Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 vs Galaxy Z Flip 6: Edge-to-edge cover screen!

Samsung has announced its next flip phone series—the Galaxy Z Flip 7. The competition in the flip field is now fierce, and Motorola is gaining ground fast with its Razr models, so Samsung needed to act fast and decisively with the next Galaxy Z Flip to stay competitive.

What better way to see all the upgrades and changes that the Z Flip 7 has brought to the table than to pit it against its predecessor, the Galaxy Z Flip 6? That's what we're going to do today, compare these two and see what has Samsung brought to the table with this new model.

Get the Galaxy Z Flip 7 for up to $720 off

$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

Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE is up to $560 off

$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

There's no huge change when it comes to overall design, but there are some refinements. The Galaxy Z Flip 7 features bigger main and cover screens and this has impacted the overall shape and size of the device. 

The new phone is wider and also a tad taller than its predecessor, although the weight is almost identical. We have the same boxy design and all the buttons are in the usual places, but this time around the Galaxy Z Flip 7 comes with an edge-to-edge cover screen. More on that in the display section.

Here's a quick size and weight comparison.

As we've already mentioned, there are no huge swings in the design department in any direction whatsoever. The Galaxy Z Flip 7 closely follows in the footsteps of its predecessor but refines the design further—it's thinner both folded and unfolded.

In terms of build materials, the same glass back (Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2) and an Armor Aluminum frame are present on the Galaxy Z Flip 7, just like on the Galaxy Z Flip 6.

Now, when it comes to colors we have three main color options for the new Galaxy Z Flip 7—Jet Black, Blue Shadow, and Coral Red. There's also a Samsung-exclusive Mint color. You can see how these new hues compare to the old ones on the Galaxy Z Flip 6 in the table below.

When it comes to the screen, or should we say "screens," the Galaxy Z Flip 7 upgrades both of them, compared to its predecessor.

The inner screen has grown to a size of 6.9 inches, up from 6.7 inches on the Z Flip 6, and the cover screen is also much bigger at 4.1 inches, compared to the 3.4-inch panel on the Galaxy Z Flip 6.

There's a difference in resolution as well—the Galaxy Z Flip 7 features a more detailed 1048 x 948-pixel display, while the Galaxy Z Flip 6 has 720 x 748-pixel resolution on its cover screen.

When it comes to display refresh rates, both phones feature a 1-120 Hz LTPO main screen, but the Galaxy Z Flip 7 boasts a 120 Hz refresh rate on its cover screen as well (although it's not an LTPO panel), while the Galaxy Z Flip 6 can only do 60 Hz.

Display Measurements:

In terms of brightness, the Galaxy Z Flip 7 promises the same 2600 nits of peak brightness as its predecessor, but our test showed otherwise. The phone managed to output around 1700 nits, which is substantially lower than the Galaxy Z Flip 6. We put an asterisk here, as we will investigate this irregularity further.

The Galaxy Z Flip 7 unit that currently resides in our test lab has the Exynos 2500 chipset on board. This battle will be interesting for sure, as this is the latest Samsung silicon, built on a 3nm node, debuting for the first time in a phone.

We kind of expected the Galaxy Z Flip 7 to get the Snapdragon 8 Elite, but it is what it is. The new Exynos should provide enough raw power to topple the previous model. Benchmarks below the table.

The performance results are quite interesting. The Exynos 2400 lags behind the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in single-core and graphics performance. The Galaxy Z Flip 7 only manages to outscore its predecessor in multi-core performance.

The RAM situation is identical—the Galaxy Z Flip 6 launched with 12GB of RAM, and the same goes for the Galaxy Z Flip 7. This should be enough for all Galaxy AI tricks on board, which leads us to the software part of the section.

The Galaxy Z Flip 7 comes with OneUI 8 out of the box over Android 16. In contrast, the Galaxy Z Flip 6 was announced with OneUI 6 and Android 14 but was brought up to the latest OS with a subsequent update.

