At today’s Galaxy Unpacked event, Samsung confirmed recent online rumors of a gapless hinge and large cover screen for the Flip5 foldable while also revealing its Fold5 stablemate, plus the latest Wear OS wrist candy and a new tablet series too.
The most notable change to the Flip5 over last year’s model is the new sizable cover screen – or Flex Window as Samsung calls it – that essentially brings the foldable fight to Motorola’s Razr+ handset launched last month. Where Moto’s handset punches holes in the cover screen to let the cameras through, the Flip5 skirts around them for an arguably more stylish look.
This 3.4-inch Super AMOLED display offers more space for widgets such as weather, schedules, music playback control, call history, contact details and more – and there’s even room for an onscreen keyboard for firing off quick chat replies to friends – without having to flip the phone open. Framing selfies using the main cameras should also be a whole lot easier.
The dual camera array that shares the Flex Window space comprises a 12-MP ultra-wide and a 12-MP wide-angle with dual-pixel autofocus and optical image stabilization. The Flip5 can be angled for hands-free videochats as well, Auto Framing makes sure everyone is in the shot, and onscreen photo previews can be color adjusted prior to sharing.
Samsung has placed Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 atop the cover screen and on the back cover for durability, the device is IPX8 waterproof, and the main display is reported to benefit from “a shock dispersion layer and a redesigned back.”
Samsung has also closed the gap with the new Flex Hinge, which allows the phone to close flat and is said to feature a double-rail structure that’s able to better handle external impacts. Folded dimensions come in at 3.35 x 2.83 x 0.59 in (8.5 x 7.18 x 1.49 cm). The handset flips open to a 6.7-inch Infinity Flex Display at 2,640 x 1,080 pixels with an adaptive refresh rate up to 120 Hz.
Inside is a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 mobile chipset designed for Galaxy devices, supported by 8 GB of RAM and up to 512 GB of storage. There’s a dual battery for a total capacity of 3,700 mAh, with wired and wireless fast charging supported. Along with USB-C, there’s 5G, Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity, and the phone runs Android 13 out of the box.
The Galaxy Z Flip5 is up for pre-order now for a starting price of US$999.99, with general sale expected to follow from August 11.
Apart from being treated to the new Flex Hinge, a 30% brightness increase for the main display, an upgrade to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 platform, the latest version of Android and a slightly thinner profile (at 0.53 in/1.35 cm folded) – nothing much else appears to have changed with the Fold5 compared to last year’s model. The Galaxy Z Fold5 has the same release window as the Flip5, and starts at $1,799.99.
Samsung also revealed the Galaxy Watch6 and the Watch6 Classic at the Unpacked event. The former comes with a larger and brighter OLED touch display than last year’s model (at 44mm or 40 mm, depending on color choice, and 2,000 nits peak) and a 30% slimmer bezel. The model with the larger display includes a fast-charging 425-mAh battery for up to 30 hours of per-charge use with the screen on.
The Classic edition heralds the return of the rotating bezel to the series, which makes for easier navigation and is 15% thinner than previous outings. There are two display sizes here too, at 47 mm or 43 mm.
Both smartwatches feature Exynos W930 processing brains supported by 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of storage, and run Wear OS 4 (Powered by Samsung). They offer LTE, Bluetooth 5.3 and dual-band Wi-Fi connectivity, either smartwatch can be used as a controller for a paired Flip5, they’re waterproof to 5ATM and have been tested to MIL-STD-810H durability standards.
The Galaxy Watch6 and Watch6 Classic are also available for pre-order now.
Lastly, Samsung added a new tablet series to its premium product lineup in the shape of the Galaxy Tab S9. The range topper is the Ultra edition with a 14.6-inch AMOLED display, Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 brains supported by up to 16 GB of RAM and 1 TB of storage, an 11,200-mAh battery, and dual front cameras complementing the 13-MP main and 8-MP ultra-wide around back.
