To fold or not to fold

• Source: Samsung

  Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5
  

  
  An extremely useful foldable
  

  The Z Flip 5’s new, large outer
  
  display
  
  makes it a significantly more practical phone, since you can use its most critical functions without ever opening it. In other words, it might be the compact, highly versatile device that convinces tons of holdouts to make the jump into foldable phones.

  
  Pros
  

  • Incredibly useful outer display
  • The hinge gap is finally gone
  • Convenient and compact

  
  Cons
  

  • Battery life still less than ideal
  • Camera quality lags behind competition

• 
  

  Samsung
  
  Galaxy S23
  
  +
  

  
  One of the top Android phones
  

  The middle child in Samsung’s flagship family is, once again, the Goldilocks of high-end Samsung phones for most people. The combination of a slightly larger battery, notably improved SoC, and bigger base storage capacity make it a worthy successor to the S22+, although only an iterative upgrade.

  
  Pros
  

  • Unbeatable display quality
  • Finally, acceptable battery life
  • Great triple rear camera

  
  Cons
  

  • Doesn’t fold
  • 45W wired
    
    charging
    
    isn’t actually much faster

Now that Samsung’s facing real competition from several rival great foldable phones – most notably the Motorola Razr+ – it’s made some small but important changes to the Galaxy Z Flip 5 to ensure it stays one of the best on the market. Similarly, the Galaxy S23+ saw some minor but meaningful upgrades compared to the S22+, mitigating at least one of our biggest issues with the device – its battery life.

Both phones are great, and cost about the same, so how do they stack up? Well, the folding display changes the game entirely in terms of functionality, with an increasingly useful outer screen. But it also introduces some minor drawbacks. If you’re wondering whether it’s time to jump into the world of foldable phones, it’s worth comparing the Z Flip 5 directly to its closest non-folding competitor.

Price, availability, and specs

Both phones are readily available from Samsung and many major third-party retailers. You can also get either from your preferred carrier, with Samsung and specific carriers offering various trade-in and contract deals.

They’re also the exact same price, at $1,000 for 256GB and $1,120 for 512GB of storage. So, in this case, we’re definitely comparing apples to apples.

• 	Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5	Samsung Galaxy S23+
  SoC	Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy	Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy
  Display	6.7″ 2640 x 1080 120Hz OLED primary display; 3.4″ 720 x 748 60Hz OLED cover display	6.6″ FHD+ AMOLED, 48~120Hz refresh, 240Hz touch sampling
  RAM	8GB	8GB
  Storage	256GB or 512GB	256GB or 512GB
  Battery	3,700mAh	4,700mAh
  Ports	USB-C	USB-C
  Operating System	Android 13 (OneUI 5.1.1)	Android 13 (OneUI 5.1.1)
  Front camera	10MP f/2.2 (1.22μm pixels)	12MP f/2.2
  Rear cameras	12MP f/1.8 wide-angle (83˚ FoV, OIS, 1.8μm pixels); 12MP f/2.2 ultra-wide (123˚ FoV, 1.12μm pixels)	50MP f/1.8 OIS main; 12MP f2.2 ultrawide (120°); 10MP f/2.4 OIS telephoto (3x)
  Connectivity	5G (inc mmWave), LTE, Wi-Fi 6E	5G (inc mmWave), LTE, UWB, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC
  Dimensions	Unfolded: 71.9 x 165.1 x 6.9mm, Folded: 71.9 x 85.1 x 15.1mm	163.3 × 78 × 8.9mm
  Colors	Graphite, Cream, Lavender, Mint	Phantom, Cream, Green, Lavender + Samsung.com exclusive Lime, Graphite
  Weight	187g	196g
  IP Rating	IPX8	IP68

Clean, simple, refined designs

The Z Flip 4 and S22 family already sported pretty stark designs, with clean lines and practically no visual distractions whatsoever. The newer models take that a step further, eliminating the camera bezels for about as clean a slate as any phone on the market. While they share a similar design language, though, you’ll obviously never mistake one for the other.

And that’s where you’ll find the biggest difference between these two devices. The Z Flip 5 hits the market as the most streamlined “flip phone” since the actual flip phones of yesteryear became obsolete.

