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Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8 Review: The Littlest Smartphone That Could
If you crave a compact phone that doesn’t feel like a brick in your pocket and slips easily into a small bag, the flip style is for you. Samsung’s eighth-generation clamshell is seriously refined, and as svelte and slick as it comes. It may not offer a tablet-sized screen or the fashionable new passport shape, but it is arguably the most practical type of folding phone.
Like almost every other phone this year, the Z Flip8 offers tiny improvements over its predecessor and costs $100 more. If you’re wondering whether it’s worth updating from last year’s Z Flip7, it’s not. The Flip8 is a teeny bit lighter and slimmer with a newer processor, and that’s about it. But if you’re looking to dip a toe in folding-phone waters or just want something small, the Z Flip8 should be in the conversation.
Everyone is excited about the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8’s sexy new form factor, but Samsung continues to iterate on the flip phone format for folks who prize compact devices. The Z Flip8 shaves off 0.02 inches (0.55 millimeters) and a third of an ounce (8 grams) compared to its predecessor, making it the slimmest and lightest option in this category. The improved hinge makes the crease slightly less noticeable and a little easier to open. I still found it a bit tricky to open one-handed, but you get the knack after a while. The new hinge is also supposed to be more durable.
The Flip8 has an IP48 rating, so you don’t need to worry about dropping it in the bath, but tiny dust and dirt particles (less than 1 millimeter) can still cause damage. It comes in pink, like my review unit, as well as graphite, cream, and mint. It still has a physical SIM slot, and the power button has a fingerprint sensor in it that works pretty well.
The screens are the same as last year's. It has a sharp 4.1-inch AMOLED display on the outside with a 60- or 120-Hz refresh rate. Open it up to reveal the 6.9-inch main display, also AMOLED but with a variable refresh rate (1 to 120 Hz) that’s better for battery life. Both screens are reasonably bright (2,600 nits peak), and I never struggled to read the screen outdoors.
Flip phones used to get palmed off with lesser processors, but the Z Flip8 boasts the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy (the same cutting-edge chip that's in its two bigger siblings). It has 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage. You can jump to 512 GB for an extra $200, but there’s no option to increase the RAM.
I encountered no stutters or lag and found performance to be generally excellent, whether jumping in and out of apps, firing up the camera, or gaming. The Z Flip8 can get warm, and this may throttle the processor somewhat if you’re playing a demanding game for a while (more than an hour). This is mostly down to the compact design.
The stereo speakers are better than I expected. They get quite loud without distortion, and they’ll serve you just fine for watching videos. Call quality is also solid, and slamming it shut to end a call never gets tired. I also like opening it to answer calls, but you must enable this in the Phone app settings under Flip options. Connectivity includes 5G (no mmWave), Wi-Fi 7, and Bluetooth 5.4, but there’s no ultra-wideband (UWB) for more precise positioning. The Fold8 models have Bluetooth 6 and UWB.
While it’s very capable, the Z Flip8 is only average when it comes to battery life, another drawback of its size. Samsung put in a 4,300-mAh silicon-carbon battery that’s good enough for casual use. If you’re on your phone a lot, you’ll want a power bank handy. Charging speeds are disappointing at 25 watts wired and 15 watts wireless, and I’m annoyed by Samsung’s refusal to implement the magnetic feature of Qi2.
If you’re a keen photographer, you can get many better camera systems in a range of Android phones for the same money or less. That said, the main 50-megapixel shooter is perfectly good in many situations, and most folks will be happy with the photos it captures. Some noise creeps in when it’s dark. Th