As it stands, we still need to do some more testing before we’re ready to deliver our full review, but my guess would be that the biggest improvement to the Galaxy Z Flip 4 will be in the area of battery life. That’d be thanks to the more efficient Snapdragon 8+ Gen1 chipset and the slightly bigger 3700mah cell (vs 3300mah on the Flip 3). That might not seem like much, but it might help the Flip 4 get to you through a full day of use – something that the Flip 3 struggled to do.
The rest of the changes to the Flip 4 are small refinements over the previous generation but won’t necessarily make the experience of using the Flip any different. You can find out more in our Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 Hands-on Review.
What I’d like to focus on in this story are a few conflicting ideas such as my opinion that the Galaxy Z Flip 4 is the foldable phone that makes more sense (compared to the Fold 4), but still doesn’t seem to be as good of a value, and as compact and as affordable as it’s supposed to be. Especially when compared to some slab phones on the market…
Let’s take a look…
Galaxy Z Flip 4: Is it as compact as you really need it to be?
The Galaxy Z Flip 4 size compared to the iPhone 13 mini, Asus Zenfone 9, and Galaxy S22 when unfolded.
To make one thing clear, from a long-term perspective, the Galaxy Z Flip 4 or clamshell foldables as a whole, make more sense than the Fold 4 or foldable mini tablets, which might eventually be replaced by something more practical like rollable phones.
However, this doesn’t mean that it’s the compact phone of your dreams, and you realize that when you put it next to an iPhone 13 mini, which is a phone that’s designed to be light, compact, and used with one hand at all times.
On the contrary, the Galaxy Z Flip 4’s primary focus seems to be pocketability. While it’s certainly one of the most pocketable phones around, I’d argue its overall volume would still be more noticeable when in your pocket compared to something like a mini iPhone or even the Asus Zenfone 9. The Galaxy Z Flip 4 is basically a taller version of a big flagship phone when it’s unfolded, which goes against the idea of the whole… compactness factor.
The Z Flip 4 (187g) is also significantly heavier compared to other compact phones like the Asus Zenfone 9 (169g), Samsung’s own Galaxy S22 (167g), and especially the iPhone 13 mini (141g). In my experience of switching from a Pixel 6 Pro to an iPhone 13 mini, I could say that wight plays a big role when it comes to portability, pocketability and prolonged one-handed use.
The Galaxy Flip 4 is still too expensive for a phone with (almost) zero flagship features and a niche-ish audience
There are compact phones with more flagship features.
Now, despite being much less technically impressive than the Fold, the Flip is by far the most popular foldable phone on the market if we look at sales figures, and make no mistake – pricing has a lot to do with that. Compared to the Galaxy Z Fold 4, which will start at $1,800 in the US, the Flip 4 looks sensibly priced, at “only” $1,000. However, that’s very far from making it “affordable”.
This time around, both the Fold 4 and the Flip 4 will actually be getting more expensive in some markets outside the US, like in the UK, where Samsung’s new foldables will cost £50 more compared to their predecessors. Inflation might be to blame, although the price hike does feel a bit unfair to British buyers, given the fact that prices in the US are staying the same.
The Galaxy Z Flip 4 carries a flagship price but no flagship features?
But the biggest concern with the Flip 4’s price seems to be that this seemingly niche-ish device that’s compact only when it’s in your pocket is that phones like the Galaxy S22 Ultra, iPhone 14 Pro, and Google Pixel 7 Pro exist or… will exist.
The Flip 4 won’t give you the best camera system on the market, the biggest battery, the fastest charging, the best display, or the best… anything really. And that’s a lot of sacrifices to make for a phone that’s just compact in your pocket and still feels like a normal (big) phone when you use it in its unfolded form.
Why wouldn’t you get the latest, greatest, and most durable Samsung phone out there, which now costs just as much? Or the best iPhone? Or the best Pixel? Although, I do have strong reservations when it comes to recommending Google phones which we haven’t tested extensively.
Galaxy Z Flip sales figures are positive, but the Flip is still a tough sale: Can Samsung do something about it?
How about a cheaper Flip?
It was a few months ago when we first heard rumors about a more budget-oriented Galaxy phone that folds. That makes me question whether Samsung should turn the Flip into a more affordable mid-range device in order to make it more appealing to the masses. Isn’t that the entire goal of the Flip, at least as of right now, anyway?
Perhaps Samsung can make the Galaxy Z Flip A / Galaxy Z Flip Lite out of hard plastic rather than Gorilla Glass; use a mid-range Qualcomm chip, and do away with some RAM in order to get the Flip down to $700. This would make it much more appealing to the masses and maybe even make me view it from a different perspective, and not as a device that’s competing with the Pro and Ultra flagships.
For now, and for me, the big challenge when it comes to getting fully on board with the flagship-priced and compact Galaxy Z Flip 4 is that it isn’t really a flagship phone, and it’s not all that compact when unfolded. But that’s not to say that there isn’t an audience for it.
In the end, not everyone needs a set of flagship cameras, and perhaps many will like the fact that unfolding the Flip gives you a properly big screen on which you can enjoy content. In fact, I know two people who’ve already asked me about the Flip 3 and will certainly be interested in the new Flip 4 – my mum and aunt. So, despite my own reservations, the love for the Flip is real.
Speaking of reservations, you can pre-order the brand new Galaxy Z Flip 4 now , and enjoy a great deal of discounts, including incredible trade-in options. Samsung has some of the best trade-in deals I’ve ever seen. I’ll give them that.
