Galaxy Z Fold 4 Review
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 has a lot to live up to. While we awarded the Galaxy Z Fold 3 the title of 'best foldable phone' when it launched, the bending-mobile market has become a lot busier since then, and the next version will need to really impress us if Samsung is to keep the title.
Since the Fold 3 debuted we've seen the Oppo Find N, Honor Magic V perfect the formula with less prominent screen folds and better specs, and so we'll need to be very impressed by the Z Fold 4 whenever it debuts.
This is expected to be Samsung's next foldable phone, likely debuting alongside the Z Flip 4 if 2021's pattern is to be followed, and the next member of the Fold series of smartphones that unfold into mini-tablets.
Despite the fact it'll likely come out in August, we've already heard a few Galaxy Z Fold 4 leaks, and you can find them below as well as our wish-list of what the phone could be like.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 release date and price
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 will probably be announced in August 2022, with a release either later in the month or in early September. We say that because both the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 were announced in August of their release years, hitting stores at least several weeks later.
However, as there aren’t any release date rumors yet we can’t be certain Samsung will stick to that schedule, especially as the original Samsung Galaxy Fold was unveiled in February 2019. Though that didn’t actually hit stores until September either, so we’d say an August announcement is very likely.
The price is something we can only really guess at for now, but the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 starts at $1,799 / £1,599 / AU$2,499. That’s actually slightly less than the previous model cost, and given that Samsung’s foldables are almost always criticized for their prices, we’d think the Z Fold 4 will either have a similar price or be slightly more affordable, in order to head off criticism.
Indeed, one source has specifically said the Galaxy Z Fold 4 will be cheaper, but they didn't say how much by.
News and leaks
The biggest Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 leak so far points to it having a 7.56-inch main screen and a 6.19-inch cover display, which would make for very similar sizes to the Galaxy Z Fold 3.
The same sources also claim that it will have a slot for the S Pen stylus, and that the design will otherwise be similar to the Z Fold 3's, with a focus instead on improving the durability.
Another source has also since said the phone will have a slot for the S Pen stylus, as well as using tougher glass, and having significantly improved cameras.
Elsewhere, we've heard that production of the S Pen stylus began in April 2022, which suggests Samsung is building a lot of them, so that's further evidence that it will come with the phone as standard.
One early leak suggested that Samsung will equip the Galaxy Z Fold 4 with an under-display camera, just like the Galaxy Z Fold 3, but that this time it will be less visible under the screen, and it will also apparently be able to take better photos.
This has been backed up by another leak which suggests the phone will have not one but two under-display snappers, presumably one for the main display and another under the smaller cover screen.
This latter source adds that the battery will be bigger, the hinge will receive a redesign to make it lighter and more dust- and waterproof, and also the phone will come with similar snappers to the Galaxy S22.
Indeed, more recently we've heard that it will have the same 10MP 3x optical zoom camera as the Galaxy S22, which would be an upgrade on the 12MP 2x zoom one on the Z Fold 3. There's also talk that the Galaxy Z Fold 4 could borrow the 108MP main camera that's found in the Galaxy S22 Ultra.
A patent application spotted by LetsGoDigital also suggests the upcoming foldable might have an under-display fingerprint scanner.
But this would be no ordinary under-display fingerprint scanner, it would be a double-sided one that would sit between the cover screen and the main screen, so you could unlock the phone from either using the same hardware. As ever with patents though we'd take this with a pinch of salt.
Beyond that we haven’t heard anything about the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4, but we’ll add to this section as soon as we do.
1. A lower price
We say this every year, but the Galaxy Z Fold range is just too expensive for most people. It’s understandable that the price is high given the tech involved, but we’d like to see Samsung try and push it down.
The good news is that the company seems to be doing that, as the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 was a little cheaper than the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2, so hopefully Samsung will repeat that trick with the Galaxy Z Fold 4.
Ultimately, we’d like to see these phones not cost any more than top-end conventional smartphones do, but we suspect that’s at least a few years away still.
2. Better cameras
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 is a top-class phone in so many ways, but its cameras don’t come close to those on the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra and some other Samsung handsets.
Given how much we’re paying for these phones we’d like to see that change on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4. Rather than the 2x optical zoom on the current model we want 10x like the S21 Ultra offers, along ideally with an extra lens for 3x zoom.
While that’s our biggest camera complaint, we’d like to see the other snappers improved too, especially the Galaxy Z Fold 3’s 4MP under-display one, which is a neat trick but feels half-baked.
3. Improved battery life
One thing all foldable phones seem to struggle with is battery capacity, as they tend to have batteries that are at most a match for standard smartphones, despite typically having much bigger screens.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 for example has a 4,400mAh battery, which would be an average size at best for a non-foldable phone, but with two displays, one of which is 7.6 inches, it doesn’t go super far here.
Its life isn’t terrible, but in our tests it was generally less than a day with moderate use, so there’s plenty of room for improvement. Therefore, we want to see a bigger battery and longer life with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4.
4. S Pen support for the front screen
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 is the first Samsung foldable with support for the S Pen stylus, and this is a big addition, as it helps you get the most out of its massive screen. But the S Pen is only compatible with the large main display, not the smaller secondary screen.
This isn’t a huge problem given that the expansive main screen is where it’s likely to be most useful, but once people have a stylus there will surely be times when they’ll want to use it on the other screen too, and at 6.2 inches this display isn’t that tiny.
So for the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 we want to see stylus support included for both screens, so that users don’t have to switch between the stylus and their digits so often.
5. Add an S Pen slot
While our main complaint about the stylus implementation on the Galaxy Z Fold 3 is simply that it doesn’t work on the secondary screen, we’re also a little disappointed that there’s no slot for it in the phone.
That means you either have to use a case with a slot built in (limiting your case options) or risk losing the S Pen. While there are certainly downsides to including a slot (it takes up extra space in the phone for one), we think that if Samsung is serious about stylus support then one should be added, especially if we don’t get any more Galaxy Notes.
source:techradar