Generations after its introduction, the Z Flip 5 also receives a much-needed upgrade in terms of the hinge. Not only has it been redesigned for durability and a slightly less noticeable display crease, the incredibly annoying gap when closed is, at long last, a thing of the past. So it’s not just less awkward to hold, it’s also slimmer when folded, and doesn’t feel like it could get crushed.

Unfortunately, dust is still an issue with the mechanical folding mechanism, especially in the long term. As such, the IP rating is limited to IPX8, as opposed to the IP68 rating of the S23+. Both are waterproof, but you need to keep the Z Flip 5 safe from tiny particulates to ensure it stays in perfect working order for years.

Color availability is also a little different between the two. The S23+ comes in the same Phantom Black as its predecessor, with additional options of a new, muted Cream, a gray-tinted Green, and a pale Lavender. And if you order directly from Samsung, you can choose from the classy Graphite or light Lime exclusives. By contrast, the standard Z Flip 5 colors include Graphite, Lavender, Cream, and a subtle Mint green color, with Samsung-exclusive variants in matte Gray, Green, Blue, or Yellow.

One display vs. two displays, with a small caveat

Similar primary displays mean that both perform at the top of their class. The Z Flip 5

sports

a tiny bit more real estate, at 6.7-inch compared to the S23+’s 6.6-inch screen, along with a slightly higher pixel density. But you probably won’t notice a difference in real-world usage.

But you will definitely notice the extra, outer display on the Z Flip 5. In fact, that’s one of its biggest selling points compared to both the previous Z Flips and the S23+. The 3.6-inch cover screen, with a 720 x 748 resolution, is a big departure from the barely useful ticker that used to adorn the outside of Samsung’s clamshell. You can now even run a few full apps while the Z Flip 5 is closed, thanks to the outer display’s size and full QWERTY keyboard capability.

Of course, the very nature of folding phones and their necessarily flexible glass do introduce a couple minor issues. Like its predecessors, the Z Flip 5 doesn’t use Gorilla Glass on the primary display, so it feels a tad softer than a typical slab phone’s ultra-hard screen. There’s also the inevitable crease to deal with. Although we found it less distracting than we expected, it is still there, and gets more visible with lighter backgrounds or when viewing from an off angle. Until flexible glass gets better, it’ll continue to be an issue with all foldables.

Unfortunately, neither display supports Samsung’s S Pen. You’ll have to go with the S23 Ultra or Z Fold 5 to use the vaunted stylus.

Top-notch software experience

We don’t mean to beat a dead horse, but most people agree that nobody’s yet topped Samsung’s OneUI Android implementation. Its intuitive interface, high level of customization, powerful feature set, and refined experience leave little to be desired.

The software isn’t only great right now, either. Both phones ship with Android 13 and OneUI 5.1, with Android 14 and OneUI 6.0 set to release in late 2023. But the real key is the four major Android updates promised by Samsung, leading to each phone’s eventual eligibility for Android 17 in 2026, with five full years of security patches too. In other words, both the Z Flip 5 and S23+ will be receiving updates until 2028.

The Z Flip 5 does have one big software advantage, enabled by its impressive cover screen. The enlarged outer display brings the latest Z Flip in line with its closest folding competitor, the 2023 Moto Razr+, and we couldn’t be more thrilled. The cover screen’s size and resolution are good enough that you can actually run almost any Android app on it, but that function’s not enabled out of the box.

A simple settings adjustment enables some everyday apps like WhatsApp, but you’ll need to go a little deeper to enable all apps on the cover screen. Called the Good Lock feature, it lets you run (or try to run) nearly any Android app without opening the phone. Not all apps work swimmingly, especially if they haven’t been designed with the cover screen in mind, but a surprising amount do.

Despite our effusive praise for the OneUI operating system, it can’t be perfect. The slightly annoying trend toward pre-installed apps rears its head with both devices. But we’re mostly splitting hairs here, as it’s not super difficult to remove the OneUI bloatware yourself.

