Lisa Eadicicco/Business Insider
- Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Z Flip on Tuesday, a flip phone with a foldable screen that bends in half.
- During my brief time using the Z Flip, I was impressed with its smooth glass screen, the way the hinge was able to keep the display propped open, and its compact design.
- The Flip still doesn't answer the overarching question of why you might want a foldable phone in the first place, but its glass screen, lower price, and higher-quality camera should give it a leg up over the very similar Motorola Razr.
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With its next foldable device, Samsung is bringing back the flip phone.
The company unveiled the Galaxy Z Flip on Tuesday, a new smartphone with a foldable screen that snaps shut like an old-school flip phone. For Samsung, it's the second iteration of what it believes could be the next evolution of the smartphone, coming after it launched the larger, tablet-sized Galaxy Fold last year.
Transform talent with learning that worksCapability development is critical for businesses who want to push the envelope of innovation.Discover how business leaders are strategizing around building talent capabilities and empowering employee transformation.Know More The Z Flip's defining feature is its foldable display, which bends horizontally to give the phone a clamshell form factor. That's a major departure from the Galaxy Fold, the phone Samsung debuted roughly one year ago that opens and closes vertically like a book.
Samsung's new take on the foldable smartphone - and the other improvements it's brought to the Flip such as a flexible glass display and a hinge that's better at keeping out debris - serves as further evidence that major device makers are still experimenting with what's next for the smartphone. It also comes after Motorola just launched a very similar foldable phone, a revival of its classic Razr from the early 2000s.
After spending roughly 30 minutes using the new Z Flip, I can tell that there's promise in bringing back the flip phone. There's the convenience factor that comes with being able to fold a phone in half and more easily store it in small spaces, like a small purse or pocket, and the way the foldable screen neatly splits the display in half when using apps in split-screen mode. But whether that justifies paying a price that's slightly higher than that of the average smartphone has yet to be seen.
Overall, the Galaxy Z Flip doesn't feel all that different than using a regular smartphone, and perhaps that's a good sign. That it feels just as natural as the phones we use today and doesn't require a learning curve is a signal that there might be promise in the Z Flip.
Here's a closer look at what it's like to use the Galaxy Z Flip.