Speaking of updates, the seven-year software support cycle applies to both the Galaxy Z Flip 6 and the new Galaxy Z Flip 7, which means that the newer model will outlive its predecessor by exactly one year.

Sadly, there aren't any upgrades to the camera system of the Galaxy Z Flip 7, at least not in a hardware sense. The same 50MP sensor is on duty under the 23mm lens of the main camera, and the same 12MP ultrawide has been carried over from the Galaxy Z Flip 6 as well.

The Galaxy Z Flip 6 managed a camera score of 137 overall (current best is 158) in our test, so let's see how the new phone performs with this identical hardware. 

PhoneArena Camera Score:

The Galaxy Z Flip 7 managed to score better in our camera test, with identical main camera score and a slight difference in selfie, ultrawide and zoom results. And because we all know that specs and benchmarks don't paint the full picture, there are some side-by-side samples below.

Main Camera

Just like our benchmark showed, the difference when it comes to the main camera isn't huge. We noticed that samples taken with the Galaxy Z Flip 7 have slightly better exposure and dynamic range, and they reveal a bit more detail (check out the cracks between the white planks in the background). But overall, both phones are very close when it comes to photo quality.



Come night and things continue to look similar but there are apparent differences in exposure and color tonality. The Galaxy Z Flip 6 produces brighter images with colder white balance, while the new Z Flip 7 tends to snap warmer images and also a little darker. The level of detail, and the dynamic range overall is again very comparable.

Zoom Quality

When it comes to zoom, it's all algorithms as neither of these two has a dedicated telephoto camera. The 3X zoom shots from the Galaxy Z Flip 7 look brighter and with more details in them, albeit being on the edge of overexposure. We also noticed that the dynamic range on the Galaxy Z Flip 6 is not as good as the one on the new model.

Ultra-wide Camera

The ultrawide samples look almost identical, with the Galaxy Z Flip 6 producing ever so slightly brighter images. This might be down to the algorithms choosing different values at that exact moment, though. 

Selfies

Selfies look different, and what's more surprising is that we like the selfies from the Galaxy Z Flip 6 better - they have more contrast, details and dynamic range. Put side-by-side the selfies from the Z Flip 7 look softer and a bit washed out.

Video Quality

Here's a quick video comparison between the Galaxy Z Flip 7 and the Galaxy Z Flip 6.

The Galaxy Z Flip 6 has a 4000 mAh battery inside (there are two cells due to the foldable nature of the phone) which is not that huge of a capacity nowadays. The phone managed an overall battery score of 6h 45m which ranks it #69 for phones tested in the past 2 years.

Now, the Galaxy Z Flip 7 brings a slight upgrade in that department - the battery capacity of the new phone is 4300 mAh. While not huge, this upgrade will potentially help the phone to climb up the battery test ladder. Check out the test results below.

Looking at the benchmarks above, the results are pretty close between these two. The Galaxy Z Flip 7 tackles web browsing better, while the previous generation is better at gaming. The 300 mAh upgrade has transformed into 18 minutes more battery life in our battery benchmark, which is not that big of a difference.

There are no upgrades to the charging speeds, though. The same 25W wired charging (we won't even call it fast charging) has been carried over from the predecessor, and the same goes for the wireless charging support.

Here's a quick specs comparison between the Galaxy Z Flip 7 and the Galaxy Z Flip 6 (for a more detailed one, follow the link):

It seems that Samsung has decided to play safe once again. The Galaxy Z Flip 7 brings incremental upgrades—a slightly bigger main screen, a new edge-to-edge cover screen, a new processor, and a slightly bigger battery.

This doesn't look like a huge improvement compared to the Galaxy Z Flip 6 and most likely won't convince too many people to upgrade if they already rock the previous generation. 

For new adopters of the flip form factor, the Galaxy Z Flip 7 offers a good enough package, but then again, there are great alternatives from Motorola and also from the Far East if you're willing to put some additional effort into getting something different.