Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Z Fold 5 phones unveiled, plus Galaxy Tab S9 and Tab S9 Ultra, and Galaxy Watch 6: here’s what’s new
- The Flip 5 was the star of Samsung’s 2023 flagship show in Seoul, boasting a much larger OLED cover screen, better hinge and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip
- The Fold 5 also got a better hinge and brighter main display, while on the tablet front, the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra packs the largest battery in any tablet
While traditionally holding product launches in the US and occasionally Europe, Samsung took its flagship show home for the first time this year. Titled “Unpacked”, the event in South Korea’s capital Seoul saw the unveiling of two new foldable phones, a trio of tablets, and two new smartwatches.
As the show’s slogan – “Join the flip side” – clearly suggested, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 was the star.
The outside cover screen of the clamshell foldable got a significant bump to 3.7 inches – three times more screen real estate than before – which finally allows the device to be used fully when folded.
However, Samsung’s Flip 5 is more polished than Motorola’s best offering, with superior software and image processing, and a customised Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip that has been optimised for Samsung by Qualcomm.
The Flip 5’s hinge also received a big improvement: the phone can finally fold entirely flat after years of leaving a gap in closed form. This new hinge and chip also made their way over to the Galaxy Z Fold 5. The larger foldable also gained a brighter main folding display and a thinner, lighter build.
On the tablet front, the Galaxy Tab S9 series comes in three screen sizes: 11 inch, 12.4 inch and a whopping 14.6 inch. All three are powered by the newest Qualcomm chip and support stylus and keyboard accessories.
The largest model, named the Tab S9 Ultra, packs the largest battery in any tablet at 11,200mAh, yet the device remains slim at under 6mm.
Samsung says it has further fine-tuned its DeX desktop software to allow the tablets to behave more like a conventional computer when attached to a keyboard. But with four speakers optimised by AKG and Samsung’s OLED display technology, these tablets would also be excellent media consumption devices.
The best way to use these tablets, in my opinion, is with their keyboard case accessory, which was not available for testing at press time.
On the wearable side, Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 6 series brings back a “Classic” model with a physical rotatable bezel that was eliminated in 2022’s series.
The bezel is thinner than in years past, but still elevates over the screen to offer some extra protection. Samsung is claiming you won’t really need it, as both the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic and non-bezelled standard model have displays covered by “sapphire crystal” glass.
The Classic’s screen size is also the largest of any Samsung watch yet, measuring 1.5 inches in diameter.
The watches are powered by Samsung’s new Exynos W930 chip, which the company promises provides superior battery efficiency, so the devices will no longer need to be charged every night.
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They’re also running on Google’s new WearOS 4, which brings a host of improvements including better Google apps for the wrist and seamless pairing across devices.
While Samsung’s Z Flip 5 was very much the star of the show and the device with the most eye-catching new design, I personally think the Z Fold 5 is by far the most impressive product.
Even if rival foldables are slimmer and lighter, Samsung’s software optimisations for its large-screen foldables are still unparalleled, and the book-like Z Fold 5 is still the single device that changes how consumers use a product in ways Apple has not yet offered.
The others should also be great devices, but are merely alternatives to the industry-leading iPad and Apple Watch.
Still, the unpacked event indicates Samsung is not letting up in trying to build an ecosystem of its own, not just one that represents Samsung, but Android as well.
