Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 Review: The Perfect Clamshell?

Flipping open your mobile was the epitome of cool in the mid-2000s. It was the defining feature of Motorola's Razr brand and even prompted Nokia to experiment with models like the N76. But with the advent of the iPhone, everything changed. Steve Jobs famously dismissed phones with plastic buttons and hardware keyboards, leading to the demise of the clamshell design.

However, since the early 2010s, Samsung has been teasing folding screens. When the Galaxy Z Fold was first unveiled, it was accompanied by the Galaxy Z Flip, a folding screen phone reminiscent of the old clamshell. Soon enough, Motorola revived the Razr brand as well.

Now in its fifth generation, the Galaxy Z Flip5 faces more competition than ever. Yet, it could be the perfect clamshell phone, oozing the cool factor of mid-2000s clamshells, but without the weaknesses Jobs exploited to sell the original iPhone over more technically capable smartphones in 2007.

Almost, but Not Quite

From the exterior, the Galaxy Z Flip5 appears flawless. Though it remixes last year's design, this has been a recurring theme since the first Flip. Built by a brand that has mastered foldable phones, there's a semblance of surgical precision in its construction.

Everything about the Flip5 feels special, from the armour aluminium frame to the polished rails, to the satisfying way the clamshell closes. It's akin to the premium feeling you get when you shut the door of a German car.

While doing so, the new flex hinge feels sublime, never giving the impression that you might slice the phone in two, like Darth Maul was chopped up by Obi Wan in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.

The hinge also allows the phone to perch in multiple positions, anywhere between 25 to 150 degrees, enabling unique use cases, especially with the camera.

But the real deal about the flex hinge is the elimination of the v-shaped gap when the screens fold up, making it slimmer and more portable than its predecessor. Weighing only 187 grams, it's quite nimble and doesn't feel like the hefty electric car that the iPhone has become.

However, all of this amounts to little if dust can still infiltrate the hinge and crack the screen. Despite an IPX8 water resistance rating, Samsung has yet to crack dust resistance, something I'll explore further in my long-term review.

The 3.4” AMOLED screen on the top half of the phone is utterly useful, running at HD resolution at 60Hz. Samsung's widgets make glancing through information easy, and one can sift through notifications without unfolding the phone.

Samsung has almost achieved perfection here, but the operative word is "almost." The Razr boasts a bigger and neater external display and simpler app usage. Then there's the lack of dust resistance, something one expects more from the pioneer of the category.

That said, the Z Flip5 is still better than anything out there. Its hinge is more robust, and it feels space-age compared to other foldables that feel toy-like.

Pocket Rocket!

With Chandrayaan 3 landing on the moon just days away, the Z Flip5 feels engineered by rocket scientists. Its performance is nothing short of stellar, powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 designed for Galaxy, coupled with 8GB RAM and UFS 4.0 storage.

This is fiendish ability, akin to last year's Ferrari F1-75, but it also means that the overclocked chip tends to overheat.

The issue is that so much power in something so slender is bound to overheat, but there's so much performance packed in that most people won't have any issues.

Whether you want to play F1 2023 and see Charles Leclerc overtake Verstappen, or simply enjoy the 6.7-inch dynamic fluid AMOLED panel, the Z Flip5 delivers. Sure, after 25 minutes of gaming, you might feel the phone heat up, but let's be realistic: the target audience of this phone isn't gamers. It's the fashionista.

Basic performance is not an issue. Au contraire, it's among the fastest in the business, right up there with the Galaxy S23 series, OnePlus 11, and Xiaomi 13 Pro. Samsung has cleaned up its UI massively and offers the best software update commitment in the industry — 4 years of Android updates and 5 years of security updates.

Samsung Knox also makes this a very secure phone for corporate environments. Knox literally makes this phone like Fort Knox — though there is no dedicated chip like on the iPhone or the Titan chip on the Pixel phones.

The Fundamentals

The fundamentals of this phone haven't changed much. The dual speakers are the same — and sound pretty loud and clear. The dual 12-megapixel camera array uses the same hardware as last year's phone, including the stabilisation system, but now there's a better lens coating.

The cameras take sharp and saturated photos during the day, and pretty usable low-light shots as well. But like all the Z Flip models, the superpower of this camera system isn't the hardware but the unique angles one can shoot from. You do feel like having an old-school 90s JVC handycam in your hands.

And the angles one can conjure are just out of this world, making it arguably the most dynamic smartphone camera in the world. Now, if only I could get a 1-inch sensor on this, which I know will not be a reasonable ask, we are looking at imaging perfection.

But generally, it takes excellent 60 fps 4K footage but lacks the 8K video ability that the Fold and Galaxy S23 have, though I do believe that to be a useless feature. 8k footage these days is like the third row of the Citroen C3 Aircross — it's there, but if you're an adult, it's almost unusable.

Also, the call and network quality of this phone were excellent — we tested it on a Vodafone 4G network in Delhi NCR and also the Jio 5G network, and the performance was excellent without any glitches. It was easy to see the Qualcomm 5G modem in the Galaxy Z Flip5 and Z Fold5 delivered faster 5G speeds than even my iPhone 14 Pro Max.

Better Battery Life But Not Insane! 

One of the biggest advantages of the bigger external screen is the battery life. You just tend to use that more and not open the phone which helps the battery life. Now, the battery mark test benchmark did no favours to the Galaxy Z Flip5 as it clocked an abysmal 6 odd hours on it. But this is why our reviews aren't just defined by synthetic benchmarks— because in real-world use we managed to get around 5.5 hours of screen-on time.

Despite the 3,700mAh battery not growing in size, I was looking at a device that I could get through a day with on a single charge. This is amazing because this phone has gotten slimmer and it has a beefier processor which can get hot. 

Because carrying the charger, that I need to buy separately, wouldn't help in an emergency as it has a fast charge speed of just 25 watts and a wireless charging speed of 15 watts.

I’d wager if Samsung adopts an LTPO screen on the outside, next year, it can further improve the battery life! It is not hard to see how Samsung can overall elevate the battery performance of this device with minor hardware tweaks in the next generation! 

Who Is It For? Everybody!

The Galaxy Z Flip5 is like the iPhone of Android — not because of the type of phone it is but because of what it represents. It is the embodiment of premium. It screams fashion. It is cool as Ranveer Singh, and while doing so is versatile in use and absolutely armed to the teeth with the latest hardware.

Where it falls short is the lack of dust resistance, which I believe should've been resolved by now for a device that costs Rs 99,999. Other than that, Samsung has almost crafted, truly the perfect clamshell! It's oh so close, yet so far.