display for more obvious benefits like the camera viewfinder, Motorola definitely had the goal of making your phone more useful without having to open it.

I really think some would argue that the point of a flip phone is to use your phone less, but I'd disagree. Honestly, if your motivation for buying a phone is that the experience will be bad enough that you'll use it less, there's a range of other issues to deal with.

On the other hand, foldables being useful without the added step of opening them is a real issue, and it's something that companies like Motorola and Google seem to be first to solve. I'm actually going to be really interested to see what next year's models look like. Because let's be fair; Samsung still makes the best foldables despite Moto and Google solving some key pain points. Samsung has been doing this for five years, iterating on an annual basis. It's the best in the US.

The new hinge is (almost) flat

Samsung redesigned the hinge this year on both the Galaxy Z Flip 5 and the Z Fold 5, promising that it folds completely closed, which is close enough to true. If you hold it at a certain angle, you can definitely see light shine through, but unless you're actually looking for it, it appears closed.

Like all other foldables, Samsung accomplishes this with raised bezels. Think about it. You do not want a foldable screen folding flat on top of itself. You get a piece of sand in there and it's game over. That's the same reason that you can't take Samsung's protective film off. These screens are soft.

One really can't argue that the changes in Samsung's foldables this year aren't that crazy, especially with the Z Fold 5, but that new hinge does make a difference. After all, the market really doesn't do small phones anymore, so if you want something compact, something like the Galaxy Z Flip 5 is for you. And if that's why you want it, a thinner chassis makes a big difference.

There's a new color and not much else

There are three key changes in this product: the external display, the hinge, and new colorways. The hero color is Mint, which is beautiful. There are actually some other new colors though, since there are four more that are exclusive to Samsung.com.

The Mint color looks quite nice, and I do hope that that's the color of my review unit.

There's also a yellow that's exclusive to Samsung.com.

But that's all that's new. Samsung hyped up camera improvements a bit, but those all go hand-in-hand with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy chipset. The camera hardware in both the Flip 5 and the Fold 5 is identical to their predecessors, as are the internal displays.

I don't think the internal displays needed work, though. Like I said, Samsung has been doing this for a while, and it's pretty good at it.

Ultimately, I still think that the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 is the flip-style foldable to buy. Once the event ends, I'll be daily driving this phone, so that should be fun. We'll have a review up soon.