Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 Review: Compact Powerhouse

Galaxy Flip 7: Bigger Display and Thinner

Like on the Fold 7, Samsung made the Galaxy Z Flip 7 thinner than its predecessor, but not as much. When opened, the phone is less than half a millimeter thinner, at 6.5 mm, which is imperceptible. When closed, the phone measures 13.7 mm, a little more than a millimeter thinner than its predecessor.

Despite the diet, the phone still feels solid, thanks to its premium build quality, and the IP48 rating should be enough to survive water splashes and some protection against solid ingress (but not dust!).

The Galaxy Z Flip 7 is wider and taller than the Flip 6, allowing for the use of larger displays both inside and out. The difference is not enough to compromise the device’s pocketability, but depending on your hand size, it may affect ergonomics. The volume rocker sits a bit higher than usual when the phone is opened and may require repositioning your grip to be used.

As mentioned before, the display got an upgrade on the Galaxy Z Flip 7. The LTPO OLED panel is a big 6.9-inch (up from 6.7 on the Flip 6), and features smooth animations thanks to its 120 Hz refresh rate, while also saving power when displaying static content.

The advertised peak brightness is 2500 nits, but we measured almost half of it at 1340. Regardless, the screen is readable in most conditions outside. The external display is equally usable outside, and now offers a smooth 120 Hz refresh rate (versus 60 Hz on the Flip 6).

Speaking of the external display (called both Cover Screen and FlexWindow by Samsung, confusingly), it finally matches its rival, the Razr Ultra, and also envelops the camera modules. The area around the camera is practically useless, yet the expanded usable area in general is a welcome upgrade, even at a lower resolution compared to the Motorola rival. But there is still a usability limitation, which will be covered in the software section.

Galaxy Z Flip 7 With Android 16

One area in which the Samsung foldable easily beats its Motorola rival is in the software support policy. While the Razr will get only three Android upgrades and four years of security updates, Samsung promises seven years of support for both security and feature updates. Better yet, the Galaxy Z Flip 7 comes with Android 16, the latest version of Google’s operating system.

Like on the Fold 7, the experience using One UI 8 over Android 16 is mostly the same as on the Galaxy S25 phones we tested with the previous system version.

One annoying difference, however, was noticed on the initial setup, which could not be done without an internet connection. We experienced the same restriction on the Galaxy XCover 7 Pro, but curiously, not on the Fold 7. After setting up and updating the Galaxy Z Flip 7, we found 8 third-party pre-installed apps and 37.1 GB of used storage space.

As for the bigger cover screen, the bad news is that the same limitations found on previous Flip phones still apply. The display officially supports a limited feature set, basically working as a widget display.

And some of the widgets will prompt you to “Open phone to continue” when interacting with them, which is an understandable but annoying limitation. On the positive side, you can imagine the Flip 7’s cover screen as a “digital detox” feature thanks to its limited feature set.

Opening full apps on the small display requires activating an experimental feature in the Labs settings, but that only supports a few hand-picked apps (Maps, Messages, Netflix, WhatsApp, and YouTube). To run other apps, Samsung still requires installing the MultiStar app, just like on the two-year-old Galaxy Z Flip 5.

Using apps not made for the cover screen still poses some problems due to the small usable space. Typing can be a challenge when you cannot see the text field, for example. Samsung tries to help by offering an aspect ratio button, but it is still a stopgap option until Google adds better support for displays with large unusable spaces.

Good Performance From the Exynos 2500 on the Flip 7

When rumors indicated that the Samsung Exynos 2500 processor would power the Flip 7, fans were worried that the performance would not be competitive with the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip used in most Android flagships. Although benchmark numbers confirm this suspicion, we can say that in everyday usage, both chips perform neck and neck.

Helped by the fastest memory standards available, the Exynos chip was snappy in regular usage, opening apps, multitasking, video calls, GPS navigation, etc. There were some instances where the Flip 7 got a bit hot, but nothing uncomfortable to the touch.

Performance tests showed the Flip 7’s Exynos chip significantly slower than Android phones powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC, particularly on the AnTuTu and 3DMark Wild Life tests. On the other hand, GeekBench and the other 3DMark tests, Steel Nomad and Solar Bay, returned competitive results from the Flip 7.

In general, gaming on the Flip 7 is indistinguishable from other Android flagships, with good performance and compatibility, thanks in part to the AMD Radeon GPU on the SoC. Having said that, longer gaming sessions will make the phone hot and consequently reduce performance to avoid overheating.

Flip 7 Camera Trade-offs

The camera department on the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 is basically unchanged from the previous model: A 50-megapixel main camera, a 12 MP ultra-wide, and a 10 MP selfie. The lack of a zoom lens sets it apart from flagship phones, but that is a typical trade-off in flip phones.

Photos from the main camera were good, with a good level of detail and color reproduction in both daylight and night shots. And the reasonably big sensor used (at least for a flip phone) resulted in good results even at 2x digital zoom. The Galaxy Z Flip 7 offers digital zoom at up to 10x magnification, but the pictures at max zoom have a lot of digital sharpening and look artificial at a closer look.

The ultra-wide camera performs fine, but with noticeably fewer details and some distortion issues. The limitations of the ultra-wide camera are especially noticeable at night, with the small sensor incapable of capturing detail. Night mode helps the ultra-wide camera a lot, with good images if you manage to hold the Flip 7 still. 

Selfies from the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 are very good when using the main camera. The bigger external sensor gives much better results than the typical pinhole selfie camera, but framing shots can be a bit tricky. Even so, optical image stabilization and the sharpness of the main camera return better images, even adding a more natural depth of field.

Using the internal selfie camera gave OK photos, with a lower level of detail and color reproduction than the external camera. Colors were slightly washed out, but this was only noticeable when comparing them with the main camera pictures; they were otherwise perfectly fine for a smartphone selfie.

The flip form factor not only offers the option of using the sharper main camera for selfies, but also the ultra-wide lens, which covers a wider angle of view than the internal camera. Remember to use the Night mode for low-light ultra-wide photos, as the limitations mentioned earlier still apply for selfies.

Good Enough Battery Life on the Galaxy Z Flip 7

Tech enthusiasts were understandably worried about the Exynos 2500 chip on the Galaxy Z Flip 7, due to the low energy efficiency of the chips in the past. In our test with the Samsung foldable, however, we didn’t find any issues with battery life, and the phone lasted more than a full day with regular usage.

Our usual battery life test failed to run on the phone, but with typical usage (maps usage, music streaming, photos, quick hotspot use, and some messaging), the phone showed almost half of its battery capacity left after a day. 

The increased battery capacity to 4300 mAh (up from 4000 on the Flip 6) helped, and the new 3nm chip probably impacted as well. Samsung offers the usual suite of power-saving features, including limiting the CPU and display performance and whitelisting background apps for further savings. 

When it comes to charging, there is no adapter in the box as usual, but using a Samsung charger compatible with the phone’s maximum 25 W input, a full charge took 75 minutes, with half an hour enough for a 56% charge. On top of that, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 also offers wireless charging and reverse wireless charging.

Finally, to extend the battery lifespan, the Galaxy Z Flip 7 offers a comprehensive list of options, including turning off fast charging, limiting charging at up to 80/85/90/95%, and stopping at 80% at night and then completing charging at the alarm clock’s time.