When Samsung dropped teasers for the Galaxy Z Flip 7, the tech community was in awe. After years of focusing on getting the basics right, Samsung finally signalled that it was ready to iron out the smaller issues. The Flip 7 got rid of its thick bezels on the cover display, offered a bigger battery, used Samsung’s latest Exynos chip and cut down the fat from its chassis. This, then, would be the perfect flip phone that money could buy, wouldn’t it?
With such high expectations, our review unit of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 had a lot on its shoulders. Would this be the phone that could finally warrant a conventional slab phone advocate like me to ditch the comfort of the iPhone and fully embrace the flip phone lifestyle? To find out, I transferred my eSIM data along with the entirety of my photo memories and banking apps to the Galaxy Z Flip 7. I was warned by fellow tech reviewers of the potential drawbacks of the Exynos 2500 chip but in the interest of science, I took a leap of faith.
And I am glad I leapt.
Design and Build
It has been a while since I flagged a Samsung phone for poor build quality (I remember none of them from the Galaxy Z series in my career’s history). Despite having moving parts inside, Samsung’s flip phones have always felt sturdy and reassuring. With the Flip 7, that feeling of an almost-indestructible phone is further elevated. Samsung’s clever engineering of the hinge, along with a stronger Armor Aluminium, makes the Flip 7 stronger. Kudos to the R&D team for figuring out a way to make this foldable phone IP48 certified for water and dust resistance – this means the Flip 7 can survive a dust storm and the following rain showers.
While the edge-to-edge cover screen grabs eyeballs, the star of the show for me is the almost negligible folding crease. The dimple on the fold line is almost negligible, and when Samsung says that the UTG (Ultra Thin Glass) is thicker and stronger, I only had more confidence to use it as a normal phone without worrying about damage and dents to this delicate layer. The plastic surround on the inner display sticks out but it shouldn’t be a dealbreaker for most of you. The bottom line is that the Galaxy Z Flip 7 is easily the most desirable flip phone money can fetch.
One gripe though – there’s no charging adapter in the box. The competing Motorola Razr 60 Ultra offers it.
Display(s)
The display department laid most of its attention on the phone’s cover display. Other than deleting all the bezels around the cover display and having the two main cameras in the punchhole cutouts, Samsung engineers also bumped up the 4.1-inch screen’s refresh rate to 120Hz. The result is a large, expansive cover screen that’s smooth to operate. Protected by Gorilla Glass Victus 2 and with a rated peak brightness of 2,600 nits, it is easy to use outdoors.
The large cover screen doesn’t translate into Samsung stuffing as many features and functions as possible. Samsung continues to offer a minimal and sensible UI on the cover display – you get to interact with notifications, respond to texts, glance through widgets and use three crucial apps – WhatsApp, YouTube and Google Maps. Nothing more. Nothing unnecessary. You unfold the main display for all ‘smartphone things’. Hey Motorola Razr R&D team, please take note of how not to overdo a fun feature.
As for the main display, Samsung expanded it to 6.9 inches and amped up the peak brightness to 2,600 nits. As usual, this is a great display for consuming content and scrolling kilometers of social media feeds. The AMOLED panel can dip to very low brightness levels, which aids in pre-sleep browsing/reading sessions. The subtle crease doesn’t dampen the scrolling experience.
Performance
At the launch event, the entire tech fraternity was concerned about the presence of the Exynos 2500 chip. The Exynos 2500 is Samsung’s equivalent of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, built on modern 3nm process. Paired with 12GB of RAM as standard and up to 512GB of storage, Samsung gives this phone the latest One UI 8 interface based on Android 16.
The Exynos 2500 doesn’t set the benchmarks on fire, but in real life, it performs just as nicely as the Snapdragon 8 Elite. Handling multi-window multitasking, dual screen previews and all the on-board AI features was almost walk-in-the-park easy for the Exynos chip. The chipset warms up the area around the camera as substantially as the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip but the effects on performance aren’t visible. I even tried gaming on the Flip 7 and it kept the frame rates cool, even though it was hot to touch around the metal rails. I couldn’t find a situation when I felt the need for a more powerful processor.
What makes the Flip 7 even more desirable is Samsung’s One UI 8. It looks and feels elite, houses all nifty features you’d expect on a modern Samsung phone, and keeps all sorts of adware at bay. One UI delivers a quality experience that’s second to none in the Android universe. The suite of Galaxy AI features, which now see improvements, makes life a tad easier. I was genuinely impressed with Samsung’s AI image eraser and editing tools. The Now Brief pill is a fun way to check your day’s summary at a glance (I love the time-based Spotify playlist recommendations here). I am also a fan of the Samsung Pay app and how well it is integrated with the One UI 8.
Samsung promises up to 7 years of OS and security updates, thus leading the industry as far as longevity is concerned. Another noteworthy mention is the loudspeaker quality and the earpiece clarity while taking calls.
Cameras
The Galaxy Z Flip 7 largely retains the hardware of its predecessor, featuring a familiar dual-camera setup on the rear: a 50MP main sensor and a 12MP ultra-wide camera. Thanks to software-side improvements, the Z Flip 7’s camera performance is mighty impressive. Subtle improvements can be observed in detail resolution and exposure settings. Zoomed-in photos show enhanced details, particularly in lower light conditions.
The excessive sharpening observed in the Flip 6’s ultra-wide camera has been fixed too, resulting in more natural-looking wide-angle shots. The colour science is top notch, regardless of the lighting situation. Video recording quality remains great for vlogging. The larger cover display allows for great vlogging opportunities. Selfies via the main and ultrawide cameras make it great for sharing on social media.
Battery and Charging
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7, despite losing excess fat in its body, managed to stuff a 4300mAh battery – slightly larger than its predecessor. On a busy day that requires unfolding to take calls, check and respond to mails, check maps on the cover display, stream music via Spotify for 3-4 hours and occasional photography, the Galaxy Z Flip 7 would end the day with 25 per cent charge remaining.
Charging, however, remains a sore topic for Samsung phones. The Galaxy Z Flip 7 only supports 25W wired charging, which takes close to 1.5 hours for a 0-100 recharge. The 15W wireless charging is helpful if you have wireless charging pads around. We expect Samsung to optimise its battery performance further with future software updates so as to help users extract more stamina out of this battery.
Verdict
Unlike its predecessors, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 gives fewer opportunities to complain. Samsung’s elite One UI 8 software continues to be a strong advocate for the Flip 7, with strong camera performance and the new edge-to-edge cover display tempting flip phone lovers. A decent battery life also makes it a lot easier for us to recommend the Flip 7 as a daily driver, with no backup phone in your pocket/handbag. There are certain niggles for Samsung to fix but when you look at the larger picture, it is tough to ignore the Flip 7 anymore.
Hence, if you have over Rs 1 lakh to spend on a smartphone and the usual iPhone/Galaxy S/Pixel doesn’t cut it for you, we highly recommend trying out the Galaxy Z Flip 7. In fact, we recommend buying this. After all, all of you with deep pockets shouldn’t miss out on the pinnacle of the flip phone form factor.
