Over the last few months, I’ve fallen in love with the foldables – so much so, in fact, that I’ve essentially ditched my iPhone in favor of the hybrid smartphone format.
This newfound appreciation for foldables meant that I was beyond excited to see what Samsung had up its sleeve for Galaxy Unpacked earlier this week, and suffice to say, I was ready to part ways with my hard-earned cash for a Z Fold 7.
Now, just a few days after the phone’s official reveal, I’m left feeling conflicted about Samsung’s new flagship foldable – and I know the reason why.
On the one hand, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is an incredibly big step forward compared to the Z Fold 6, but on the other, there’s a big elephant in the room: the best Chinese foldables from companies like Oppo and Honor are still objectively better devices – at least in terms of hardware.
My time with the Oppo Find N5
Before I go into depth as to why I’m torn about buying the Z Fold 7 as my first personal Android device (yes, I’ve been buying iPhones since 2008), I need to give you a bit of background on my experience with foldables.
I’ve been using the Oppo Find N5 over the last couple of months, an incredible piece of China-made kit that was sent to TechRadar for review. However, as a tech journalist, I view products I buy versus products I write about in completely different lights, often returning to my personal devices after I switch off my laptop in the evening.
In the case of the foldable Oppo Find N5, I’ve loved my experience with it so much, and found the hardware to be so innovative, that I’ve used it as my daily work driver for the last six weeks or so. But even then, where I’ve opted to use the device outside of work, and not for review, I still find myself gravitating back to my personal iPhone – primarily because I own it, so it feels like it’s mine.
TL;DR, I absolutely love the Oppo Find N5, but if you want to buy it in the West, you’ll need to import one from Singapore. And while I’ll continue to use this smartphone until it needs to be returned, it will never truly feel like my own. That’s why I was seriously contemplating forking out over $2,000 on a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7.
Enter Samsung… kind of
If you want to buy a foldable smartphone in the US or the UK, Samsung’s brand-new Z Fold 7 is now the best on the market. It has better displays than its predecessor, the best chipset in any Android device (the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy), a fantastic camera setup, and, in my opinion, most importantly, the best Android skin out there, One UI 8.
In hand, when you compare it to the Z Fold 6 and even other foldable smartphones from giants like Google, it’s awesome. In fact, I went to play around with the Fold 7 in my local Samsung Store last night, and I was shocked at just how good it felt to hold; 215g is lighter than my iPhone 16 Pro Max!
Samsung’s new foldable might feel new in the grand scheme of Samsung devices, but Chinese manufacturers cracked the code a long time ago.
The thing is, I’m not looking to buy the Z Fold 7 from the eyes of someone who purchases a new smartphone every few years and is only aware of what’s available in a bubble dominated by Samsung, Google, and Apple. I live and breathe technology, and no matter how hard I try to justify the Z Fold 7, I can’t help but feel disappointed and short-changed because of what else is out there.
Both the Oppo Find N5 and Honor’s latest foldable, the Magic V5, are as thin as the Fold 7, if not thinner, and in the case of the Oppo, it has existed for nearly six months. See what I’m getting at? Samsung’s new foldable might feel new in the grand scheme of Samsung devices and what’s readily available in Western smartphones, but Chinese manufacturers cracked the code a long time ago.
In fact, Samsung itself cracked the code last year by launching the Z Fold 6 Special Edition, which is very close to the Z Fold 7 in terms of specs, but again, it was never sold outside of Asia.
The biggest issue
There’s one key area, however, where the Fold 7 falls extra short compared to other top-tier foldables out there, and that’s battery. You see, these flagship Chinese foldables have battery technology powered by silicon-carbon, which allows manufacturers to fit large capacities into smaller form factors.
The tech is so incredible that the Oppo Find N5 I’ve been using has a 5,600mAh battery with amazing 80W fast-charging. The Honor Magic V5 – which is set to launch in Europe later this year – takes that one step further with over 6,000mAh.
Considering how much of a power drain the large internal screen of a foldable is, mixed with the thinness of these devices, it’s absolutely astonishing to have genuine two-day battery life in this form factor. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that it’s the biggest smartphone innovation I’ve experienced in the last decade, since it completely eliminates battery anxiety.
Knowing that this technology exists, and that it’s readily available even on phones sold outside of Asia, like the OnePlus 13, I can’t help but feel like the 4,400mAh battery in the Z Fold 7 is an insult. Heck, the Z Flip 7 in its tiny form factor has nearly the same amount!
Innovation in a bubble
So there you have it, the dilemma that’s preventing me from purchasing a Samsung Z Fold 7: the awareness that better does exist.
I love my iPhone because of iOS, and I can’t experience iOS anywhere else. I love the Oppo Find N5 because of its excellent foldable design, thin form factor, and incredible battery life, and as it stands, Samsung’s latest foldable can’t compete with that.
Yes, One UI 8 is excellent, but I’m willing to sacrifice an Android skin for better battery life, and until Samsung truly catches up with the competition, I can’t see myself purchasing any foldable knowing that the best foldable phones are in the East.
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