Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 vs Galaxy Z Flip 5: Is it time to upgrade?

Are two generations enough to justify an upgrade when it comes to flip phones? It's time to find out! This is our Galaxy Z Flip 5 vs Galaxy Z Flip 7 comparison.

By Mariyan Slavov

Updated: Jul 21, 2025, 5:35 AM

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Samsung

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Intro

The next big thing in flip phones has just arrived! The official announcement of the Galaxy Z Flip 7, the next flagship flip phone from Samsung is now behind us.

With the Motorola Razr Ultra already making rounds and getting a lot of attention, Samsung needed to bring some upgrades to the table in order to compete. And most importantly, convince its long-time fans to stay inside the ecosystem.

Speaking of which, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 will be two years old soon, and people might already be on the lookout for a replacement. So, should they upgrade to the upcoming Galaxy Z Flip 7 or look elsewhere? Let's find out!

$499 ⁹⁹

$1219 ⁹⁹

$720 off (59%)

Samsung's Galaxy Z Flip 7 pre-orders have finished. At the time of writing, the smartphone is available for up to $600 off with eligible device trade-ins. On top of that, you can get a $120 extra discount in the form of a free storage upgrade.

Buy at Samsung

$399 ⁹⁹

$959 ⁹⁹

$560 off (58%)

If you're looking for a relatively affordable Galaxy flip phone, consider the Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE. Right now, this device arrives for up to $500 off at the Samsung Store. You can also get a $60 extra discount as a free storage upgrade.

Buy at Samsung

Galaxy Z Flip 7 vs Galaxy Z Flip 5 differences:

Galaxy Z Flip 7	Galaxy Z Flip 5
Same overall design, slightly bigger footprint	A tad more compact device, potentially lighter
Same camera housing redesigned cover screen	Cover screen doesn't wrap around the cameras
Upgraded 50MP main camera	One 12MP main camera and one 12MP ultrawide
1-120Hz AMOLED main display, 2600 nits brightness	120Hz AMOLED display, 1750 nits peak brightness
Slightly bigger display at 6.9 inches, lower pixel density	6.7-inch display, 1080 x 2640 pixels resolution
Bigger 4.1-inch cover screen with 120Hz refresh rate	3.4-inch cover screen, 60Hz refresh rate
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite platform/Exynos 2500	Two generations older Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset
12GB of RAM	8GB of RAM
Bigger 4,300 potentially better battery life	3,700 mAh battery
The same charging speeds	25W wired, 15W wireless charging

Table of Contents:

Design
Display
Performance
Camera
Battery
Specs
Summary

Design and Size

Slightly bigger dimensions

Тhe Galaxy Z Flip 7 follows in the same footsteps as its predecessors, including the Galaxy Z Flip 5. The listed dimensions suggest that the new model is a tad wider to accommodate the larger main screen. We're talking a couple of millimeters, so nothing drastic.

The design is very similar between generations but the new phone features an edge-to-edge cover screen, similar to what Motorola has been doing for some time now. Overall, the Galaxy Z Flip 7 is also thinner, Samsung boasts 6.5 mm thickness unfolded and 13.7 mm folded, making it the thinnest Samsung flip phone to date.

The weight of the Galaxy Z Flip 7 is very similar to that of its predecessors, again Galaxy Z Flip 5 included. You can check the exact dimensions and weights in the table below.

Galaxy Z Flip 7	Galaxy Z Flip 5
Thickness Unfolded: 6.5 mm Folded: 13.7 mm	Thickness Unfolded: 6.9 mm Folded: 15.1 mm
Dimensions Unfolded: 166.7 x 75.2 Folded: 85.5 х 75.2	Dimensions Unfolded: 165.1 x 71.9 Folded: 85.1 x 71.9
Weight 188 grams	Weight 187 grams

In terms of materials, there aren't any radical changes—it's the same glass and metal sandwich design all over again. The Galaxy Z Flip 7 features Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on its back and over its cover screen, just like the Galaxy Z Flip 5. Both phones rely on aluminum frames.

The Galaxy Z Flip 7 launched in four hues, one of which is a Samsung store exclusive. There's a new Coral Red color, and the aforementioned exclusive color is Mint. You can see the color comparison with the Galaxy Z Flip 5 below.

Galaxy Z Flip 7	Galaxy Z Flip 5
-	Cream
-	Graphite
-	Blue
Blue Shadow	Yellow
Mint (Samsung.com exclusive)	Mint
Jet Black	Lavender
Coral Red	Gray

Display Differences

Bigger screens all around

Samsung has brought some changes to both displays of the Galaxy Z Flip 7, compared to last generation, and, of course, compared to the Galaxy Z Flip 5. The main flexible screen has grown in size to 6.9 inches, and the cover screen now stretches edge-to-edge coming in at 4.1 inches.

Galaxy Z Flip 7*	Galaxy Z Flip 5
Size Main screen: 6.9" Cover screen: 4.1"	Size Main screen: 6.7" Cover screen: 3.4"
Brightness 2600 nits (peak)	Brightness 1750 nits (peak)

In terms of brightness, the same 2600 nits of peak brightness figures are cited for the Galaxy Z Flip 7, which in turn means an upgrade from the advertised 1750 nits on the Galaxy Z Flip 5. In our display test, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 managed only 857 nits of brightness at 100% APL, which, by 2025 standards, is average. Let's see the test results.

