Update 27/07/2023: India Prices and availability have been updated below.
Samsung has finally debuted its foldable lineup of smartphones for this year, including the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and the Galaxy Z Flip 5. While the latter brings major changes in terms of design, the former remains more of an incremental upgrade over last year’s Z Fold 4, both in terms of design as well as specifications. Read on to know more about the new foldable from Samsung.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5: Price
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 is available in three variants, including 12GB + 256GB, 12GB + 512GB and 12GB + 1TB, available for . They come in Icy Blue, Phantom Black, and Cream colours along with a variety of cases including a Slim S Pen Case, Clear Gadget Case, Eco-Leather Case, and a Standing Case with Strap. There are two more colours for the Z Fold 5, including Gray and Blue, which are exclusively available on Samsung’s own website for purchase.
The Galaxy Z Fold 5 starts $1799 (approx Rs 1,47,000) for the base model.
India Prices, Availablity
The Galaxy Z Fold 5’s 12GB + 256GB model costs Rs 1,54,999, 12GB + 512GB model costs Rs 1,64,999 while the top-end 12GB + 1TB model comes in at Rs 1,84,999. Those buying Galaxy Z Fold 5 from Samsung.com will get the option of one exclusive colour – Platinum. Otherwise, the first two variants are available in Icy Blue, Cream, Phantom Black while the top-end variant comes only in Icy Blue.
Pre-booking for Galaxy Z Fold 5 starts from July 27 across all leading online and offline retail stores. Those pre-booking Galaxy Z Fold 5 will get benefits worth Rs 23,000 including Rs 5,000 upgrade benefit, Rs 8,000 bank cash back, and a free storage upgrade to 512GB model. In other words, you can purchase the 512GB model for the price of 256GB model during the pre-booking period.
Customers pre-booking Z Fold 5 during “Samsung Live” event starting 12 pm on July 27 will get additional exclusive gift of a Standing Case with Strap worth Rs 6,299 on purchase of Galaxy Z Fold 5.
Read More: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 First Impressions: Becoming a pro in foldable game?
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5: Specifications
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 sports a 7.6-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X primary display with 2176 x 1812 pixels resolution, 374 ppi and 120Hz adaptive refresh rate that can go down till 1Hz. The display on the outside is a 6.2-inch HD+ Dyanmic AMOLED 2X panel. It has 2316 x 904 pixels resolution, 402 ppi and a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate same as the inner panel, but it can go down till 48Hz.
The phone packs a 4400mAh dual battery cell with support for 25W wired charging, and fast wireless charging 2.0. Reverse wireless charging support is also present. In addition, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip powers the smartphone along with 12GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage. It runs on Android 13 based One UI 5.1.1 that will get 4 years of OS upgrades and 5 years of monthly security updates.
For optics, you get a triple camera setup at the rear. This includes a 50-megapixel f/1.8 primary sensor with optical image stabilisation (OIS), a 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle f/2.2 sensor with a 123-degree field-of-view (FoV) and lastly, a 10-megapixel telephoto sensor with an f/2.4 Aperture for 3X optical zoom.
There are two front cameras on the phone. The one present alongside the front display is a 10-megapixel f/2.2 lens, while the one present inside the fold under the main display will is a 4-megapixel f/1.8 sensor. Connectivity options include 5G, LTE, Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi 6E, NFC, GPS, and a USB Type-C port. There’s a side-mounted fingerprint sensor for security while the device is IPX8 rated also.
Read More: Cross-Cultural Teamwork in Multicultural India Makes Samsung India Unique: J B Park
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5: What has changed from Fold 4?
As we mentioned above, the Galaxy Z Fold 5 seems to be a minor upgrade over the Galaxy Z Fold 4 from last year. One of the main differences is the upgraded processor, which is Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 over previous year’s Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 that powered the Fold 4. This upgrade should ideally result in power and efficiency gains. The peak brightness of the main display has been increased by 30%, and is now 1750 nits compared to 1200 nits on Fold 4.
Apart from this, other aspects of display, the cameras, battery, and even RAM and Storage variants remain identical to the Galaxy Z Fold 4. The only major change that comes in terms of design is the new ‘Flex hinge’ which uses a water-drop design, allowing the Fold 5 to fold up flat without any gap in between. Lastly, the front as well as the back of the Fold 5 is protected with Gorilla Glass Victus 2, that should make it stronger to drops and show better resistance against scratches.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5: Competition
The Galaxy Z Fold 5 still remains untouched at least in India as Samsung isn’t facing any major competition from other brands in the region. It does face some competition from the Tecno Phantom V Fold that happens to be the cheapest book-style foldable phone in India at the moment, due to its price tag being Rs 88,888.
However, Tecno still hasn’t been able to match Samsung’s brand value and offers inferior specifications, such as the Dimensity 9000+ chipset, that is a year old at this point. While it surely is a capable chip, it doesn’t match up to the standards of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 if we talk of power.
We also won’t comment on the software of the Phantom V Fold (as we haven’t used it) but we can say that the Galaxy Z Fold 5 has a much more polished and optimised user interface for a foldable form factor. In fact, Samsung has added a bunch of new features in Galaxy Z Fold 5, such as the improved taskbar where four of your most used apps get pinned for quick access.
Then there’s the newly enhanced two-handed drag and drop, and a hidden pop-up, so an App can continue running in the background, allowing users to watch video content in full screen and chat with friends in a floating pop-up on the side of the screen. All in all, you get what you pay for with the Galaxy Z Fold 5. It gets you better software and better specs but if your budget is limited to below a lakh, then Phantom V Fold is your only choice as of now.
As for the international scenario, users get to choose from the Xiaomi Mix Fold, Vivo X Fold 2, Oppo Find N2, and Google’s latest Pixel Fold as well. India is currently seeing a surge in the number of Flip-style foldable launches where Galaxy Z Flip 5 has some tough competition to conquer.
