Galaxy Z Fold 4 hands-on: Samsung's maturity test

With the Galaxy Z Fold 4, Samsung sharpens the larger of the two new foldables. The screen bezels are narrower, the hinge protrudes less, the cameras have been improved, the latest Qualcomm processor is moving in, and the software is even more capable of multitasking. The fourth generation looks quite mature.

Table of Contents

1. 1 Samsung reduces the screen borders
   1. Bigger Outer display
2. Second generation UDC
3. New cameras like the Galaxy S22 and S22+
4. Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1
5. Android 12L with taskbar
   1. 5 years of Android updates
6. Market launch on August 26 from 1,799 Euro

Hard to believe that Samsung has already arrived at the fourth generation of foldable smartphones. While the first generation was more of a prototype for users keen to experiment, buyers have received a solid smartphone that can even be submerged since the Galaxy Z Fold 3 at the latest. The Galaxy Z Fold 4 continues these gradual improvements and impressively shows how a still relatively new product category can change and improve in just a few years. >Samsung reduces the screen borders

The Galaxy Z Fold 4 is more evolution than revolution, but all in all the many small changes result in a relatively big step forward. Samsung has given the two screens a new format that results from slightly different dimensions and narrower display edges. At 155 instead of 158 mm when open, the Galaxy Z Fold 4 is less wide, but at 130 instead of 128 mm it is slightly higher and each half is 0.1 mm thinner. In addition, Samsung has reduced the inner edges of the screen all around, resulting in a new resolution of 2,176 × 1,812 instead of 2,208 × 1,768 pixels, with the diagonal remaining the same at 7.6 inches. An adapted coating of the panel should make it 45 percent more resistant compared to the Galaxy Z Fold 3. Samsung once again relies on Ultra Thin Glass from Schott.

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Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 hands-on

Larger outer display

The new hinge is more compact and protrudes a little less far from the left of the device when closed. Appropriately, Samsung has found more space for the outer display. The screen remains at 6.2 inches, but now has 2,316 × 904 instead of 2,260 × 832 pixels. The front and back of the smartphone are protected by Gorilla Glass Victus+ instead of the normal Victus variant, the frame and hinge are made of “Armor Aluminum”. As before, both AMOLED panels support a dynamic refresh rate of 1 to 120 Hz, can display HDR10+ and can be operated with an optionally available S Pen, for which there are also special cases for smartphones and stylus as well as with a kickstand in the Surface Design gives.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 hands-on

< h2 class="text-width text-h2" id="section_udc_of_the_second_generation">Second generation UDC

The Galaxy Z Fold 4 is equipped with a total of five cameras, three of them on the back, one as a circular recess in the outer display and the fifth sensor again as an under-display camera (UDC) in the inner panel. The second-generation UDC comes with the same technical specifications with 4 MP and f/1.8, but the new scatter-type sub-pixel arrangement is supposed to hide the camera even better in the panel. When the smartphone was first tried out, the sensor was actually hardly recognizable, but no statement can be made about the previously rather problematic quality. The outer display uses the same 10 MP camera as last year.

New cameras like the Galaxy S22 and S22+

The back is again adorned with three cameras, including two new ones for wide-angle and telephoto as well as the ultra-wide-angle camera known from the previous year. The primary camera practically corresponds to the structure of the Galaxy S22 and S22+ and offers larger pixels (2.0 vs. 1.8 μm) after pixel binning from native 50 to effectively 12.5 MP, while features such as aperture (f/1.8 ), dual pixel AF or the OIS were adopted. The new telephoto with 10 instead of 12 MP climbs from a focal length of 53 to 70 mm, and the hybrid zoom now enables a magnification of 30x instead of 20x. The ultra wide-angle camera again covers 123 degrees FoV and works with 12 MP with 1.12 μm pixels.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1

Under the hood, the smartphone with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 makes a big leap forward after the Snapdragon 888 was previously installed. The Galaxy Z Fold 4 is also only offered with Qualcomm processors, Exynos variants are not planned for any region. The Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 is based on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, for which full details can be found in the announcement article. The Plus variant is manufactured by TSMC (N4) instead of Samsung (4LPE), offers up to 30 percent better efficiency and higher CPU and GPU performance than the basic model. Samsung always combines the chip with 12 GB LPDDR5 and, depending on the model, 256 GB, 512 GB or 1 TB of memory. The largest memory configuration is reserved for Samsung's online shop, the smaller models will be available in stores throughout Germany.

Android 12L with taskbar

On the software side, Samsung relies on Android 12L, which has been optimized for smartphones with large and foldable screens. The manufacturer puts its own One UI 4.1.1 on it, which is characterized above all by a new taskbar, which was previously only available as an experimental feature. The taskbar always appears automatically as soon as you switch from the home screen to an app. Additional apps can be dragged to the different areas of the inner screen via the taskbar. The up to four windows can be individually adjusted in size without specifications and optionally supplemented by several floating windows.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 hands-on

Cooperation with Google and Microsoft ensures that a selection of their apps has also been optimized for the Galaxy Z Fold 4. Chrome and Gmail support drag-and-drop to move links, photos, and other content from one app to another. Google Meet also offers a view optimized for the foldable screen. The same applies to the entire Office suite from Microsoft and the Outlook app.

5 years of Android updates

Like all Samsung smartphones, the Galaxy Z Fold 4 comes with a four-year update promise for new Android major versions and five years for Android security patches.

Market start on August 26 from 1,799 euros

The Galaxy Z Fold 4's starting price of €1,799 is in line with last year's level for the 256 GB model. The configuration with 512 GB costs 1,919 euros and with 1 TB (exclusive to Samsung) the price increases to 2,159 euros. The smartphone will be available from August 26 in the colors “Graygreen”, “Beige” and “Phantom Black”, and the color “Burgundy” is also available exclusively from Samsung in the shop. Samsung is accepting pre-orders from today until August 25 and is offering one year of Samsung Care+ free of charge.

Galaxy Z Fold 4 (Image: Samsung)

ComputerBase received information about this item from Samsung under NDA at a manufacturer event in London. The costs for arrival, departure and hotel were borne by Samsung. There was no influence on the part of the manufacturer or an obligation to report. The only requirement was the earliest possible publication date.

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