Getting started with the Galaxy Z Fold 4: Samsung complies with today’s photo requirements

Like every year at the same time, Samsung is organizing an Unpacked event dedicated to its new mobile products. The Galaxy Note having disappeared from the landscape, the South Korean’s summer conference is now dedicated to its folding smartphones, embodied this year by the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and the Galaxy Z Flip 4.

The best equipped and most expensive of the duo remains the Galaxy Z Fold 4, which inherits the design of its predecessor, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 tested by us last summer. The smartphone in “book” format appears, at least at first glance, identical to its predecessor and does not intend to create surprise with its design. The Fold 4 is nevertheless very slightly more compact than its predecessor, with its dimensions of 155.1 x 131.1 mm, when open, and its thickness of 15.8 mm, when closed. If it is therefore slightly lower than its predecessor, and lighter by a few grams (263 g against 271 g), the smartphone remains a heavyweight for lovers of very large formats. Samsung says its hinge is slightly thinner, but that’s hardly noticeable to the naked eye.

In the radius of the menu changes, we note that the Galaxy Z Fold 4 sports screens with a display ratio slightly less stretched in height. Its interior panel retains a diagonal of 7.6 inches in the 21.6:18 format (compared to 5:4 last year) and the definition of 2171 x 1812 pixels. The outer screen of the device displays 2316 x 904 pixels and a 23.1: 9 ratio instead of 24.5: 9 on the Fold 3: Samsung intends to offer a better experience, in particular for typing messages on the keyboard of this external screen. The difference seems too small to us to revolutionize the experience, but we will have to spend more time with the smartphone to be sure.

These two screens share their increased resistance to shocks and scratches, since they are protected by Gorilla Glass Victus + windows, but also their Dynamic Amoled 2x technology. The interior screen, on the other hand, benefits from a refresh rate ranging from 1 to 120 Hz, when that of the Cover Display varies from 48 to 120 Hz.

Under its hood, the Galaxy Z Fold 4 hides a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip flanked by 12 GB of RAM, with 256 GB, 512 GB or 1 TB of storage. An expected technical update, accompanied by a 4400 mAh battery with retained capacity and a charge maintained at 25 W. Contrary to the current trend, Samsung is still not playing the fast charge card.

A photo block inspired by the Galaxy S22

The main new features are to be found in the photo section of this Galaxy Z Fold 4. While the Fold 3 offered a triple rear photo module comprising three 12-megapixel sensors each, one accompanied by a wide-angle, the another with an ultra wide-angle and the third with a telephoto lens (3x), the Fold 4 intends to take a leap forward by borrowing their photo block from the Galaxy S22 and S22+. Understand here that the smartphone has a main module with a 50 megapixel sensor, that the ultra wide-angle module retains a 10 megapixel sensor and that the “zoom” displays 10 megapixels on the counter. Samsung equipping its smartphone with a new version of One UI, we must also hope in passing that the software processing of images has gained in efficiency.

Samsung had inaugurated on the Galaxy Z Fold 3 a photo sensor hidden under its folding screen. The South Korean retains this element – ​​it is still a 4 megapixel sensor – but he promises to have increased the pixel density of the screen which covers it, in order to better conceal it.

Finally, note that Android 12 is of course in control of the smartphone, accompanied by the latest version of One UI. This is intended to be more optimized than last year for the display of applications such as Instagram or Google Meet, but not only. It brings up a PC-inspired taskbar at the bottom of the screen, to simplify access to multitasking. The manufacturer also improves the management of the multiwindow by offering a system of dragging and dropping applications. It also introduces application pairings so that the user can access predefined configurations quickly.

Price and availability

As always, Samsung launches pre-orders for its smartphone as soon as it is announced. The Galaxy Z Flip 4 will thus be marketed from August 26, with pre-orders from August 10 to 25, associated with a bonus for taking back an old mobile up to €200. The device will be billed for €1,799 in its 256 GB version, €1,919 in its 512 GB version and €2,159 in the 1 TB version, exclusive to the Samsung portal. Its call price therefore remains identical to that of the Galaxy Z Fold 3 last year, but the other versions of the device see their price increase slightly.