After a very successful folding clamshell smartphone in 2022, Samsung should normally release its successor in 2023: the Galaxy Z Flip 5. If no information has been confirmed on this model for the moment, serious rumors have been multiplying for a few months. Let’s recap what we know or think we know about this next premium smartphone.
No image of the Z Flip 5 is yet available, but that does not prevent Samsung fans from imagining the next model in the range. // Source: @MelloMaraj via Reddit
Like every year for the past three years, the South Korean manufacturer Samsung should release its next two folding smartphone models in 2023: a fold model, foldable in book format, and a flip model, foldable in clamshell format. Two high-end phones that are always pushing technological innovation further on these products, but it’s the second model that interests us: the next Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5.
The Z Flip series models outsell the Z Fold series due to their compact size and lower cost. Price, release date, new design… we take stock of the rumors and assumptions made about what could become the next most popular folding smartphone on the market.
The latest high performance chip
The first information on this Galaxy Z Flip 5 reached us in July 2022… i.e. before the release of the Galaxy Z Flip 4! It was the South Korean media The Elec that fired the first salvo of rumors: according to its sources, the two next fold and flip models from Samsung would be equipped with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC.
Although this rumor was relayed well in advance, it would seem logical since the last two Galaxy Z Flip models integrated the latest high-end chip from Qualcomm available at their release. Based on our previous tests of this chip, we can therefore expect improved performance as well as reduced heating during long gaming sessions. Good news if it is confirmed since the Z Flip 4 struggled to keep up with greedy uses.
Another credible rumour: the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5’s storage size choices may remain the same as the previous generation. This was confirmed at the end of February by the information site Sammobile, which specializes in the South Korean brand. According to its source, you would therefore again have the choice between 128 GB, 256 GB and 512 GB of internal memory.
Sammobile also advances by estimating that, like the Samsung Galaxy S23 released in early February 2023, only the 128 GB model would use the UFS 3.1 flash memory standard, while the 256 and 512 GB variants would benefit from UFS 4.0. A technology which, on paper, doubles the speed of reading and writing files on internal storage compared to the Galaxy Z Flip 4.
A larger external screen than its competitors
However, the majority of leaks relayed by the specialized media for several months mainly concern the design of Samsung’s next flip smartphone. An important point, since the exterior design of the Z Flip range has not changed much since the Galaxy Z Flip 3, released in 2021.
There should therefore be changes on this Galaxy Z Flip 5, in particular for its external panel, dedicated to accessing certain functions on a smartphone even if it is folded. In early December 2022, the screen production line specialist Ross Young claimed that this screen would be “much bigger” on the next flip model, estimating this one at more than 3 inches (compared to 1.9 inches on the Z Flip 3 and 4). In response to another tweetRoss Young later clarified that corridor noises evoke a slab between 3.3 and 3.4 inches.
I said 2″ on the Flip 4. Came in a little below that at 1.9″…Hearing 3.3″-3.4″ on the Z Flip 5.
— Ross Young (@DSCCRoss) December 1, 2022
This change would not be a surprise: pioneer of clamshell folding in 2019, Samsung has since been caught up by other smartphone manufacturers on the size of this small screen, whether by the Oppo Find N2 Flip (3 .26 inches) or the Razr 2022 (2.7 inches). Samsung could therefore get to their level.
At the beginning of February 2023, it was also the turn of another leaker, Ice Universeto corroborate Ross Young’s information by claiming that the Galaxy Z Flip 5 would be “bigger than [celui] of the Oppo Find N2 Flip”. Two days later, the same leaker published a rough cut of what the smartphone “is very likely” to look like, with a screen even covering half of the exterior of the smartphone when folded.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 is very likely to be of this design. I am in further research… pic.twitter.com/1bVYOgmC0H
— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) February 22, 2023
The same week, a 3D rendering of the Motorola Razr 2023, its next competitor, showed a design almost identical to that advanced by Ice Universe for the Z Flip 5. So this suggests to us that Samsung would follow this trend of external screen the most big as possible.
