Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 Hands-On: Thinner, lighter, stronger, faster

Once per decade – and sometimes more – we reach a new paradigm in technology that helps shift the industry forward leaps and bounds. In 2007, the original iPhone was launched shifting the industry forward towards capacitive screens and a new era where Samsung and Apple reined supreme. In 2019, the industry took another leap forward as the original Galaxy Fold was launched, and then launched a second time.

Samsung wasn’t the first to the foldable market – Huawei unveiled its own foldable almost a month earlier at MWC 2019 – but it was the first to put considerable marketing budgets behind establishing a significant lead in this category. Three years later and we’re on our fourth generation and the Galaxy Z Fold 4 has come a long way since the first generation.

When you look at all four generations of the Galaxy Z Fold side-by-side, you can see how they have evolved. The Galaxy Z Fold 2 and Galaxy Z Fold 3 were both revolutionary upgrades in many ways, but the maturity of technology means those innovations must slow down.

Now, we have the Galaxy Z Fold 4, a phone that brings a few welcome improvements to make a very good phone even better. The Galaxy Z Fold range is one of the priciest and most aspirational devices, and while there were rumors that this year it would first be cheaper, and secondly – with the current worldwide economic climate – more expensive, it has ultimately remained at the same $1,799.99 price tag. There are a host of Galaxy Z Fold 4 deals as well that you should absolutely be taking advantage of, which will help you save a considerable amount.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4: Specifications

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4: Design

The Galaxy Z Fold 2 is the first Fold that established the series’ design identity. The same identity was there throughout the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and into the Galaxy Z Fold 4, meaning the full-size front display acts like a regular phone, while the bigger internal display is designed to replace a tablet. This year, the design changes are very subtle but very impactful, with Samsung focused on making the device more portable without sacrificing the big display.

Subtle changes to the size mean the phone is easier to use with one hand when it’s folded. I never really had an issue with using the Galaxy Z Fold 3 with one hand, but the Galaxy Z Fold 4 feels so much better in the hand that this is a change everyone should really like.

The Galaxy Z Fold 4 measures 130.1 x 155.1 x 6.3mm which makes it 3mm shorter, 2mm wider, and 0.1mm thinner than the Galaxy Z Fold 3. These are minute changes, but they make the difference as they’ve allowed Samsung to make both screens wider while addressing the aspect ratios as well. This means you’ll need to buy a new Galaxy Z Fold 4 case, vs reusing a Galaxy Z Fold 3 case.

The Galaxy Z Fold 4 weighs in at 263 grams, which makes it 8 grams lighter than the Z Fold 3. This is a small reduction but feels more substantial in the hand and is made possible by the slimmer hinge and subtle tweaks to the weight balance throughout the phone.

If you’re thinking of buying the Galaxy Z Fold 4, you’ll have three colorways to choose from. Last year’s Phantom Black makes a return, while there are also new Graygreen and Beige colors to choose from. Personally, I prefer the Beige option which has a subtle gold-like look to it, but your preference may vary. I do wish Samsung would return to the vibrant bronze color of the Galaxy Z Fold 2, or bring other colors like Red, Purple, or more from the Galaxy Z Flip 4 to the Galaxy Z Fold 4, but maybe we’ll see those launched later.

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Displays & Durability: Better, brighter, and stronger

Unlike the Galaxy Z Flip 4, the Galaxy Z Fold 4 has a few changes to its displays that make it an even better experience than before. Whether you’re using the Cover Screen as a regular phone or using the main display to replace your tablet, I think the Galaxy Z Fold 4 has the best display on a foldable yet.

Thanks to the slimmer hinge and subtle changes to the dimensions, the Galaxy Z Fold 4’s main display is 3mm wider but still measures 7.6-inches and offers a 2,176 x 1,812 pixels resolution. This tweak makes it slightly shorter and wider but should result in better multitasking, media playback, and productivity, which is the primary use case for it.

The aspect ratio has been changed from 25:9 to 21.6:18 while the density remains roughly the same at 372 pixels per inch. There’s also an Adaptive Refresh rate letting the display automatically change between 1Hz and 120Hz depending upon what you’re doing, and the main display also supports the S Pen, although sadly there’s still no built-in S-Pen holder.

The Cover Screen has also had a few tweaks; at 2.8mm wider than the Galaxy Z Fold 3, and slightly shorter, it offers a better aspect ratio (23.1:9) for one-handed usage while also bumping up the density and resulting in a better overall experience. It still measures 6.2-inches, offers a 2,316 x 904 pixels resolution, and offers an Adaptive Refresh rate between 48Hz and 120Hz.

