At the Galaxy Unpacked Event earlier this year, Samsung revealed its fifth generation of XXL foldable, the Galaxy Z Fold5, boasting its status as the thinnest and lightest model yet in the Galaxy Z series. A close inspection is necessary to find the distinctions between the Fold5 and its predecessor, the Galaxy Z Fold4. The main screen size of 7.6 inches with a 21.6:18 aspect ratio remains unchanged as does the front display with its size of 6.2 inches and 23.1:9 aspect ratio. The new Flex hinge is a standout feature, as it allows the Fold5 to fold nearly flat, significantly minimising the gap. Built with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy, the Fold5 demonstrates elevated performance and energy efficiency compared to the previous year's Qualcomm SoC model.

The basic design concept of the Foldable series and the installed camera hardware remain unaltered in the Fold5, with variations from the Fold4 setup being few and insignificant. Available in Phantom Black, Icy Blue, and Cream, exclusive Samsung online shop colors of Blue and Gray are also on offer. Though the Galaxy Z Fold5 is at least 0.2 millimeters slimmer than its predecessor, this distinction becomes more noticeable due to the elimination of the gap in the new hinge design. Unlike its slightly thicker competitors, the Huawei Mate X3 and the Honor Magic V2, the Fold5 is officially IPX8 certified, providing protection from continuous water immersion.

One major upgrade in Fold5 is the Under-Display camera (UDC) which now has more subpixels in the display matrix, though the mosaic pattern is still visible upon closer inspection. The foldable comes in three variants with Bluetooth 5.3, NFC, a UWB chip, and Miracast. Supported by the fast USB 3.2 (Gen. 1) standard, it offers wired video output via HDMI or DisplayPort interfaces, as well as USB OTG. It operates on Google Android 13 with in-house One UI 5.1.1 and offers the most long-term software update support among foldables, extending up to Android 17.

The Galaxy Z Fold5 offers high transfer speeds with WiFi 6E, but falls short of the current WiFi 7 standard. The Samsung foldable's operating system supports multi-tasking, enabling three applications to run simultaneously on the display. Despite the high transfer speeds, the location accuracy of the Fold5 falls short in our GPS tests. However, the device does support VoLTE and Wi-Fi calls as well as dual SIM functionality.

Final improvements include the main camera's improved image sharpness due to multi-frame synthesis technology and AI-based algorithms. Though Samsung again stashed a 4 MP Under-Display camera under the main display, the external display's 10 MP hole-punch camera provides more balanced results. The main camera and front panel from the Fold4 are also present along with a 50 MP main camera. Besides the high-end built quality, the Galaxy Z Fold5 stands out with its excellent shock-absorbing layer, Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection for the front and rear displays, and its bumped-absorbing Flex hinge and Armor aluminum frame.