After years of iterative updates, Samsung has turned a corner with its Z Fold and Z Flip foldables, and while the book-style Fold may have gotten the lion’s share of upgrades and attention, it’s the Z Flip 7 that’s more accessible, more fashionable…and in a world of phones that only seem to grow bigger, a welcome move towards making a phone fold into something smaller and more pocketable.
It's clear Samsung made note of the feedback around the Flip 6’s lack of an expansive outer screen and the less-narrow-than-ideal inner screen. With the Z Flip 7, the phone takes on a more familiar and useful 21:9 aspect ratio for the 6.9-inch inner screen, the outer 4.1-inch screen goes all the way to the edges, leaving just the cutouts for the cameras, and all of it now fits into a 6.5mm thin chassis that weighs just 188g. It disappears into clutches, bags and shirt pockets, without making its presence felt.
The hinge is easier to open and shut, yet robust enough to stay open at pretty much any angle, and there’s a really satisfying clap to opening and closing it. And it’s as durable as clamshell foldables get, with Gorilla Glass Victus 2 for the rear and the IP48 rating that’s safe for the pool but not enough for the beach.
Both the screens are classic Samsung screens, with vivid colors, 120Hz refresh rates and an outdoors-friendly 2600nits of peak brightness. No LTPO displays though, which would have allowed them to drop as low as 1Hz when not required.
One appreciated the larger outer screen for its ability to fit in a bigger keyboard, chat with Google Gemini, and see more content on the screen, but you still need to go through a few hoops to be able to add apps you want on the cover screen – this artificial restriction clearly needs to be disabled out of the box a la Motorola. Not to mention some apps aren’t optimized to account for the camera cutouts, so you’ll need to switch aspect ratios to handle them. The main display benefits from the extra width, with content consumption and typing vastly superior to previous generations…and a crease that’s almost invisible.
Now, there was some initial scepticism around Samsung’s use of its in-house Exynos 2500 processor instead of the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset that powers the larger Fold 7. In day-to-day use, the difference doesn’t account to much, with the Z Flip 7 running fast and reliably for everyday tasks, although this is not a phone I would recommend to heavy gamers, given the thermal performance and subsequent throttling.
There’s 256GB and 512GB of storage to choose from, and both are paired with 12GB of memory, and no matter which one you pick, One UI 8 atop Android 16 will run swimmingly on it. Galaxy AI is refined and feature-rich as we last saw it on the S25 series, and there are some new features that allow automatic detections of people and audio in the background of photos, videos and voice recordings, which make removing them even easier.
The caveat around battery performance remains, with the phone’s 4300mAh battery only managing till the end of the day if you’re careful. Longevity has improved since the previous generation, but a demanding day of travel would have me anxious about battery levels.
The 25W charging speeds don’t do much to help the issue. On cameras, the Flip 7 inherits the dual-camera setup – 50MP main and 12MP ultrawide (plus a 10MP selfie shooter) – from its predecessor, and it takes good photos during the day, with the ProVisual Engine boosting details. Ultrawide and low-light shots are less impressive, but selfies win the day with the main camera doubling as a selfie camera thanks to the cover display.
In all, the Z Flip 7 is a couple of strong steps forward towards refining the clamshell design but is held back by performance and battery life.
Rating: 8/10
Price: ₹1,09,999 onwards.
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