The Galaxy Z Flip is constructed with an aluminum frame, and -thick "ultra-thin glass" with a plastic layer similar to the Galaxy Fold, manufactured by Samsung with materials from Schott AG, which is "produced using an intensifying process to enhance its flexibility and durability", and injected with a "special material up to an undisclosed depth to achieve a consistent hardness"; conventional Gorilla Glass is used for the back panels. The Z Flip is the first foldable smartphone to use a glass display, while previous foldable phones such as the Motorola Razr and the Galaxy Fold have used plastic displays. Using a glass display results in a more durable screen, and reduces the screen crease in the folding point. The hinge mechanism is now strengthened with nylon fibers designed to keep dust out; Samsung rated the fold mechanism as supporting up to 200,000 uses. The device comes in 3 colors, Mirror Purple, Mirror Black and Mirror Gold; color availability may vary depending on country or carrier. The Z Flip will also be available in a Limited EditionThom Browne model, featuring a red, white, and blue stripe on a gray base.
Hardware
The device uses a clamshell design to conceal a 6.7" Dynamic AMOLED display which supports HDR10+. The screen has a circular cutout at the top of the display for the front-facing camera. The exterior features a small 1.1" external display adjacent to the camera module, which can display the time, date and battery status, interact with notifications, answer phone calls and act as a viewfinder. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 855+ SoC and Adreno 640 GPU are utilized, with 8 GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 256 GB of non-expandable UFS 3.0 storage. It uses two batteries which have a total capacity of 3300 mAh, and can be recharged over USB-C at up to 15W wired or wirelessly via Qi. The power button is embedded in the frame and doubles as the fingerprint sensor, with the volume rocker located above. A dual camera setup is present on the rear with a 12 MP primary sensor and a 12 MP ultrawide sensor, while the front-facing camera is 10 MP.
Software
The Z Flip is pre-installed with Android 10 and Samsung's One UI 2 skin. Split-screen functionality, called "Flex mode" is supported with certain apps like YouTube and Google Duo.
Reception
The Z Flip was met with mixed to positive reviews at launch. Sascha Segan of PC Magazine gave the Z Flip a 3/5, stating that "the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip is the first folding phone to really work, but it's still a costly and potentially fragile fashion object rather than a mainstream hit". Jessica Dolcourt of CNET gave the Z Flip a 7.9/10, calling it "a cohesive device that's easy to pick up and use right away". Praise was directed towards the flagship hardware, form factor, software/UI, display and camera, while criticism went to the price, size of the cover display and perceived overall fragility. Dolcourt called Flex Mode "the most unique, interesting and effective feature by far", while noting that battery life was just average and most multimedia was incompatible with the device's aspect ratio, resulting in pillarboxing. Dieter Bohn of The Verge gave the Z Flip a 6/10, concluding that "as with it is more of an expensive experiment than a real product anybody should buy". Bohn praised the performance and hinge design, but was critical of the price and cameras, noting that the screen’s plastic covering was still susceptible to scratches. Chris Velazco of Engadget gave the Z Flip a 78, praising the form factor, performance and cameras while criticizing the cover display and overall fragility. iFixit gave the device a repairability score of 2/10.
