Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 vs Galaxy Z Flip 5: Is it time to upgrade?


Intro

The next big thing in flip phones has just arrived! The official announcement of the Galaxy Z Flip 7, the next flagship flip phone from Samsung is now behind us.

With the Motorola Razr Ultra already making rounds and getting a lot of attention, Samsung needed to bring some upgrades to the table in order to compete. And most importantly, convince its long-time fans to stay inside the ecosystem.

Speaking of which, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 will be two years old soon, and people might already be on the lookout for a replacement. So, should they upgrade to the upcoming Galaxy Z Flip 7 or look elsewhere? Let’s find out!

Pre-order the Galaxy Z Flip 7 for up to $840 off

$379
99

$1219
99

$840 off (69%)

Pre-order the Galaxy Z Flip 7 at Samsung and save $120 as a free storage upgrade on the 512GB variant. On top of that, you’ll save up to $720 with eligible device trade-ins.


Pre-order at Samsung

Pre-order the Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE for up to $670 off

$289
99

$959
99

$670 off (70%)

For the first time, Samsung is expected to release a Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE alongside the flagship flip phone. Pre-order the budget flip phone at the Samsung Store and save up to $610 with eligible trade-ins. On top of that, the 256GB model is $60 off before trade-ins, helping you save up to $670.


Pre-order at Samsung

Galaxy Z Flip 7 vs Galaxy Z Flip 5 differences:

Table of Contents:

Also read:

Design and Size

Slightly bigger dimensions

Тhe Galaxy Z Flip 7 follows in the same footsteps as its predecessors, including the Galaxy Z Flip 5. The listed dimensions suggest that the new model is a tad wider to accommodate the larger main screen. We’re talking a couple of millimeters, so nothing drastic.

The design is very similar between generations but the new phone features an edge-to-edge cover screen, similar to what Motorola has been doing for some time now. Overall, the Galaxy Z Flip 7 is also thinner, Samsung boasts 6.5 mm thickness unfolded and 13.7 mm folded, making it the thinnest Samsung flip phone to date.

The weight of the Galaxy Z Flip 7 is very similar to that of its predecessors, again Galaxy Z Flip 5 included. You can check the exact dimensions and weights in the table below.

In terms of materials, there aren’t any radical changes—it’s the same glass and metal sandwich design all over again. The Galaxy Z Flip 7 features Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on its back and over its cover screen, just like the Galaxy Z Flip 5. Both phones rely on aluminum frames.

The Galaxy Z Flip 7 launched in four hues, one of which is a Samsung store exclusive. There’s a new Coral Red color, and the aforementioned exclusive color is Mint. You can see the color comparison with the Galaxy Z Flip 5 below.

Display Differences

Bigger screens all around

Samsung has brought some changes to both displays of the Galaxy Z Flip 7, compared to last generation, and, of course, compared to the Galaxy Z Flip 5. The main flexible screen has grown in size to 6.9 inches, and the cover screen now stretches edge-to-edge coming in at 4.1 inches.

In terms of brightness, the same 2600 nits of peak brightness figures are cited for the Galaxy Z Flip 7, which in turn means an upgrade from the advertised 1750 nits on the Galaxy Z Flip 5.

In our display test, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 managed only 857 nits of brightness at 100% APL, which, by 2025 standards, is average. We can’t wait to test the Galaxy Z Flip 7, but if we extrapolate from the previous generation, we should expect something in the ballpark of 1200 nits at 100% APL.

Both screens on the Galaxy Z Flip 7 are able to go up to 120 Hz, but the main one is an LTPO covering 1-120 Hz, while the cover has fixed 60/120 Hz refresh rates. The Galaxy Z Flip 5, on the other hand, can do only 60 Hz on its cover screen but features the same LTPO tech on the main display. Stay tuned for lab tests soon.

Performance and Software

Exynos makes a surprise return

Surprise, surprise! Exynos is back. The Galaxy Z Flip 7 comes with the Exynos 2500 chipset, the latest from Samsung foundries, built on a 3nm node. This is the debut of this specific silicon, so we don’t have any idea how it stacks against the Snapdragon 8 Elite.

We expected the Z Flip 7 to actually get the aforementioned Qualcomm chipset, but the surprise was real. We have to run some tests in our lab and see if Samsung has managed to close the gap to the benchmark-setting Snapdragon 8 Elite.

The RAM situation is in favor of the Galaxy Z Flip 7, the phone mimics the RAM of the previous model coming in at 12GB, which is still more than what the Galaxy Z Flip 5 has to offer, which is just 8GB of RAM.

The Galaxy Z Flip 7 launches with OneUI 8 out of the box over Android 16. In contrast, the Galaxy Z Flip 5, which is almost two years old now, was announced with OneUI 5 and Android 13 but was brought up to the latest OS with subsequent updates. 

Speaking of updates, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 will get only four years of major OS updates (two are already in the drain), while the Galaxy Z Flip 7 will be supported for seven more years, which is a huge difference in longevity. 

Camera

Main wide camera upgrades
Well, there aren’t any hardware upgrades to the camera of the Galaxy Z Flip 7, compared to the last generation. Samsung already upgraded the main camera on the Galaxy Z Flip 6, so in practice, we’ve got a better main camera on the Galaxy Z Flip 7, if we compare it to the Galaxy Z Flip 5.
The Galaxy Z Flip 5 managed a camera score of 136 overall (the current best is 158) in our test, which is not very far from its direct successor (137 for the Galaxy Z Flip 6), so we can’t wait to see how the Galaxy Z Flip 7 will fare in our lab tests.

As always, we have to keep in mind that hardware alone isn’t the deciding factor when we talk about smartphone photography, and different post-processing algorithms are in play. So, we’ll have to snap some side-by-side photos to see how the Galaxy Z Flip 7 fares against its older sibling in the camera department.

Battery Life and Charging

A substantial increase?

The Galaxy Z Flip 5 comes equipped with a 3700 mAh battery, which even at launch was a bit on the lower side. The phone managed only 5h 11m composite battery score in our test, which currently ranks it #117 in this department.

Now, the Galaxy Z Flip 7 brings a substantial upgrade (at least compared to the Z Flip 5). The battery capacity of the new flip flagship is 4300 mAh, exactly 600 mAh more than the Z Flip 5. This will inevitably lead to better battery life figures but we’ll have to test it to see the exact numbers.

Samsung seems so reluctant to upgrade the charging speeds of its phones. The Galaxy Z Flip 5 supports only 25W wired, and the Galaxy Z Flip 7 comes equipped with the same support, even after two long years between these generations. 

Specs Comparison

Summary

Even though the upgrades on the Galaxy Z Flip 7 aren’t huge compared to the previous generation, they seem to be just enough to convince people coming from older Z Flip devices to upgrade.

Next to the Galaxy Z Flip 5, the new model offers a better main camera, bigger inner and cover screens, a larger battery and potentially better battery life, new Exynos silicon, and the latest software with seven long years of support.

We will update this comparison with all the tests, benchmarks, camera samples, and display scores once we finish testing the Galaxy Z Flip 7, so stay tuned for the final verdict.



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