Some of you may not agree with this statement but I have a strong feeling that you'll end up agreeing with me by the end of this piece. As far as smartphones are concerned, there's not much that surprises me anymore. I've been in this business long enough to have tested more phones than I could remember and have had a front-row seat to the transformation of the mobile industry over the past decade and a half.
So it doesn't matter if a new phone has a larger display or a better camera, it's all just evolutionary after all. The truly surprising moments have been few and far between. There certainly was one with the Galaxy Fold, and boy oh boy has Samsung given me one with the Galaxy Z Flip.
The Galaxy Z Flip is Samsung's second foldable smartphone, third if you're counting the Galaxy Fold that was announced before durability improvements were made. This new device has a completely different form factor. While the Galaxy Fold broke new ground by adopting an unusual form factor, the Galaxy Z Flip modernizes a form factor that once dominated the mobile landscape as we knew it.
The clamshell or the flip phone form factor used to be all the rage more than a decade ago. Some of you may not be old enough to remember them but many of us have certainly kept a flip phone in the past. People liked them because they had a smaller footprint. Remember, manufacturers were trying all sorts of things back then, from QWERTY keyboards to the stylus, yet the flip phones remained unchallenged. You had a compact device that could easily fit inside a pocket or a clutch. Flip it open to make a call or read your texts, close it when you're done and go about your life. It used to be such a different experience compared to how we've been boxed in the candy bar form factor for the past decade.
I'm not just pining for the good old days. It's not about being nostalgic and having something to scratch that itch with. To make the Galaxy Z Flip work, Samsung had to find the perfect balance between that feeling, the nostalgia and what customers need from a modern smartphone. As we pointed out in our hands-on review of the Galaxy Z Flip, Samsung has outdone itself.
I have been using the Galaxy Fold as my daily driver since the day it came out. I still believe that it's the best smartphone that Samsung has ever made. It's still a first-gen device that has room for improvement but it stands so far above anything else on the market that it's not even funny. I'll admit, I was a bit skeptical about the Galaxy Z Flip before I got to play around with it. After having spent some time with it, I'm confident in its efficacy for all users.
This form factor needed to be brought back and Samsung has done that with outstanding clarity. The Galaxy Z Flip folds away from being a smartphone with a 6.7-inch display to something that you can fit entirely in your palm. It's a refreshing break from the monotony of big smartphones that now rule the market. Even Samsung makes them, look no further than the Galaxy S20 lineup, but the Galaxy Z Flip offers customers looking for something different with an incredible choice. When unfolded, the Galaxy Z Flip is almost as tall as the Galaxy S20 Ultra which is an absolute behemoth in size. Yet, with a gentle flick of your wrist, you can instantly make it compact.
That's the real advantage. You get a phone with a smaller footprint overall without compromising the need for a large display, which is essential for any modern smartphone. The 6.7-inch display on the Galaxy Z Flip can't be called small by any stretch of the imagination. This just makes the overall experience much better, it's easier to hold the device and carry it around while the display is big enough to support all of your modern content consumption needs. Think about it, the Galaxy Z Flip folds into essentially half the size of the phone that's in your pocket right now.
It's because of the feeling it gives that I believe the Galaxy Z Flip is going to be the secret love affair of every smartphone user. I certainly haven't felt this way about a phone in a long time. Is it all sunshine and rainbows, though? Not necessarily and I certainly wouldn't call it perfection. There are obvious disadvantages to this form factor, in that you will need to keep it unfolded always if you want to text someone and the smaller footprint doesn't allow for a beefier battery.
That being said, the Galaxy Z Flip has come as a pleasant surprise. I can't wait to get one and start using it daily. Still on the fence about it? Our full Galaxy Z Flip review will be up soon so do stick around for that.
