Galaxy Fold 4: an update of Samsung’s top folding smartphone

Samsung has officially presented the Galaxy Fold4 – an update to its flagship smartphone with a flexible screen. This year, the manufacturer did not radically change the design of the model, Fold4 received mostly cosmetic changes in design. The aluminum frame of the smartphone has become flatter, in accordance with the style of another flagship line – Galaxy S22.

Another noticeable innovation in the design of the Galaxy Fold4 is a reduced hinge. In the folded position, the body is 15.8 mm thick in the hinge part, and 14.2 mm in the thinnest place. In general, the dimensions of the folded Fold4 have become slightly smaller in height than its predecessor and are 155.1 x 67.1 mm against 158.2 x 67.1 mm in the Fold3.

The weight of the smartphone has also decreased slightly, the Fold4 weighs 263 grams, still quite a lot, but less than the 271 grams of the previous model.

As in previous versions, the outer screen, as well as the back of the Galaxy Fold4 case is covered by protective glass, but this time the company used the latest Gorilla Glass Victus+.

Like the Fold3, the new model has IPX8 protection, which allows you to lower the case to a depth of 1.5 meters for up to 30 minutes, but there is no dust protection here. This is due to the design features and the use of a mechanical hinge.

The diagonal of the external screen in the Galaxy Fold4 has not changed and is 6.2 inches, but the company used a different ratio of 23.1:9 and a resolution of 2316 x 904 pixels. The display has become a little wider and it should be more convenient to use, for example, to type text on the virtual keyboard. The matrix of the external screen has not changed – it is Dynamic AMOLED 2X with an adaptive refresh rate from 48 to 120 Hz.

The main display in the Galaxy Fold4 is flexible with a diagonal of 7.6 inches, an aspect ratio of 21.6:18, a Dynamic AMOLED 2X matrix, a resolution of 2176 x 1812 dots and an adaptive refresh rate from 1 to 120 Hz. The flexible display is also covered with an ultra-thin layer of glass, which, however, is protected by a special film and cannot be removed.

Apart from the aspect ratio, there is also a little change here, the big innovation in the main screen of the Fold4 is the second generation of the 4-megapixel selfie camera, which is hidden behind the pixels of the matrix and is not visible when they are turned on. This allowed Samsung to get rid of the traditional cutout for the front camera in the flexible screen.

The Galaxy Fold4 platform has also been significantly updated, the smartphone received a new 4-nanometer Qualcomm processor Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 with Adreno 730 graphics and 12 GB of RAM. The built-in data storage in the smartphone can be 256, 512 GB or 1 TB. There is no support for memory cards.

The set of main cameras in Galaxy Fold4 is represented by three modules:

• 50-megapixel wide-angle camera with f/1.8 aperture, phase detection autofocus and optical stabilization;
• 10-megapixel telephoto with f/2.4 aperture, phase detection autofocus, optical stabilization, 3x optical zoom and hybrid zoom up to 30x;
• 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle with f/2.2 aperture and optical stabilization.

Another selfie camera is also located in the cutout of the outer screen, but with a higher resolution of 10 megapixels and an aperture of f/2.2.

Smartphone data security is ensured by a capacitive fingerprint scanner, which is built into the power button located on the right side of the case.

The battery in the Galaxy Fold4 has not changed and has a capacity of 4400 mAh, but the better energy efficiency of the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 in general can have a positive effect on the autonomy of the smartphone. The Fold4 charges via a USB Type-C port and supports fast charging of 25W or more and can restore the battery from 0 to 50% in 30 minutes.

Galaxy Fold4 runs under the control of the operating system Android 12L, which has been adapted for tablets and smartphones with flexible screens. In addition, Samsung uses its own One UI 4.1.1 interface with some software improvements, for example, support for multitasking mode, which allows you to place three windows on the screen at once.

Also, in this version of One UI for Fold4, a new application panel has appeared, similar to the taskbar in Windows, on which you can pin the icons of the desired applications and quickly switch between them.

Traditionally for Samsung smartphones with a flexible screen, the price of the Galaxy Fold4 is high and starts in Ukraine at 74,999 UAH for the version with 256 GB of memory, and the model with 512 GB will cost 79,999 UAH.