Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 Review – The Foldable Everyone’s Talking About

Just a few short weeks ago, Samsung unveiled its latest range of foldable devices. The annual event sees Samsung unveil both the Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip smartphones each year. August has traditionally been the month of its annual event, with Samsung opting for a slightly earlier launch in July for the second consecutive year. It was clear this time around that the focus was mainly on the power of AI, as well as the design, which features thinner frames on both the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 and the Z Fold 7. 

It does feel like a case of déjà vu, however, with a similar themed announcement for the previous foldable Galaxy Z range in 2024. How much difference has a year made, then, in the world of foldables? Having spent a few weeks with the Galaxy Z Flip 7, I take a closer look beyond its thin frame and whether it’s truly worth the upgrade. 

The Galaxy Z Flip 7 Design Is Compact, Stylish, and Clicky

The Samsung foldable range boasts one of the best hinge technologies among all foldables. Shy of all the empirical evidence, you could argue that it’s probably the best around. This is for both the Flip and Fold devices. Samsung continues to improve on this with each iteration, increasing the durability while also aiding the mechanism’s ease of movement. As an owner of the Fidget Cube myself, I occasionally have a habit of using clicking and snapping devices to ease tension when needed. The snap of the Flip 7 hinge and its closing mechanism provide similar relief, causing me to stop myself at times from being carried away. It just feels so crisp. 

For the first time reviewing one of these foldable smartphones, I picked up some dust within the hinges. This caused a temporary irritation when opening and closing the phone. Having noticed it, I easily cleaned the affected area and continued as usual thereafter. I was a bit concerned at first about how easily it would be to clean, but a simple wipe and a quick blow fixed it. 

In its smartphone configuration (unfolded), the Galaxy Z Flip 7 measures 166.7 x 75.2 x 6.5 mm. In total, this is 0.4mm taller, just under 4mm broader and 0.4mm thinner. When folded, it measures 85.5 x 75.2 x 13.7 mm. Both folded and unfolded, it has impressive dimensions. With the added size, the total weight has only increased by 1g overall—a relatively small price to pay for larger real estate. 

The range of foldables has always looked the part, and that continues with the Flip 7, featuring an aluminium frame. The range was launched in four primary colours, including Blue Shadow, Jet Black, Coral Red and Mint. Overall, it still looks as sleek as ever, with a premium material finish. 

Screen Talk: Bigger, Brighter, and Almost Seamless

With a slightly broader and taller frame, Samsung has increased the screen size of the Galaxy Z Flip 7 from 6.7″ to 6.9″. It’s not a hugely significant change, but still a welcome one. It also features an increase in screen-to-body ratio to 88.7%, a 3% jump. Interestingly, despite an improved screen size, Samsung made the unusual decision to decrease the display’s resolution. Using a 1,080×2,520px display, its pixel density has decreased from 426 ppi to 397 ppi. This won’t bother the average user and isn’t easily visible even to professionals, but it is worth noting. 

The remaining specifications of the main screen remain essentially unchanged. It features a foldable Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X screen, which includes a 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10+ support and peak brightness of 2,600 nits. 

The most significant change on the screens is the cover screen, with a larger size and updated features. Its size has increased to 4.1″, refresh rate doubled to 120Hz, 40% increase in brightness to 2,600 nits, improved resolution to 948×1,048px with Gorilla Glass Victus 2. 

Furthermore, Samsung introduced its FlexWindow. After years of continued pressure from fans of the brand to increase the cover screen and make it fully functional, Samsung has finally done so. However, its default FlexWindow, while adding some useful features, doesn’t fulfil this requirement. To unlock the feature, navigate through the settings menu. With a 13-step process involved, many users won’t even be aware of the capability unless they’ve read about it in a review or online how-to guides. Strangely, the feature is available, yet it is not readily accessible to toggle on or off. 

With each iteration of foldable smartphones, the crease becomes increasingly less noticeable. For the most part, when in use, you barely notice that it’s there, especially when viewed straight on. You’d need to view it from specific angles with light hitting it a certain way before you notice the crease across the middle of the screen at the fold. Even to touch, it no longer has the noticeable indent that was present in previous iterations. 

