Unfolding the Future: An In-Depth Review of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4

Samsung is Leading the Foldable Future

At first glance, it may seem like the Fold4 is identical to the previous Fold3, yet you shouldn’t be so hasty in your assessment because looks can be deceiving. The latest installment in Samsung’s foldable phone lineup is the flagship Galaxy Z Fold4, a revolutionary smartphone that offers superior performance and cutting-edge features when compared to previous models – not to mention when compared to the competition. 

Yes, it’s going to take a hefty chunk out of your wallet with a starting cost of $1800, but for that price tag, you’ll get the chance to experience the future today, while everyone else is stuck in the past using their lame unfoldable devices. 

It’s clear to us that foldables will be the standard in the future, and Samsung is the leader paving the way. While we were fond of the Z Fold3, we absolutely LOVE the Z Fold4 as it’s just an all-around superior phone. Boasting a sizable and lively 7.6-inch display that can fold to fit in your pants pocket, brand-new Flex Mode capabilities, and the enhanced Android 12L OS, this phone seems like a gush of fresh air in a crowded cell phone market that has seen minimal innovation in recent years.

This comprehensive review of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 was written for tech nerds, potential buyers, and anyone else looking to learn more about the latest flagship device in the world of high-end foldable phone technology. 

Click here to shop the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 on Amazon now.

So without further ado, let’s begin.

Design and Display

The Galaxy Z Fold lineup has made incredible strides since its debut in 2019. During that time as the rumors of a foldable phone from Samsung became a reality, many naysayers believed the technology was too immature and not yet ready to be embraced by the mainstream. In fact, many early reviewers of the original Galaxy Fold complained about easily cracked screens and clearly visible creases that completely ruined the device after just one day of moderate use. 

Fast forward to today and it’s now crystal clear that foldable devices are here to stay.

The Z Fold line has gone through several major advancements with every subsequent iteration since the first model in 2019. This latest model in the lineup comes equipped with two distinct displays – a 6.2-inch cover screen display and a 7.6-inch main display – both of which offer an impressive 120Hz adaptive refresh rate and spectacular brightness output topping out at over 1000 nits.

As with virtually all early entries into the nascent foldable phone market, this device does indeed sport a slightly visible crease in the fold area, however, it’s nowhere near as visible as in the past. Compared to earlier models, the viewing experience feels much improved and the crease is hardly noticeable most of the time – whether the device is being used for web browsing, viewing photos, gaming, or watching TV shows and movies. 

Samsung engineers are working hard to make creases a thing of the past, but there’s still some work to be done over these next few generations. The company also worked hard in redesigning the hinge mechanism for the Fold4, which is quite obvious as it’s slimmer and firmer this time around. Flipping the phone open and shut gives a sturdy tactile response that feels more in line with a high-end device as compared to the older Fold models. 

The upgraded all-aluminum frame may also be a reason why the Fold4 feels more luxurious too. This sturdiness lends itself to the phone being able to securely stand up, hands-free on its own when watching videos or snapping selfies, which we found quite useful.

Performance, OS, and Battery Life

For tech nerds like us, one of the coolest features of the Fold4 is its blazing-fast, state-of-the-art Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 processor. This workhorse is manufactured using the most advanced 4-nanometer processor technology and is equipped with an 8-core chipset and a market-leading clock speed of 3200MHz. 

Multitasking with a high volume of work? No problem!

High-impact gaming? No problem!

Binge-watching an entire season of whatever it is you watch? It won’t even blink!

The all-new Android 12L OS, specifically optimized for foldables, makes its debut with the Fold4. Packed with updates on top of updates, this OS is arguably the biggest step forward since the original Fold was launched in 2019. Most of the improvements are designed to make foldables more intuitive and easy to use. For example, Flex Mode takes full advantage of the uniqueness of foldable phones essentially turning the Fold4 into a mini laptop that fits in your pocket.

Let’s say you’re using Samsung’s Gallery app in edit mode; now you can bend the screen where one display is your photo and the other is the user interface where you have controls to edit, flip, filter, and style to your liking. The same is true for apps like Youtube where one side is used for video playback, and the other is used to read comments and see the list of recommended videos. At the time of writing, not all apps take advantage of Flex Mode yet so there are some experiences that still feel unnatural on a foldable. (We’re looking at you, Instagram.)

