Samsung has managed to make folding phones feel quite old—in a good way. It feels like it was just yesterday that the company showed off its first-ever folding phone. But it was actually 2019, and we’re already at the fourth generation of foldables.
At today’s second annual Galaxy Unpacked event, Samsung unboxed the Galaxy Z Flip 4 and Galaxy Z Fold 4, which bring more refinements than ever to a still nascent category. Joining the pair are the Galaxy Watch5 and Watch5 Pro, two new smartwatches powered by Google’s Wear OS, and the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro wireless earbuds.
Here, we break down what’s new with all of these devices, which officially go on sale on August 26. If you’re already enticed, you can preorder them today.
Galaxy Z Flip 4 and Galaxy Z Fold 4
If you were expecting a new style of folding phone today, or even a new look, you’ll be disappointed: Samsung is sticking with the tried and true design of previous Galaxy Flip and Galaxy Fold phones, though this is far from a bad thing.
The Z Flip 4 ($1,000), like its predecessors, is Samsung’s most popular foldable. It’s like a normal phone, but you can fold it in half like a clamshell—a boon to anyone who hates how massive phones have become over the years. The book-shaped Z Fold 4 ($1,800), on the other hand, has a screen on the exterior, but you can open it up to expand your screen space, offering more of a tablet experience.
For its fourth-generation foldable designs, Samsung has slimmed down the hinge and the bezels around the screen(s), making the devices a tiny bit more compact than their predecessors. Both employ Gorilla Glass Victus+, which is some of the most durable glass currently being used in phones today. Samsung also says it has further enhanced the durability of the main screens by 45 percent over the previous generation. (They’re still IPX8 water-resistant.)
Both are also powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor, so you should experience some of the smoothest performance around, especially paired with the fluid 120-Hz screen refresh rates on all the AMOLED display panels. There’s support for fast charging, which will juice them up to 50 percent in 30 minutes (a far cry from the ultra-speedy fast charging we’ve seen from OnePlus), but that requires a 25-watt charging brick that’s not included in the box.
