Stefan Andres
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 was arguably the best foldable smartphone of 2022. The foldable Samsung smartphone offers an excellent balance between build quality, good cameras, mature software and a long battery life. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement. Samsung still has to fix a design flaw to close the gap with the Xiaomi Mix Fold and Huawei Mate Xs. And that’s exactly what should happen with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 renders
According to a report by Korean website Naver, Samsung has used a waterdrop-shaped hinge on the Galaxy Z Fold 5. This means that the South Korean company’s next flagship foldable smartphone can be folded completely flat with no gap between the two halves of the display. In addition, the Galaxy Z Fold 5’s inner display will have a smoother and less visible crease. In our Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 review, the crease didn’t particularly bother us. But you also can’t claim that one would not notice it at all.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 waterproof even with seamless display
In contrast to the competition from China, Samsung will retain the IPX8 rating for protection against water ingress with the new model. The fact that you can even submerge the Galaxy Z Fold 5 is currently still a unique selling point in the foldable segment. The rest of the design and user experience is almost perfect anyway, and now the flat hinge is added to that. The only point of criticism that could still be raised is the lack of protection against dust. However, thanks to his Galaxy Z Fold4 durability test, Zack from the JerryRigEverything YouTube channel would most likely strongly disagree.
According to the report, Samsung calls its new hinge design “dumbbell” and patented it back in 2016. For unknown reasons, the design never made it into a marketable product. Maybe the IPX8 rating was missing. The durability of the display has also reportedly improved thanks to the new hinge. In the Galaxy Z Fold 5, it should be able to withstand even more folding processes without losing any of its functionality.