Another notable upgrade with Android 12L is improved multitasking. Considering that the Fold4 is essentially two phones fused into one, it’s clearly made for multitasking, but now you can have upwards of four apps sharing the screen at once. Three of the four can be visible at all times, while the fourth app is relegated to a floating window. The newly designed dock makes it super simple to navigate between apps when multitasking. 

As for the 4400mAh battery, Android 12L OS and the Snapdragon chip require a ton of energy and together they will both squeeze out a bit of juice this battery can muster. If you’re really into high-impact gaming or heavy-volume multitasking as mentioned above, the device does indeed hold up, but the battery will drain faster than a leaky bucket. Thankfully though, it charges pretty fast too. During our unscientific wireless charging tests, we’d typically get a roughly 50% jolt after about 30 minutes or so.

Click here to shop the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 on Amazon now.

Cameras

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 has not one; not two; not three; not even four, but five cameras! There’s the main tri-camera array on the rear cover with wide, ultrawide, and telephoto lenses. Tucked away on the front side is an under-display selfie camera and on the front cover, there is yet another camera because, why not?

Unsurprisingly, the front-facing selfie camera offers the lowest quality resolution at just 4MP. It’s plenty useful enough to take the occasional video call without any issues, but it’s certainly nothing to write home about. The front cover camera isn’t all that much better at just 10MP resolution, and quite frankly it’s hard to see it being very useful for most owners – at least we didn’t find much use for it anyway.

The main array is closer in quality to some of the best-in-class cameras featured on top-of-the-line devices such as Apple’s iPhone or Google’s Pixel. Specifically, the Z Fold4’s main array boasts a 12MP ultra-wide, 50MP wide, and 10MP telephoto with both optical and space zoom options.

All in all, given the fact that the phone’s primary “gimmick” is foldability rather than capturing jaw-dropping snapshots and videos, the image quality is fairly good. In our opinion, it’s not as sharp and crisp as the iPhone 13 Pro or its sibling, the Galaxy S22 Plus, but it does a sufficient job of capturing “good enough” images that will most definitely satisfy the needs of most people.

Price and Availability

Unless you’re wildly rich like Elon Musk or maybe Jeff Bezos, the price of the Fold4 will certainly raise your eyebrows. The base model with 256GB storage starts at a whopping $1800 USD. The mid-tier option with 512GB is $1920. And if you want to max it out at 1TB, you’re going to need to fork over $2160.

Needless to say, these prices are enough to make the device out of reach for most consumers. Living at the bleeding edge of technology is rarely cheap, but of course, as the technology continues to progress and more competitors enter the space, prices will fall.

Click here to shop the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 on Amazon now.

Samsung has made the Galaxy Z Fold4 available in four unique colors: Phantom Black, Graygreen, Beige, and Burgundy. At the time of this review, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 is available through all mainstream carriers in the US in addition to online retailers including Amazon, Best Buy, and the official Samsung website.

The Final Verdict

So, by this point, it’s pretty clear that we’re big fans of Fold4. There’s no doubt about it, this phone is absolutely amazing in every sense of the word. But, despite this fact, we’d be remiss if we closed out this review without mentioning the main drawbacks of this device. The biggest disadvantages include:

Price – For most potential buyers, the cost of this phone is too expensive to justify its purchase.

Crease – Although it’s not as pronounced as in past models, there is still a somewhat noticeable crease that runs down the middle of the display. This is not a Samsung issue, but something that all foldables on the market have a problem with.

Cramped – While unfolded, there is plenty of screen space; however, when it’s closed, users with larger hands may find the front display to be a bit cramped at times.

All things considered, the Fold4 gets two thumbs up from us. Yes, it’s crazy expensive, but we truly believe its impressive foldable display, supremely powerful Snapdragon processor, and improved design changes all more than justify the high cost. If you want a taste test of what the future of foldable smartphone technology has to offer, then the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 is the best place to find it right now. 

Click here to shop the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 on Amazon now.