Last year saw the introduction of foldable smartphones with the Samsung Galaxy Fold, Huawei Mate X and the Motorola Razr 2019. Now in conjunction with the launch of the new S20 series, Samsung have built on last year and brought out the Galaxy Z Flip, a clam shell-like foldable that outperforms and is cheaper the Motorola Razr.
Is it any good? Well, it is certainly easier to handle than the Fold and has learned from its mistakes by having a foldable glass rather than plastic screen. Slated to come in as cheaper than the Razr 2019 and with more features, it will certainly make the foldable market more interesting and hopefully flesh out whether these phones are going to be a regular sight in the future.
Second screen
So, let’s get down to details. As mentioned above, it has a thin glass AMOLED screen that when fully open measures 6.7”. It also has a Gorilla glass 6 back and aluminium body and comes in 3 colours: Mirror Black, Mirror Purple and Mirror Gold. When folded up it measures 87.4 X 73.6 X 17.3 mm and weighs in at 183g.
On the outside of the handset is a small 1.1” Super AMOLED full colour screen that can be used for taking selfies with the main cameras (positioned next to it). It also displays notifications and the date and time, saving you having to flip the phone open more often.
Three cameras
Inside, the Flip runs the Snapdragon 855+ chipset with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of non-expandable memory. Shipping with Android 10 and the latest Samsung One UI 2.0 skin, it is all powered by a 3300 mAh, 15W fast charging battery.
With regard to cameras, it has 2 on the rear (which becomes the front when closed). These consist of a main 12MP f/1.8 wide lens and a 12MP f/2.2 ultrawide secondary camera. On the front (inside when closed – so not usable), is a 10MP f/2.4 camera.
Getting this smartphone out of your pocket and flipping it open will certainly turn heads and make you stand out. Is that worth the extra price though? Anticipated to be a similar price to the S20 Ultra i.e. well over a £1,000, seems to be a lot to pay to standout, especially with a likely one-year shelf life.
It might be better to see if these new foldable smartphones actually take off, as the price is likely to drop with increased popularity. Then, you can enjoy one without having to take out a second mortgage.
