Picture this: Your brand-new Galaxy Z Flip 5 has reached your doorstep. You unbox the foldable flip phone, set it up, and start testing Samsung's new Widgets on the cover screen and take a few selfies. Amid the excitement, you notice something's not quite right. The Flex Window isn't as bright as you'd expect, and you ask yourself: “Shouldn't the cover screen be capable of 1,600 nits of brightness? It should, so why does mine look so dim?” The answer is that you might be holding the Galaxy Z Flip 5 wrong.
As previously reported, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 boasts the brightest cover screen Samsung's ever used on a foldable phone. With 1,600 nits of brightness, the Flex window should be perfectly usable even in bright outdoor environments.
But as with every other smartphone, the display can get a lot dimmer if you cover the adaptive brightness sensor with your palm or finger. Although you normally wouldn't do this, you unknowingly might when using the Galaxy Z Flip 5. The unusual location of the adaptive brightness sensor could make room for such errors.
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The Galaxy Z Flip 5's adaptive brightness sensor sits behind the display
Although Samsung uses Under Panel Camera (UPC) technology exclusively for the Galaxy Z Fold series and has yet to port this feature to its foldable flip phone, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 does use under-panel technology for something else instead of the selfie camera.
Specifically, Samsung hid the photo resistor sensor under the Galaxy Z Flip 5's cover display. And if covered by the user's palm or fingers, this sensor — which governs adaptive brightness levels — will adjust the cover screen's brightness as if it's pitch-black outside.
The under-display brightness sensor sits near the hinge, perpendicular to the dual-camera system. It's virtually impossible to cover the sensor when using the phone hinge-up. However, if you flip the Galaxy Z Flip 5 around (no pun intended) with the cameras facing you from the upper-left corner, you could accidentally cover the sensor and notice the external screen's brightness going down for no apparent reason.
Well, now you know why. If you notice this phenomenon once you start using the Galaxy Z Flip 5, remember: there's nothing wrong with the cover screen, the adaptive brightness sensor, or the firmware. But you might have to develop a different grip to use your new Samsung device without running into this small issue.