The biggest improvement to the displays is one that’s not noticeable but makes all the difference. The addition of Gorilla Glass Victus Plus and an Armor Aluminum frame means the Galaxy Z Fold 4 is the most durable fold yet and specifically, that main display is more than 45% stronger than the Z Fold 3.

I’ve dropped all my Folds at least a couple of times each during the year I used each of them, and I’ve had no qualms with the durability but making the Galaxy Z Fold 4 durable helps to reduce the biggest concern that average consumers likely have with an expensive foldable phone: how durable it is over a few years of usage.

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Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4: Cameras

Over the course of the last year, I’ve only had one complaint with the camera on the Galaxy Z Fold 3: its cameras. The cameras are fine for most use cases, but as someone who wants the best of photography and productivity in my pocket, they left me wanting, especially after I adopted the Galaxy S22 Ultra as my primary Android phone. The Galaxy Z Fold series has never been the range where Samsung used its best cameras, but the Galaxy Z Fold 4 hopefully represents the start of a camera revolution for Samsung’s foldable lineup.

Samsung says it has bought its Galaxy S camera range to the Galaxy Z Fold 4, but before you get overly excited, this isn’t the 108MP primary camera found on the Galaxy S22 Ultra. Instead, it’s the 50MP primary sensor found on the Galaxy S22 Plus, which is itself a very good camera, but not quite as capable as the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s camera. That said, the latter’s camera would probably result in a very thick phone so it’s understandable why Samsung chose this route.

The 50MP main camera is a welcome improvement – on paper, at least – over the 12MP sensor found in the Galaxy Z Fold 3. It offers 4x the resolution of the Galaxy Z Fold 3, while also letting in 23% more light thanks to an f/1.8 aperture. The pixel size is lower at 1.0µm but Samsung is using pixel binning in the camera to combine 4 pixels into one and take a 12MP image with much better low-light performance. There’s also the array of tricks from the Galaxy S22 Plus including Dual Pixel Phase Detection Autofocus and Optical Image Stabilization.

The Galaxy Z Fold series also finally gets a proper telephoto lens, as it uses the same 10MP telephoto lens found in the Galaxy S22 Plus. This comes with an f/2.4 aperture, 1.0µm pixel size, Phase Detection Autofocus, and importantly, 3x optical zoom. There’s also 30X Space Zoom and I’m super excited about finally having proper telephoto capabilities on the Fold, which makes it less likely that I’ll be tempted to switch away when the next camera-centric Galaxy S flagship makes an appearance.

There’s also the same 12MP ultra-wide camera found on the Galaxy Z Fold 3 which takes vibrant, saturated photos and is great, especially when shooting landscape photos. It offers a 120° field of view and has an f/2.2 aperture, and 1.4µm pixel size so it’s ready for shooting in most conditions.

The Galaxy Z Fold 3 was also one of the first phones to break a new frontier for front-facing cameras, deploying a 4MP under-display camera on the main screen that is, quite frankly, rubbish. It is an eyesore when you’re not using it and results in grainy, mostly unusable photos when you do want to use it, but the Galaxy Z Fold 4 uses the exact same camera but ensures it blends in much better when it’s not in use. The result is that you probably won’t want to use it, but at least you won’t have to look at it as much. Instead of the 4MP Under display camera, we’d recommend using the 10MP camera on the front.

The cameras are a welcome step up over previous Galaxy Folds, but how well they perform we won’t know until we conduct our full review. That said, the Galaxy S22 Plus has a very capable camera so I’m super excited about the possibilities with the Galaxy Z Fold 4 camera.

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Getting productive and flexing with Galaxy Z Fold 4

I’ve always been a huge fan of the Galaxy Z Fold range as it’s the king of productivity. It revolutionized how I work on the go, as it means I can work off a mini tablet while I’m on the go. I also take advantage of multi-window, running 2 or 3 apps side-by-side, and sometimes running several more apps in little pop-up chat-like windows as well. The Galaxy Z Fold 4 takes things to another level in a few interesting and key areas.

Since the advent of multi-window on Samsung phones almost a decade ago, it’s felt like Samsung never had the screen real estate to take advantage of the powerful multitasking that multi-window offers. The Galaxy Fold and Galaxy Z Fold 2 saw ten years of development finally find a home, but there were still a few areas where it could be improved.