Display Measurements:

	Bright max(20%APL)Higher is better	Bright max(100%APL)Higher is better	Bright minLower is better	Color temp	Gamma	Delta E rgbcmyLower is better	Delta E grayscaleLower is better
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7	1750 (Good)	1162 (Good)	0.88 (Excellent)	6693	2.08	2.33 (Good)	6.11 (Average)
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5	No data	827 (Average)	1 (Excellent)	6437	2.01	2.65 (Good)	6.09 (Average)

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The CIE 1931 xy color gamut chart represents the set(area)of colors that a display can reproduce,with the sRGB colorspace(the highlighted triangle)serving as reference.The chart also provides a visual representation of a display's color accuracy. The small squares across the boundaries of the triangle are the reference points for the various colors, while the small dots are the actual measurements. Ideally, each dot should be positioned on top of its respective square. The 'x:CIE31' and 'y:CIE31' values in the table below the chart indicate the position of each measurement on the chart. 'Y' shows the luminance (in nits) of each measured color, while 'Target Y' is the desired luminance level for that color. Finally, 'ΔE 2000' is the Delta E value of the measured color. Delta E values of below 2 are ideal.

These measurements are made using Portrait Displays' CalMAN calibration software.

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Both screens on the Galaxy Z Flip 7 are able to go up to 120 Hz, but the main one is an LTPO covering 1-120 Hz, while the cover has fixed 60/120 Hz refresh rates. The Galaxy Z Flip 5, on the other hand, can do only 60 Hz on its cover screen but features the same LTPO tech on the main display. Stay tuned for lab tests soon.

Performance and Software

Exynos makes a surprise return

Surprise, surprise! Exynos is back. The Galaxy Z Flip 7 comes with the Exynos 2500 chipset, the latest from Samsung foundries, built on a 3nm node. This is the debut of this specific silicon, so we don't have any idea how it stacks against the Snapdragon 8 Elite.

We expected the Z Flip 7 to actually get the aforementioned Qualcomm chipset, but the surprise was real. Let's see how the Galaxy Z Flip 7 fared in our performance tests.

Galaxy Z Flip 7	Galaxy Z Flip 5
Chip Samsung Exynos 2500	Chip Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
Process 3nm	Process 4nm
RAM 12GB	RAM 8GB

Performance Benchmarks:

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Well, the Galaxy Z Flip 7 is faster than the Galaxy Z Flip 5, but the difference is not huge, especially in single-core performance. The first pass of the 3DMark bench is also not that far off, meaning in normal day-to-day tasks both phones will yield comparable results. There's still life left in the Galaxy Z Flip 5, and we start to question Samsung's choice to slap the Exynos 2400 inside the new model.

The RAM situation is in favor of the Galaxy Z Flip 7, the phone mimics the RAM of the previous model coming in at 12GB, which is still more than what the Galaxy Z Flip 5 has to offer, which is just 8GB of RAM.

The Galaxy Z Flip 7 launches with OneUI 8 out of the box over Android 16. In contrast, the Galaxy Z Flip 5, which is almost two years old now, was announced with OneUI 5 and Android 13 but was brought up to the latest OS with subsequent updates.

Speaking of updates, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 will get only four years of major OS updates (two are already in the drain), while the Galaxy Z Flip 7 will be supported for seven more years, which is a huge difference in longevity.

Camera

Main wide camera upgrades

Well, there aren't any hardware upgrades to the camera of the Galaxy Z Flip 7, compared to the last generation. Samsung already upgraded the main camera on the Galaxy Z Flip 6, so in practice, we've got a better main camera on the Galaxy Z Flip 7, if we compare it to the Galaxy Z Flip 5.

Galaxy Z Flip 7	Galaxy Z Flip 5
Main 50 MP f/1.8 23 mm (wide) 1/1.57"	Main 12 MP f/1.8 24 mm (wide) 1/1.76"
Ultrawide 12 MP f/2.2 13 mm (ultrawide) 123 FOV	Ultrawide 12 MP f/2.2 13 mm (ultrawide) 123 FOV

The Galaxy Z Flip 5 managed a camera score of 136 overall (the current best is 158) in our test, which is not very far from its direct successor (137 for the Galaxy Z Flip 6), so we let's see how the Galaxy Z Flip 7 fared in our lab tests.

PhoneArena Camera Score:

Photo

Video

Phone	Camera Score	Photo Score	Main (wide)	Ultra Wide	Selfie	Zoom
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7	139	146	79	19	27	23
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5	136	137	73	20	26	17

Phone	Camera Score	Video Score	Main (wide)	Ultra Wide	Selfie	Zoom
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7	139	133	73	19	24	18
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5	136	135	75	21	25	15

Find out more details about photo and video scores for all phones we have tested on our PhoneArena Camera Score page

The results are not surprising, the upgraded main camera of the Galaxy Z Flip 7 helps and get the phone a final score of 139. Time for some real-world samples!