A teardrop hinge without letting water through
Second very competitive design point of the clamshell folding smartphone market: the design of the hinge. This is the other subject of the Galaxy Z Flip 5 rumors. Also in December 2022, Ross Young’s tweet mentioned earlier gave another indication of the possible improvements of the next smartphone: Samsung would be working on a new hinge design “that should reduce the visibility of the screen crease.
The patent sketch of a teardrop design filed by Samsung in 2016. // Source: Samsung via Naver
The technology adopted by the current folding models of the South Korean brand indeed leaves a fairly visible trace and sensitive to the touch on the screen. Here again, its competitors have caught up with it on this point: Motorola, Oppo or Huawei offer a “teardrop” hinge design on their products which makes it possible to enormously reduce the hollow of the fold, while allowing to close completely the smartphone without leaving any space between its two halves. On the other hand, this technology seems to prevent the smartphone from being waterproof, as is the case for the Z Flip 3 and 4.
It was this hinge design that Ross Young seemed to be referring to: in two tweets from January and then February 2023, the leaker Ice Universe again echoed information from the screen specialist, giving “confirmation” according to him that the next Galaxy Z Fold and Flip 5 “will adopt teardrop-shaped hinges and support IPX8 waterproofing”.
Confirmation: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 and Flip5 will adopt water drop hinges and support IPX8 waterproof.
— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) February 24, 2023
If this information is true, the Z Flip 5 would therefore be the first smartphone in the world to opt for this hinge design while retaining the protection against water present on the two previous models. We can believe it, because the manufacturer had already filed patents on this folded screen design as early as 2016. On the other hand, like the other folding smartphones on the market, there is no indication concerning an upcoming protection against dust.
Some characteristics that we can guess
Although the other specifications of the next Samsung flip smartphone are not the subject of credible rumors or leaks at the moment, we can easily guess that certain characteristics of this next Galaxy Z Flip 5 should be similar to the technical sheets of the two models. previous ones.
Logical evolutions
The Galaxy Z Flip range has always opted for the most recent version of Android available at the time of its release, and this is likely to continue: the Galaxy Z Flip 5 could be marketed directly under the One UI 5.1 interface, based on Android 13. Like all of its new models, Samsung is also expected to deliver 4 years of major operating system updates and five of security patches.
Another development that seems likely: the transition to the Bluetooth 5.3 standard, the most recent at present.
No change if it’s still current
We can also think that the materials used on the previous Z Flip models will remain the same, although their proportions may change due to possible external screen and hinge improvements. We could therefore find a screen made of plastic, a glass back and aluminum borders.
On the screen side, AMOLED technology and the 120 Hz refresh rate are still among the best on the high-end smartphone market. We can therefore also expect the Z Flip 5 to be equipped with it.
Finally, the camera types could remain the same, with a main wide-angle module paired with an ultra-wide-angle module. Although market standards have been to integrate a triplet of cameras (wide-angle, ultra-wide-angle and telephoto) for several years, the Galaxy Z Flip 3 and 4 have not taken the plunge. Samsung seems to want to make a difference with its Galaxy Z Fold range, equipped with these three modules.
A similar price, but which could increase
If there are no rumors about it at the moment, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 could be sold at a fairly similar price, but on the increase compared to the previous model, would only be as a consequence of the increase continuing consumer prices. In addition, the increase in raw material prices and the possibly higher production cost of the hypothetical new hinge of the smartphone could also affect the selling price.
For its base model at 128 GB, we can therefore expect it to be sold between 1109 (MSRP of the Z Flip 4 when it is released) and, according to our forecast based on forecast inflation for August 2023, up to 1180 euros.
When will the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 be released?
The date of the official announcement of the Z Flip 5 is quite easy to guess since the last two Galaxy Z Flips were both presented to the public on the second Wednesday of August 2021 and 2022. So we can expect what the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 during the month of August 2023.
By making the same parallel with the last two generations of Samsung’s folding clamshell smartphone, the marketing of this smartphone also has a good chance of being effective approximately two weeks after its presentation. The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 should therefore be released around August.
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