Samsung Announces The Galaxy Z Flip: Foldable Phone With Glass
by Andrei Frumusanu on February 11, 2020 4:20 PM EST
Today Samsung announced the new Galaxy S20, S20+ and S20 Ultra, but the regular flagship phones weren’t the only devices announce today as we’ve also seen the unveiling of the new Galaxy Z Flip. The new Z Flip is Samsung’s second foldable phone to market after Galaxy Fold, but takes a new approach in terms of design as it comes in a new clamshell design with only a single primary screen.
| Samsung Galaxy Z Flip | |
| Galaxy Z Flip | |
| SoC | Qualcomm Snapdragon 855+ 1x Kryo 485 (CA76) @ 2.95GHz 3x Kryo 485 (CA76) @ 2.42GHz 4x Kryo 485 (CA55) @ 1.80GHz Adreno 640 |
| Display | Main Display: 6.7" 2636 x 1080 Foldable Glass (!!) Dynamic AMOLED (21.9:9) Cover display: 1.1" 300 x 113 Super AMOLED |
| Dimensions | Folded: 73.6 x 87.4 x 17.3mm (Hinge) - 15.4mm (Sagging) Unfolded: 73.6 x 167.3 x 7.2mm - 6.9mm (Screen) 183g |
| RAM | 8GB LPDDR4X |
| NAND | 256GB |
| Battery | 3300mAH (12.70Wh) |
| Front Camera | 10MP 1.22µm f/2.4 80° FoV |
| Primary Rear Camera | 78° Regular Angle 12MP 1.4µm Dual Pixel PDAF f/1.8 OIS, auto HDR, LED flash |
| Secondary Rear Camera | 123° Wide Angle 12MP 1.12µm f/2.2 |
| Tertiary Rear Camera | 45° / Telephoto lens 2x zoom 12MP 1.0µm f/2.4, OIS |
| SIM Size | NanoSIM + eSIM |
| Wireless | 802.11a/b/g/n/ac 2x2 MU-MIMO, BT 5.0 LE, NFC, GPS/Glonass/Galileo/BDS |
| Connectivity | USB Type-C |
| Features | (It Folds Glass) |
| Launch OS | Android 10 |
| Launch Price | $1380 / 1480€ |
The Galaxy Z Flip features a Snapdragon 855+ processor, and in general, the internals of the phone seemingly are more akin to a flagship 2019 phone rather than being in line with the more impressive S20 series processors. It comes with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage which is relatively respectable.
What makes the Z Flip extremely impressive though is its display. It’s not the first flexible display out there, and it’s relatively average with a 2636 x 1080 resolution. What makes it special, is that this is the very first display on the market that has an ultra-thin glass cover on it – yes, it’s a foldable glass screen. The implications here are huge when compared to a plastic foldable screen, and the glass should be significantly more scratch resistant than plastic alternatives, making this a much more viable option when it comes to long-term durability of the phone.
Samsung’s hinge mechanism was designed in such as way that it minimises dust ingress into the gears of the system. What’s also special is that the phone clicks in at different angles such as 120°, instead of being freely flexible at any angle.
The formfactor is interesting and falls in at 73.6mm width. Folded, it’s at 87.4mm length and 17.3mm thick at the hinge and 15.4mm at the sagging end. Unfolded, it grows to 167.3mm length and is only 6.9mm thin. In terms of weight, Samsung was able to keep it relatively in check at 183g, however the battery is a bit less impressive at only 3300mAh.
The front camera is achieved through a punch hole in the screen and features a standard 10MP sensor and f/2.4 aperture lens at 80° field of view. The rear cameras feature a 12MP wide and ultra-wide angle module that look similar in specs to what we’ve seen in the S10 and Note10 series.
What’s interesting is, when the phone is folded, you still have a secondary small information screen next to the cameras, but this is meant to only be able to show limited information or to be used as a tiny viewfinder for selfies using the rear cameras, and does not serve as a full blown useable screen such as the cover display on the Galaxy Fold.
