There’s a new foldable in town. Chances are you’ve seen it.
Samsung just officially announced the Galaxy Z Flip, which will launch even sooner than the Galaxy S20, S20+ or S20 Ultra. The Z Flip lands on Friday for $1,380 and will come in mirror purple, mirror black and mirror gold. Light will actually react with the color for a unique effect.
Unlike the Galaxy Fold, which lets you unfold into a tablet, the Z Flip takes a more compact route that’s similar to the Motorola Razr. Unfolding the squarish flip phone presents you with a 6.7-inch dynamic AMOLED display made of flexible glass, unlike the pOLED (plastic OLED) that Motorola uses. It’s an ultrathin glass that Samsung says it should stand up to 200,000 folds.
Samsung is calling the hinge in the Z Flip the “hideaway hinge.” It’s also specifically calling out a layer of fibers in the gaps to stop particles like dust or lint from getting into the device. It should stop any issues like the ones the Galaxy Fold originally had. We’ll need to test this and see how it performs, though.
And with Samsung Flex Mode, you can lock the Z Flip in specific positions. With YouTube, the top half will display the content and give you the ability to comment on the lower half. The same goes for selfies. You can open the camera app, step back and use your hand to control the shutter with a gesture. It seems that this will be an open API, so hopefully more developers will hop on board.
When it’s folded, you’ll find a small rectangular screen on the front left corner. This is meant to provide access to pertinent information, like the ability to quickly answer a call and see notifications in a reduced format. It’s meant to be the essentials with the cover display, and it will also act as a viewfinder for selfies.
The Z Flip is running Android 10.0 with Samsung’s One user interface. The latest interface from Samsung is in version 2 and offers a cleaner take. There’s less bloatware, and it’s more about features that make a difference. Powering that experience is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855+ processor.
There will even be a Thom Browne variant of the Galaxy Z Flip that adds the fashion designer’s signature red, white and blue stripes down the center on a silver main color. It includes themed GalaxyBuds and a Watch Active 2.
Note: The prices above reflect the retailer’s listed price at the time of publication.
