Tech Tested Galaxy Z Fold4 | Expensive tour de force

In its fourth iteration, the Galaxy Z Fold4 is more polished than ever, with its 120Hz screens, quality rear cameras and more power. But paying over $2,000 for a somewhat clumsy phone that becomes a tablet when unfolded seems like overkill.

Karim Benessaieh
The Press

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It’s been three years since Samsung stunned us with its first foldable phone, which we called at the time “the most exciting new thing in the smartphone industry in a long time”. And even though it is an expensive niche product, the South Korean manufacturer has announced that it has sold more than 10 million in 2021.

The concept is still the same for the Galaxy Z Fold4, but improved. When it’s folded, you’ve got a full Android phone with a 6.2-inch screen – the first version only had 4.6. When unfolded, on the other side is a 7.6-inch AMOLED mini-tablet, compatible with Samsung’s stylus, the S Pen, with a 120Hz refresh rate and 376 ppi resolution that will make delight to video gamers and movie buffs.

Some apps, including those made by Google and Samsung, automatically switch from the simple front screen to the unfolded mini-tablet. The transfer doesn’t go through correctly every time, however, with our videos on YouTube, for example, tending to break off.

What do you do with a foldable mini-tablet? Samsung engineers have had a field day here. For example, you can take a photo and see the subject in the upper part, while the settings are displayed at the bottom. We can display on the external screen what the lenses capture, allowing our subject to see the result himself. You can display two or three applications at the same time, but then you run the risk of only seeing part of the content.

These capabilities take power, and the Galaxy Z Fold4 is well equipped in this regard, with its Snapdragon 8+Gen 1 chip. Here’s what the Geekbench 5 benchmarking software thinks. With the exception of the REDMAGIC 7S Pro , it beats every Android phone we tested.

When it comes to photos, this phone got Samsung’s ultimate, with a 50MP wide-angle, 12MP ultra-wide-angle, and 3x optical zoom telephoto lens on the back. 10MP.

The photos obtained have very rich colors, especially for skin textures, as well as an impressive level of detail. In low light, however, the Z Fold4 left us wanting more and its ability to manage contrast is average.

On the front, the camera offers 10 MP. In mini-tablet format, we have hidden a 4 MP lens under the screen.

Water resistance is rated IPX8, like its predecessor Fold3, being able to be submerged in 1.5m of water for 30 minutes. But don’t overdo it: it’s “not recommended for pool or beach use”, says Samsung, and “not dust resistant”.

For unlocking, we added a fingerprint reader fused to the power button on the side. We can also use facial recognition, but we found it capricious: it does not recognize us one time out of three.

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Folded, this phone is 15.8mm thick, twice that of the recent iPhone 14, and weighs 268g. He is clumsy.

At $2269.99 for the model with 512GB of storage and 12GB of RAM – the one with 256GB is sold out – this phone is very expensive.

Many applications designed for a phone do not have a format adapted to the internal screen, which has the configuration of a tablet.

One buys ?

Obviously, at this price and with this ability to transform into a mini-tablet, the Galaxy Z Fold4 is not for everyone. We could also buy a high-end phone and tablet with that much money, but they will not be foldable, it must be admitted.

Does the concept appeal to you? It’s up to you to decide if this amazing hybrid can be useful to you. As far as we are concerned, the proof is not yet made. But one thing is certain, it is well designed and impeccable on the software side.