ReviewEarlier this week, Samsung presented the successors of its folding phones: the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4. Both look suspiciously like their predecessors. Little innovative, but with these two devices that is easy to understand.
–
Samsung is currently king of the foldable phone market. The Galaxy Z Flip, a device that you can fold like an old-fashioned flip phone, is the undisputed market leader at the moment. Due to its hinge it is a lot more compact than ‘normal’ smartphones, so it easily fits in a shallow pocket. A breath of fresh air in a world with increasingly larger devices.
–
The Z Fold is Samsung’s productivity machine. At 1,800 euros, it is more expensive than the 1,100-euro Flip, but can be expanded into a small tablet. You can have multiple apps open side by side on this. It makes this one of the few tablets that you can take with you as easily as a smartphone.
–
Fourth generation almost unchanged
With the new Z Flip 4 and Z Fold 4, the differences are in the details. Both smartphones have faster processors, better cameras and a smaller hinge to fold them with. In use, they are simply very fast phones that shoot beautiful photos. There is nothing to complain about on either front.
–
The Fold has a slightly wider and lower screen. A step in the right direction, although when folded it’s still a pretty narrow display to look at. But it’s a size change that’s only noticeable if you keep the old Fold next to it: there are no significant changes here.
–
Samsung mainly tries to refine and update both phones. The faster chip can compete with other recent smartphones, so you don’t have to be afraid to buy an outdated device. In addition, minor adjustments have been made in the software area. With the Z Flip 4, for example, you can adjust the outer mini screen more to your own taste and send quick responses to messages. And the Z Fold 4 now has a dock with app icons at the bottom, so you can switch between multiple applications faster.
–
–
Sophistication is exactly what the folding phone needs now
You can blame Samsung that both smartphones have changed so little, but it makes sense with products like this one. The folding phone is still quite experimental and uncharted territory. They use special, flexible screens and hinges, which are more susceptible to damage than flat phones that always remain unbent. This was also apparent in the first generation of folding devices, which quickly broke down if dirt got into the hinge. Since then, the underlying technology has improved, but those initial problems have given the phones a bad image.
–
That makes it logical to improve the phones this year, especially in practical terms, and not, for example, to introduce a new design. After all, with a different kind of folding system, Samsung would introduce new possible problems. Although the company has done little to make the devices more resilient than their most recent predecessors: the Fold and Flip 4 are just as dirt-resistant as the third model. In addition, according to Samsung, they can fold just as often: up to 200,000 times.
–
–
Not for Fold 3 and Flip 3 owners
The lack of significant new features makes both devices uninteresting to owners of the Fold 3 and Flip 3 – but they aren’t meant for that at all. These are smartphones that are sold for more than a thousand euros, and are therefore intended to be used for a longer period of time. If your 1,800 euro Fold 3 from 2021 is already due for replacement, then something strange is going on.
–
The latest models are for those who have had another smartphone for years, such as the first Flip and Fold or something else. Then you will find here a folding design that is still very modern in 2022, with the latest hardware on the inside. With its sky-high price, the Fold 4 is probably only interesting for a very specific group of people, but the Flip 4 is a smartphone that can be attractive to many.
–
/i/2004610826.png?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