Specs That Pack a Punch: Power, Storage, and Chips

Possibly the most notable change in this year’s Galaxy range has been Samsung’s return to the Exynos processor on the Flip 7 smartphone. The Exynos 2500 (3nm) features an Octa-core CPU – x1 3.3GHz Cortex-X5, x2 2.74GHz Cortex-A725, x5 2.36GHz Cortex-A725 and x2 1.8GHz Cortex-A520. This is paired with an Xclipse 950 GPU. 

There are two models available. This includes 256GB and 512GB options, both of which are paired with 12GB of RAM. The device comes installed with Android 16 and Samsung’s One UI 8, which includes support for up to 7 major Android upgrades.  

Unfortunately, not much has changed in the way of the camera configuration. The hardware features the same dual-lens camera, which includes a 50MP primary camera with an f/1.8 aperture, a 23mm (wide) lens, a 1/1.57″ sensor, a 1.0µm pixel size, dual pixel PDAF, and OIS. This is paired with a 12MP ultrawide lens with an f/2.2 aperture, a 13mm focal length, a 123˚ field of view, a 1/3.2″ sensor, and a 1.12µm pixel size. The change from a camera perspective is primarily driven by software upgrades rather than any hardware improvements. 

Its battery also features a small bump, now featuring a Li-Po 4,300mAh battery. Its charging capabilities have not changed; however, it features 25W wired recharge, 15W wireless charging, and supports 4.5W reverse wireless charging. 

Battery Life: Small Gains, Big Questions

When it comes to overall performance, the Exynos chipset delivers quite easily on your daily tasks and similar tasks. However, it is somewhat lower in benchmarks compared to the Qualcomm Snapdragon variant. For most users, you won’t encounter any specific performance issues during daily use, even when loading over 100 tabs in Chrome, watching YouTube videos over WiFi, and switching between apps effortlessly. 

Additionally, it’s also less efficient, putting a bit more strain on the battery performance than its predecessors. Despite its increased 300mAh battery capacity, it lacks the same longevity in terms of uptime. While you won’t be desperately reaching for the charger halfway through the day, it’s not quite the same as having a nearly two-day battery life, as many other modern smartphones do. 

One UI 8 & AI: Samsung Gets Smarter

Although it was up for debate in earlier years, Samsung’s One UI experience has become something of a mainstay. With its easy-to-use UI, added features in the drop-down menus, and even the inclusion of DeX, there’s always something to love about Samsung’s Android firmware. As mentioned in the introduction, a significant portion of its UI is designed to facilitate easy access to its AI capabilities. This blends a mix of Samsung and Google AI options for its users. 

From the Edge panel, users can enjoy easy access to apps such as AI Select, Sketch to Image, Interpreter and can even customise the overall layout. Additionally, Samsung continues to offer a whole host of AI editing features. The brand still offers one of the best native AI editing capabilities for photos, allowing users to clean the image, remove objects and add elements to the result. 

The Z Flip 7 features more AI features than previous Samsung Galaxy smartphones. This is most likely due to being one of the first devices to offer Samsung’s OneUI 8 firmware. Added AI features include nifty camera tricks, new AI photo editing capabilities, allowing users to move subjects around, and utilising AI to fill in the background. With Google’s AI integration, users also have the option to use Gemini on search and Gemini Live, which can be accessed directly from the FlexWindow. 

These features have become an integral part of the experience, something we’ve come to expect and use almost daily. 

Should You Upgrade? Galaxy Z Flip 7 Verdict

This is always a weighted question when it comes to smartphones that receive annual updates – a common occurrence with most brands and series these days. For first-time Flip or foldable buyers, there’s a lot to love about the features and novelty of foldable screen technology. From the various app usage, which has matured since its first release, to the compact frame, in which Samsung always manages to find a few millimetres to shave off. However, if you’re an owner of the previous Galaxy Z Flip 6 smartphone, this may not be a significant enough iteration for you to consider making the switch. 

Pricing starts at R24,999 for the standard Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7, and R18,499 for the FE variant. These prices aren’t too dissimilar from those of the 2024 release, making for excellent value year-over-year.

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