Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 review: Plenty to love still one thing to loathe

This new Flip4 foldable is now faster, more robust and will take better pictures via the dual-lens camera plus there’s improved wireless charging and more functionality from the mini Cover Display on the case.

The big question is… is it really worth £1,000 of your hard-earned cash? Express.co.uk has been putting it through its paces and here’s our full review.

The new Z Flip4 looks almost identical to last year’s Flip3 but that’s no bad thing. You still get the two-tone coloured case that’s covered in tough Gorilla Glass Victus. There’s also the mini Cover Screen on the front which is now improved with more widgets and useful glances at your notifications – you can even make calls, reply to texts and control your home’s smart devices without ever opening the phone.

A slimmer hinge makes things look neater and it’s launching in some new colours including Bora Purple, Pink Gold and Blue – plus there’s the option to design your own style via the Bespoke Edition service.

Samsung is promising that the durability has been improved slightly this year which should mean it survives years of being stuffed in your pocket. We’ve been using our review device for a couple of weeks and it certainly seems to be made of pretty sturdy stuff and, so far, our device still looks box fresh despite heavy usage.

These are all nice updates but it’s not a major overhaul and it’s pretty hard to tell old from new.

So that’s the design but what about that flexible display?

Throw open the screen and you’ll be treated to an expansive 6.7-inch screen with an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate. That means you get a silky smooth experience without it taking a massive dent out of the battery.

Like all Samsung displays the Z Flip4 looks sublime with blacks appearing rich and colours looking vibrant. The fact this stunning screen folds neatly in half still blows our mind and there’s no question that this technology is incredibly clever.

However, we have to be careful about getting too carried away with this gimmick as we do have one huge niggle with the Flip4. Samsung still hasn’t managed to iron out the horrible crease that sits slap bang in the middle of the screen. Watch Netflix in a dark room and you won’t notice it but start getting a daylight reflection on the display and it stands out like a very sore thumb.

This is also a very tall panel which makes it hard to use one-handed and also looks a bit odd when watching movies as the action doesn’t fill the whole area.

It’s not perfect but we’re still bamboozled by how Samsung creates these foldable screens and there’s no denying that the Flip’s unique design is way more exciting than all of its rivals.

There’s some good news about the battery tucked inside the Z Flip4 as it’s not only bigger than the Flip3 (up from 3,300 to 3,700mAh) but can be charged more quickly. That combined with the efficiency of the new Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset ensures you get a decent amount of time between charges.

We’ve easily managed to get through a day without going near a plug and our video tests have also been impressive with two hours of streaming on YouTube sucking just 15 percent out of the battery.

That quicker refilling means it’s able to go from flat to 50 percent in just 30 minutes. Of course, you will need to buy a powerful plug to use this feature as, like all new Samsung phones, the Flip4 only ships with a USB-C lead and no charger in the box.

One final thing to note about this device is that, just like the Flip3, it’s fully compatible with wireless charging so you can pop it on any Qi pad for a hassle-free top-up.

Tucked under the glass and metal case of the Galaxy Z Flip4 is the cutting-edge new Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 system-on-a-chip, which offers supreme performance whilst also being incredibly efficient.

Qualcomm’s latest processor brings big gains over the older Snapdragon 888, which can be found inside last year’s Galaxy Z Flip 3, and makes switching between apps, running resource-intensive games, and multitasking feels much more fluid. In fact, this new brain is around four times faster than Qualcomm’s older chipset and can also handle much more intensive graphics all without hurting battery life.

It’s a great update from Samsung and means the Flip4 really is future-proofed for years of Android updates.

Along with the new Qualcomm brains, the Galaxy Z Flip 4 also gets some big improvements to the dual-lens rear camera with this phone now able to shoot much brighter images especially when the sun goes.

The two 12MP cameras, which include the main lens and ultra-wide option, also get enhanced Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS) for shake-free photos and smoother video capture. OIS also promises to improve night photography, when the shutter is open for much longer and any wobble can result in a blurry image.

There are some other clever features including the option to automatically keep everyone in the frame when shooting hands-free selfie videos – something also made possible thanks to the clever design which allows the phone to stand up on its own.

We’re still fully testing the Z Flip 4 camera and will update this review in the coming days but here are some early test shots taken on the phone.

There are plenty of nice extras on the Z Flip4 including a fast side-mounted fingerprint scanner, loud speakers and full access to speedy 5G network technology which allows you to whizz movies and files to the device at speeds in excess of 300Mbps.

The new hinge, which has been redesigned from the ground up, allows you to open this phone like a laptop, so that it can be propped up for the perfect selfie or so the handset can stand on its own when you’re watching a YouTube video. It works really well and stiffness in the hinge means it can be moved to any position that takes your fancy.

Sadly, there’s no microSD card slot and we’d probably have preferred the fingerprint reader to be tucked under the screen but these are small niggles on what is otherwise a feature-packed phone.

The Galaxy Z Flip4 is certainly not a bargain. Prices start from £999 for the 128GB model and rise to £1,199 for the version with 512GB of storage. As we mentioned earlier, there’s no microSD slot so it’s vital you choose the model carefully before hitting the buy button.

To ease the pain, Samsung is offering some generous trade-in deals when you hand over your old phone and there’s a year of Disney+ for anyone who buys the Flip 4 before August 25.

It is worth noting that the Z Flip3 is now £100 less than the Flip4 and expect some even better deals on this older device when its newer sibling hits shelves this Friday.