Not for a good reason, however: in most countries, they’re the only company selling foldables.
Still, the current Z phones are mature and solid.
But that just isn’t enough for the current foldable scenario.
Therefore, my review unit came with a brick in the package.
The packaging has a black, sober cardboard finish, like all of Samsung’s flagship phones.
Storage options are 128, 256, or 512GB, UFC 3.1.
All versions ship with 8GB of RAM.
Even midrange devices nowadays come with 12GB RAM options.
The aerospace-grade aluminum used by Samsung for the frame and hinge gives the Z Flip4 good structural rigidity.
Therefore, the Galaxy Z Flip4 feels as premium as its price tag suggests.
What could be a design no-go for some people is the main, 6.7" screen’s bezels.
The bezel also houses a speaker grille, and the internal/front camera sits in a punch-hole right below it.
That part is always black, regardless of the paint job chosen.
While on that topic, color options are black, light blue, purple, and rose gold.
Our review unit is purple, and Samsung sent a light blue ring cover.
Phone and case colors are different, but their soft tones complement each other pleasantly.
The top has only a secondary mic for calls and video.
The USB connector, primary mic, and loudspeaker grille populate the bottom edge.
Compared to the Z Flip3, this one has a less rounded frame, and a shinier one too.
The hinge is less pronounced than on the previous generation.
It isn’t too hard, howeverjust hard enough.
Pocketability is a major plus in this phone.
Perhaps in the fifth generation, Samsung will get it right.
They lack strengthened glass for obvious reasons but are no more prone to failures otherwise.
Applying a new one was covered under warranty.
Another 5 to 6 months in, the same issue appeared on the replacement unit.
A few third-party screen protectors are on the market, but I can’t vouch for their quality.
It does not, however, hinder daily usage.
The high refresh rate and dynamic range perform as expected from the specifications, making daily usage a breeze.
This one is protected by the same Gorilla Glass Victus+ that covers the back of the phone.
It also has some tricks up its sleeve, making it great to use.
A brightness slider is also handy since the outer display has no ambient light sensor.
Swiping right shows notifications, which can be interacted with in a limited way or dismissed.
Swiping left shows widgets like calendar, recorder, timer, and so on.
The specific widgets and their order can be changed in the phone’s configs.
But perhaps my favorite function of the external displayand of the Z Flip3 and 4 as a wholeis customization.
I’ll talk about this further in the camera section.
RAM is limited to 8 GB in all configurations, and storage is UFS 3.1.
In daily usage, the phone flies as expected.
On synthetic benchmarks, the Galaxy Z Flip4 scores a bit less than other phones with similar specs.
OnPCMark, the Work 3.0 Performance routine shows a 13,828 points score for the Z Flip4.
The performance graph shows little change in temperature during the 7 minutes of testing.
GeekBench V6 returns 1,058 points for single-core and 3,799 in multi-core testing.
Other Snapdragon 8+ Gen1 devices are usually in the 4,000-4,200 points ballpark.
Therefore, performance is expected to reduce by around 40-50% on long game sessions.
I personally don’t think many people consider buying the Z Flip4 as a gaming powerhouse.
Battery life is one of them.
Getting 4 hours of screen time on the Z Flip4 can be considered a luxury.
Expect to charge this phone at least twice a day, perhaps thrice.
Talking about charging, this is another concerning point.
Surely, the Flip4 improved by 67% in sheer speed compared to the previous generation…
But that means jumping from 15 to 25W.
The battery still takes well over an hour to be fully replenished.
Wireless charging isn’t much better, with 15W versus 10W on the Z Flip3.
If plugged in for 15 minutes, the battery gets from 0 to 27%.
Half an hour means 54% of juice, with 80% at the 45 minutes mark.
From there it slows down even further, with around 92% after an hour.
Full charge takes one hour and 15 minutes.
Nearly every other clamshell foldable has better numbers, both on battery capacity and charging speeds.
The exception isMotorola’s Razr, which is comparable to the Z Flip4.
That means it’s inevitable to ask: why can’t Samsung do better?
But other clamshell foldables managed to fit 4,000, even 4,300mAh batteries.
Samsung can’t address this shortcoming with the IP rating excuse forever.
And that’s all.
But, at least there’s OIS.
The internal camera is also unchanged (10MP, f/2.4, 1.22m pixels).
And it indeed does a good job, even if not performing miracles.
The inner/front camera isn’t terrible, but not great either.
As stated, the outer screen can also be used as a viewfinder.
Lastly, a single tap captures the photo or starts/pauses the recording.
The same swipe and tap shortcuts work in this case.
Having a video call with friends, family, or colleagues?
The Z Flip4 works as its own kickstand!
Again, fold the screen halfway so the internal camera can be used without additional support.
The changes are more than bells and whistles.
Samsung surely took their time refining the user experience, especially for foldable devices.
Some third-party ones, like VLC and Zoom, also show different layouts when the display is folded.
Unfortunately, not many developers provide this, so the options are limited.
In such scenarios, Samsung has a partial solution.
There’s even a trackpad option with two-finger swiping and a mouse cursor.
Besides the flexible screen tweaks, OneUI 5 is pretty much standard Samsung Android.
It allows customizations through Good Lock modules, theming, seamlessly integrates with other Samsung devices, etc.
The same could be said about Samsung’s foldables.
There are lots to like about the Z Flip4it broke my heart to send it back to Samsung.
I love how it’s extremely stylish.
That heads turned when unfolding in public is a bonus.
But other manufacturers have got almost all the pros in their clamshells (except IP rating).
And none of the cons.
Samsung needs to up its game quickly, or the Z line will fall behind.