Identical, class-leading performance

Equipped with identical Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy chipsets and 8GB of LPDDR5X RAM, both devices deliver nearly the exact same benchmarks and outperform almost everything else on the market. Like the previous ‘+’ versions of Qualcomm chips, the Samsung-exclusive for Galaxy SoC features an overclocked peak clock speed. This both improves raw performance, and enables higher instantaneous boots, which can (slightly counterintuitively) reduce the chance of overheating and thermal throttling. In other words, it’s essentially an 8+ Gen 2, which hasn’t been released to other manufacturers yet.

But the bigger takeaway from the newer chipset is its efficiency. Qualcomm claims a 40% increase in efficiency compared to the Gen 1, which is eye-poppingly optimistic for what looks like an iterative upgrade. That 40% increase won’t transfer directly to real-world usage, but it does definitely increase battery life while further reducing thermal throttling likelihood.

Battery life, or, how much do you use your phone?

Battery life was one of our few complaints about the previous versions of both devices. And since the Z Flip 5 folds, its battery’s split into two separate cells, which lowers the effective usable capacity. The Z Flip 5’s 3,700mAh capacity remains unchanged from the Z Flip 4, which means Samsung’s relying on the SoC’s improved efficiency to make battery life more palatable. Unless you constantly run resource-intensive apps, though, you shouldn’t have an issue making it through the day without a top-up. If you like to game or make a lot of video calls, though, Z Flip 5 battery life could present an annoyance.

In comparison, the 4,700mAh cell in the S23+ looks relatively massive. It’s only 200mAh bigger than the S22+ battery, but proves more than sufficient for everyday use. Once again, heavy game or video usage can drain it before the day’s up, but you’ll have to try a lot harder to run out the S23+’s battery than the Z Flip 5’s. In other words, the Z Flip 5 delivers passable all-day battery life, and the S23+ is outright satisfactory.

On the charging front, the nominal 25W charging of the Z Flip 5 seems like a big drawback compared to the S23+’s 45W peak. However, hands-on current testing of the S23+ charging process revealed that it almost never actually hits its 45W peak, anyway. So while they look different on paper, you won’t see much of a difference in real life. And both support the same 15W wireless and 4.5W reverse wireless charging capabilities.

Three cameras are better than two

Neither device is in the running for the top camera phone of 2023, but they really do take fine pictures. That said, a lot of people will find the Z Flip 5’s picture quality unsuitable for a $1,000 smartphone. That’s largely due to the less-than-stellar camera array, which is identical to the Z Flip 4’s. At only 12MP each, don’t expect the standard or ultrawide sensors to capture studio-quality photos. There’s no pixel binning, less-than-ideal low light performance, and no telephoto lens, either.

The S23+, on the other hand, sports a 50MP primary sensor, 10MP 3x telephoto lens, and 12MP ultrawide lens. It captures images more consistently across different light levels, with better clarity and more even colors. Even the selfie camera’s a bit better, with 2 more megapixels and Auto-HDR mode.

The only way that the Z Flip 5 camera experience beats the S23+ is in Flex mode. Mostly tied into

social media

and video calls, this novel feature lets you open the foldable halfway to streamline posts, calls, and live streams. So if maintaining perfect eye contact with your friends or followers is important, it’s a small win for the Z Flip. Otherwise, the S23+ cameras are notably better.

Galaxy Z Flip 5 vs. S23+: Which is right for you?

The first couple Galaxy Z Flips were great for early adopters, and more recent models became reasonable choices for somebody wanting a novel, high-performing smartphone with tons of utility. But the Z Flip 5 goes a step further thanks to its large, extremely useful cover display, increased battery life, and redesigned hinge.

To a large degree, the Z Flip 5 is what people have always envisioned when they think of the ideal clamshell-folding flagship smartphone. While you’ll certainly be happy with either, the Z Flip 5 is a more interesting and convenient device that’s better for most people, albeit by a slim margin.

The S23+, on the other hand, represents some of the best that traditional smartphones have to offer. Industry-leading performance, a great balance of size, weight, and battery life, and ever-improving camera quality make it the right choice for anybody who isn’t concerned with their phone folding up and fitting into a small pocket. It’s one of Samsung’s best phones, and we have no major complaints about it. It’s among the best and most well-balanced slab phones money can buy.