Flipping awesome? Here are my four thoughts on the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4

My desk has become home to what could be mistaken for a sea creature. The shiny aluminium and shimmering purple plastic actually resemble mother-of-pearl. This clam didn’t emerge from the depths of the sea, but rather from a factory belonging to the South Korean tech company Samsung. I’m talking about the Galaxy Z Flip 4 – a so-called clamshell foldable, which flips open vertically. This snazzy Samsung phone replaced my iPhone 13 for a month. This is the first foldable I’ve ever used extensively.

1. The phone makes a fantastic tripod

I won’t bother saving best for last: what I liked most so far is the fact that I can use the Flip 4 not only as a camera but also simultaneously as its own tripod. I can place it half-opened on many surfaces and easily set the photo angle with a flick of my wrist. The 12-megapixel main camera and the 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera on the back deliver beautiful pictures with rich, intense colours.

When it comes to filming myself – be it to send birthday wishes to my loved ones or to document my handstand attempts – the 10-megapixel selfie camera on the inside of the phone wins. Samsung also provides a practical software solution to make taking group shots and selfies easy. All I have to do is hold my open palm up to the camera to trigger the Flip 4’s shot timer My iPhone isn’t one for such gimmicks, which is why I enjoy them all the more on the Samsung Flip.

2. Wieldy but not mini

The Flip 4 is not a small smartphone. With its 6.7-inch display, it’s actually quite a big one. With that, it’s more so aimed at people who want a large smartphone that’s easy to carry around. When folded, it’s very handy and fits well in slender shoulder bags or tight trouser pockets.

Unfortunately, the wieldiness stops as soon as I want to open the Flip. I need both hands for that – though that may be because I have small hands. But even with larger hands, one thing does hold true: to get to the main screen on a foldable, you have to put in more «manual labour» than on other smartphones. If you’re lugging around a parcel along with a full shopping bag or two, certain ventures with a foldable quickly become complicated. That’s why, in the future, I do hope to see a button or some other mechanism that’ll open the flip phone for me.

3. The crease is not the real problem

The crease, i.e. the fold line on the screen, gets placed under a microscope when rating foldables. Understandable, since super slick smartphone surfaces are standard nowadays. As a result, tech companies do their best to hide the crease as well as possible. Samsung has made progress in this regard. Compared to first Galaxy Fold from 2019, the crease is noticeably smoother. Nevertheless, even on devices from the year 2022, the crease is visible and noticeable.

I don’t think this is a big deal. I quickly got used to the crease on the Flip 4. The real pitfall of the foldable display is its vulnerability. In order for glass to be foldable, it has to be very thin – Samsung's in-house "Ultra Thin Glass" measures just one third of a human hair in thickness.

Given this width and the repeated folding movements, the smallest scratch in the display can lead to significant damage. For this reason, foldable Samsung devices all come with a pre-installed screen protector. And you really do feel it. The screen doesn’t always respond quite as sensitively and quickly as I’m used to on my iPhone – even after I turn up touch sensitivity in the settings. While not a knockout criterion as far as I’m concerned, it is a shortcoming that Samsung would do well to improve on in future Flips.

4. Foldability remains a luxury

Although the Flip 4 is equipped with the latest Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor, it lags behind other 2022 Samsung flagships in terms of camera setup. The Flip 4 also has a bigger battery, but it doesn’t actually cross into Samsung flagship territory at 3,700 mAh.

Despite all this, the Flip 4 wears a price tag of over 1,000 bucks. If having a smartphone you can fold is important to you, you’ll have to dig deep into your pockets, at least for the time being. According to the industry magazine «Business in Shenzen» foldable OLED displays are currently five times more expensive than normal ones. These costs should decrease in the coming years as tech companies – including Apple and Google? – produce more foldable smartphones (or any, to begin with).

Verdict: a cool clamshell that’ll shine more brightly in the future

The folding feature on the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 brought me joy. Thanks to its shape, the clamshell foldable is not only an excellent photography assistant, but also a compact smartphone companion. In one flip, its large display scales down into a wieldy square.

The technology, however, is still in its early stages, expensive and sensitive. Over time, manufacturers will hopefully use this form factor more and more efficiently – and display manufacturers make the folding glass more resistant. I expect the Flip 4 and its foldable brothers have a bright future ahead of them.

You’re intent on getting a foldable smartphone today, and don’t mind paying a lot for it and making certain compromises? Then I can highly recommend the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4.