The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 had the difficult task of improving on the best foldable phone we’ve ever seen. As a result, many aspects of the Z Fold 4 haven’t changed from last year’s Z Fold 3, from its displays or its look. But that doesn’t mean Samsung’s new foldable is an entirely iterative upgrade.
Aside from a performance boost thanks to the newest Snapdragon SoC, the Galaxy Z Fold 4 has two upgraded cameras, and a tweaked design that makes it thinner and lighter in your pocket.
That being said, many of the Galaxy Z Fold 3‘s attributes have been copied and pasted into the Z Fold 4. That’s less of an issue with the excellent displays and more with some of the weaker elements of the phone, such as the battery life, under-display camera, and crease.
Below, we’ve laid out all of the official information Samsung has provided concerning the Galaxy Z Fold 4. And if you want a hands-on impression of the foldable from our Phones Editor Nick Sutrich, that link will give you a first-person look at the phone.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4: Price and release date
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4, like the Z Fold 3, will cost you a whopping $1,800 at full price. Despite previous leaks that Samsung had achieved a lower mass production price cost and could deliver a price cut, it appears those savings will go directly to Samsung.
The Galaxy Z Fold 4 will come in 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB variants — the latter is a new storage size for the Fold lineup, and is exclusive to Samsung’s website — with a $100 surcharge per upgrade. However, if you preorder the phone from Samsung.com, you’ll get a free storage upgrade to 512GB for the lower storage price.
Preorders opened on August 10, the day of Samsung Unpacked, and will ship on August 26 alongside the Galaxy Z Flip 4 and Galaxy Watch 5. In addition to the storage upgrade, preordering will net you $100 in Samsung Credit and a free case with S Pen storage.
Samsung says you can save up to $1,000 with an eligible phone trade-in, though the amount of credit you receive will vary based on the age and model of your current phone.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4: Design
Both the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and 3 have a 7.6-inch main screen and 6.2-inch cover screen, with a similar vertical rear camera module and under-display selfie camera. At first glance, you’d be hard pressed to tell them apart.
Once its held in hand, though, you’ll notice that the Z Fold 4 is 8 grams (0.3 ounces) lighter, as well as slightly shorter and wider, than the Z Fold 3. The inner display and cover display have 21.6:18 and 23.1:9 aspect ratios, respectively. For comparison, the Z Fold 3 had 22.5:18 and 25:9.
This makes the phone less awkwardly skinny while in folded mode. It also has slightly skinnier bezels around the display, counteracting the smaller size so the display space is the same.
The redesigned hinge makes the phone skinnier than before, though the Z Fold 4 still has the same design quirks as before, namely the visible display crease and a slight wedge at the hinge when folded.
Some leakers predicted the Z Fold 4 would have a built-in slot for the S Pen, but that rumor turned out to be false. You’ll still need a case with a slot in order to keep the stylus available and secured.
Like the Z Fold 3, the Galaxy Z Fold 4 is water resistant but not dust resistant, with an IPX8 rating. The hinge has small bristles that’ll keep out some dust particles, but not enough if the phone’s dropped on a sandy beach, for example. The phone’s internal components are surrounded by a water-repelling material, since the hinge can’t stop water from entering the phone.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 comes in Graygreen, Phantom Black, Beige, and Burgundy, with the latter selling exclusively from samsung.com. Overall, the Z Fold 4’s design differences are small enough that Z Fold 3 owners won’t feel like they’re missing out. It’s in the Galaxy Z Fold 4 specs that you’ll find more differences.
The design differences also mean you’ll need a different case from the Z Fold 3 case you used before. We’ve selected the best Galaxy Z Fold 4 cases available so you can keep your $1,800 investment protected at all times.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4: Specs
The performance upgrade between the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Fold 4 is one of the main differences to buy the newer foldable. While the former paired the Snapdragon 888 with 12GB of RAM, the newer phone uses the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 with 12GB of RAM.
The Cortex-X2 core clocks up to 3.2GHz, a jump over the 888 with its 2.84GHz-clocked Cortex-X1. It’s also extremely efficient, solving the issues of throttling and overheating found with 8 Gen 1 phones earlier this year like the S22 series.
While we haven’t put the Z Fold 4 through its paces yet, an alleged Z Fold 4 benchmark test put its Geekbench performance at 1351 (single-core) and 3808 (multi-core).
For comparison, Future Labs’ Geekbench tests put the Z Fold 3 (with Snapdragon 888) at 1107 and 3418, while the Galaxy S22 Ultra and Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 hit 1240 and 3392. If this test is real, it shows a healthy jump in performance in both categories.
The 7.6-inch main display has a 2176×1812 resolution and once again hits a 120Hz refresh rate with LTPO efficiency. The 6.2-inch cover display has a much lower resolution of 2316×904, and while it hits 120Hz it can only dip to 48Hz, making it less energy-efficient.
Of the Galaxy Z Fold 4’s five cameras, three of them are largely the same as last year’s: the 12MP ultra-wide camera (ƒ/2.2, 1.12μm, FOV: 123º), 10MP selfie camera (ƒ/2.2, 1.22μm), and 4MP under-display selfie camera (ƒ/1.8, 2.0μm). But the main camera has been revamped with a 50MP sensor (ƒ/1.8, 1.0μm), and the telephoto lens (10MP, ƒ/2.4, 1.0μm) now offers 3X optical zoom, and 30X Space Zoom.
Battery and charging speeds remain the same from last year, with a 4,400mAh battery, 25W fast charging, 10W wireless charging, and 4.5W reverse wireless charging.
Our Z Fold 3 reviewer found the battery life disappointingly average and the charging speed adequate. Given the phone got thinner and Samsung’s other 2022 phones also charge at 25W, it’s unsurprising there was no progress on this front. We can hope the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1’s battery efficiency will do more with the same capacity, at least.
The Galaxy Z Fold 4 supports the latest connectivity standards in Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2, and 5G.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4: Software
The Galaxy Z Fold 4 will launch with Android 12L running on One UI 4.1.1. With this new OS, Samsung updated its Taskbar so it’s constantly pinned and available, making tapping recent apps or split-screening them much easier. New gestures and multi-window tools also help on this front. The Z Fold 3 will receive the same tools, but the 4 is a more seamless software experience out of the box.
Given the 2021 foldable will get four OS updates and five years of security updates, it stands to reason the Z Fold 4 will get the same treatment. That means it’ll eventually update to Android 16 and receive regular security updates through 2027.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 has what it takes to become one of the best Android phones of 2022, and we were impressed by our brief hands-on time with it. But we’ll have a review of the phone soon to properly put its processor to the test and see whether its redesign is enough to make it compelling to those who skipped (or bought) the Z Fold 3.
Fold it
Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 4 has the best performance of any Samsung phone currently available, the display size of a mini-tablet in your pocket, the same cameras as the S22 series despite its foldable design, and some useful tweaks that make it a better purchase than the Z Fold 3.