Until the Galaxy Z Fold 4, there was no dedicated taskbar. Yes, you could easily swipe in from the side of the screen to use the Edge panel – which was the evolution of the feature first found on the Galaxy Note Edge – but this swiping in and out of the main screen was calling out for a better solution.

The new taskbar is the solution and it’s glorious; designed like the taskbar on your computer, it sits at the bottom of the screen and lets you quickly access your favorite – and most used – apps, as well as easily launch up to 3 apps on the screen at once. Like with the Edge Panel, you can also easily add App Pairs, allowing you to set up your favorite two or three windows and launch them all with just one tap. I’ve used this with watching sports and it’s great – the big window to scroll and tweet, one-half window for the stream, and the other half window for an app that shows things like stats, etc.

The taskbar also allows you to solve one of the bigger challenges with Android and replicates the PC-like experience of being able to launch a second instance of the same app. This only works with specific apps, but it means you can conceivably launch two documents in Word side-by-side, or two instances of Chrome. We’ll test this in full during the review to establish exactly which apps are supported right now.

Beyond the taskbar, there’s also the addition of a new Flex mode which takes advantage of the ability to fold the main display in half and keep it there. In apps that have been optimized for Flex mode – which currently includes YouTube, Netflix, and Disney Plus – the video or media plays in the top half of the phone, while the controls and comments appear in the bottom half of the screen. Flex mode also offers a new trackpad mode where you can use any app in the top half of the screen, while the bottom half is a PC-like trackpad to let you scroll and tap inside the app you’re using.

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Premium hardware at a premium price

Like any flagship, the Galaxy Z Fold 4 comes with premium hardware and has just about every feature you could expect. Given it costs $1,799.99, there are also a few areas we would have loved to see improvements but ultimately, it has the flagship specs sheet you’d expect from any top-of-the-range smartphone.

The Galaxy Z Fold 4 is powered by the latest Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor and comes with 12GB of RAM alongside a choice of 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB internal storage. The 1TB storage option is new to the Galaxy Z Fold 4 (the previous generation only offered the former two storage options) and will satisfy everyone who needs a lot of storage for media or takes a lot of photos.

The battery also has the same 4,400 mAh capacity found on the Galaxy Z Fold 3, which isn’t a bad thing as last year’s model had excellent battery life. During the past year, I’ve had no days where the Galaxy Z Fold 3 didn’t last a full day, and often it lasted two days or very close to it. The Galaxy Z Fold 4 can also charge to 50% in around 30 minutes at 25W speeds, and while it doesn’t come with one, there are plenty of Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Flip 4 chargers that are worth buying.

This is one area we would have to see an improvement. 25W is not fast charging in my opinion and given that the OnePlus 10T can charge to full in 22 minutes and costs just $600, Samsung has truly missed a beat by not upgrading the charging experience, especially on a phone that costs $1,799.99. There’s also fast wireless charging, although this won’t be as fast as wired charging.

Like last year’s model, there are also a host of other specs worth noting. There’s IPX8 dust and water resistance adding to the durability of the Galaxy Z Fold 4, while it runs Android 12L which is designed with the foldable form factor in mind. There’s an array of sensors including a side-mounted fingerprint sensor – which I absolutely love on the Galaxy Z Fold 3 – that you should be able to swipe down on to show your notifications.

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Galaxy Z Fold 4 First Impressions: The king of productivity… again

Overall, the Galaxy Z Fold 4 might seem like it only has subtle improvements, but these come in areas that have a large impact on the overall experience. The thinner hinge and subtle resizing of the displays mean the phone is significantly easier to use regardless of which screen you’re using, and it’s especially easier to use with one hand when it’s folded.

Durability has never been a major concern for me, at least not for the past couple of generations, but the main screen being significantly more durable, and the armor aluminum frame means this should be even less of an issue.

Samsung has proven in recent years that it’s paying attention to the use case for its phones and working to improve them in software, and the Galaxy Z Fold 4 is proof that the company really understands software. Flex modes take advantage of the natural form factor and use cases, while the taskbar finally brings to fruition the promise of a proper tablet-like experience. Partnering with Google and Microsoft to optimize apps means that Chrome and Gmail now support drag-and-drop, allowing you to truly multitask, while Google Meet lets you host great video calls and watch videos or play games together all from your phone.

At $1,799.99, the Galaxy Z Fold 4 is not affordable for most people, so it must make for a compelling offering to sway purchase decisions. With the improvements made leaving a promising first impression, I’d say that this is a phone worth buying, but we’ll reserve final judgment for the full review.