The Galaxy Z Flip will be available February 14th starting at $1380 and 1480€. Considering the novel form-factor, it’s a quite attractive price and seemingly competes very hard against the Motorola Razr in the foldable flip-phone market, even undercutting it in price while sporting much better hardware.
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HardwareDufus - Tuesday, February 11, 2020 - link
Really weird article guys.Not a single photo of the screen, head-on, wide open, at 6.7" 2636 x 1080 ? One shot like that laid down on a table so that you can't see if the 'fold' has any appreciable effect on image quality.... All the prominent images show the phone, uh... flipped halfway.... With 6.7" of screen, I want to see how good it looks as a mini-tablet....
Then there is the 1.1" cover screen. Really would like to see a shot of that as well.
Just really lacking for useful images in this article.... Either it's a paid advert... or you guys just couldn't be bothered to ask for more photos?
Billy Tallis - Tuesday, February 11, 2020 - link
It's not a paid advertisement, and there's nothing wrong with publishing what info we have while trying to get more info out of a recalcitrant vendor.0iron - Tuesday, February 11, 2020 - link
Recalcitrant vendor, wow really? 😏Billy Tallis - Tuesday, February 11, 2020 - link
Anytime you have to go through outside PR to request info the vendor didn't prepare them with in advance, you can expect to be waiting a while to get a satisfactory answer. It's a system that's optimized for communication in one direction only, and it does work fine when the vendor's launch plans include sharing all the info we want for a product announcement news post.(To be clear, I'm speaking in generalities here, and have not been involved in our communications with Samsung mobile; I deal with different Samsung people and PR agents for storage stuff, who are only occasionally recalcitrant.)
jospoortvliet - Wednesday, February 12, 2020 - link
Juist fwiw - having been on almost all sides of this (Trying to get info from a pr department from the outside; working in a business and needing pr approval; being part of a pr team talking to press; and having to work with a pr team from another company as partner) - it depends on the company but esp the large ones can indeed be adequately described as recalcitrant and honestly that’s being nice... the pr side of some companies is as pent up as... well, imagine something ;-)They try desperately to protect something that often, by being so overly protective, gets hurt in the process. I myself believe that being open and honest is the best pr strategy - of course, in there is still plenty room to present things in a more positive way, fitting the narrative of the brand and so on. I’ve had some wonderful moments that made me particularly proud, where a fsckup ended up being communicated so that the outside perceived it as a great move and a win, hehe. But you can’t win all such battles and I have sympathy for pr folks, it isn’t easy.
Valantar - Tuesday, February 11, 2020 - link
These are press renders, not photos of the product. They obviously wouldn't show any effects the fold might have on image quality. You would need to wait for reviews (or at least proper hands-ons) for that.The cover screen is in the semi-transparent window next to the camera modules, clearly seen in several pictures. As for the full screen folded out - did you see the third image in the article? It quite clearly shows the phone fully unfolded from both sides. And 6.7" at 22:9 isn't a mini-tablet, it's an extra tall 5.1" 16:9 phone.
Mikewind Dale - Tuesday, February 11, 2020 - link
I don't understand the purpose. It unfolds into a normal-sized phone. So what's the purpose of its folding? To protect the screen from keys in your pocket?PeachNCream - Tuesday, February 11, 2020 - link
It's a second test of the waters to see if there is a marketable product because the first round has been inconclusive OR the first round has proven there is a viable draw. Either is possible.wr3zzz - Tuesday, February 11, 2020 - link
It's basically a concept phone as a product. The technology will be used in the future to make phones with bigger screens that can still fit inside a pocket.Yeas ago these types of products will never go on sale but times have changed and commercial products that are buggy or with half baked technology don't bother current crop of consumers much anymore.
RBFL - Wednesday, February 12, 2020 - link
It could remove the need for a phone case and therefore end up smaller. You would think that you would need some for of lock otherwise the phone could spring apart during the fall.Obviously this wouldn't help if the phone were open or in use.