Pros & Cons
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- Appealing design
- Larger and brighter outer display
- Excellent main screen
- Good network performance
- Galaxy AI with Gemini Live
- Decent cameras
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- Only average battery life
- Limited functionality of outer screen
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 Specs
| Battery Life (As Tested) | 31 hours |
| Camera Resolution (Rear; Front-Facing) | 50MP, 12MP; 10MP |
| CPU | Exynos 2500 |
| Dimensions | 6.56 by 2.96 by 0.26 inches unfolded, 3.37 by 2.96 by 0.54 inches folded |
| Operating System | Android 16 |
| Screen Resolution | 2,520 by 1,080 pixels |
| Screen Size | 6.9 |
The $1,099.99 Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 looks similar to last year's model, but the company has retooled its design in subtle ways, giving it larger, brighter screens and packing it full of AI. We appreciate the thinner and tougher hinge, the easy access to Gemini Live, and decent cameras, but wish the battery ran longer and that the phone didn't get so warm during everyday use. For its combination of price, powerful AI, fun form factor, and long support window, the Galaxy Z Flip 7 is the best flip phone for most people. But if epic battery life matters more to you, the Motorola Razr Ultra ($1,299.99) is worth a look.
Design: A Refined Flip
The Galaxy Z Flip 7 isn't too different from the Z Flip 6, but Samsung adjusts it in just the right ways to make it a more user-friendly device. The company did the same thing with the Flip 7 that it did with the flagship Fold 7. For lack of a better way to describe it, it took the previous generation model and pressed it flatter. This means the phone is somewhat wider and slightly thinner than before.
(Credit: Eric Zeman)The Z Flip 7 measures 6.56 by 2.96 by 0.26 inches (HWD) when it’s open and 3.37 by 2.96 by 0.54 inches when closed. It weighs 6.63 ounces. Last year's Flip 6 measures 6.50 by 2.83 by 0.27 inches open and 3.35 by 2.83 by 0.59 inches closed, and it weighs 6.60 ounces. The cheaper Flip 7 FE ($699.99) shares its dimensions with the 2024 Flip 6. Meanwhile, the Motorola Razr Ultra measures 6.75 by 2.91 by 0.28 inches when opened, 3.47 by 2.91 by 0.62 inches when closed, and weighs 7.02 ounces. It's nice to put such a small device like the Flip 7 in your pocket. It slips right in.
(Credit: Eric Zeman)These minor changes in the phone's dimensions have a major impact on usability. Because it is wider from side to side, the inner screen's aspect ratio changes from a tall 22:9 to 21:9. It may not sound like much, but it makes a big difference when you're typing messages on the screen. The added width gives your thumbs the extra bit of room they need to peck out messages more quickly and accurately.
(Credit: Eric Zeman)Otherwise, the phone maintains the basic look, strong materials, and high-quality build that we expect. The Flip 7 features Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the front and back to protect against scratches and breakage. The Armor Aluminum frame runs all the way around the outer edge and covers the strengthened hinge, which is more fluid than before. The Z Flip 7 has the same IP48 rating as last year's phone and is resistant to particles of dust up to 1mm. It's rated to survive a dunk in about five feet of water for up to 30 minutes.
The phone has a power button and a volume rocker on the right side. Because this is a flip phone, these two buttons "change position" depending on how you use the device. When closed, the power button is on top and the volume toggle is below. These positions are reversed when the phone is open. It makes it hard to remember which button is which from time to time. The volume toggle is a little short for my taste, and this means you may accidentally lower the volume when you intend to raise it. Also, the power button is recessed and hard to find by feel.
The power button doubles as a fingerprint scanner, and Samsung changed the way you register your print. The new process works well enough, but the reader can be finicky. I sometimes had to touch it twice to get it to recognize my prints. A USB-C port for charging and data transfer sits on the phone's bottom edge between the microphone and speaker grille. The SIM card tray is on the left edge.
(Credit: Eric Zeman)Samsung sells the Flip 7 in Blue Shadow, Coral Red, and Jetblack. If these don't work for you, an exclusive Mint color is available only from Samsung's website. The metal frame and rear panel colors match, though the top half is black when the outer screen is off. Two raised camera lenses poke up from the corner of the screen and are joined by a small flash. The Blue Shadow color of our review unit looks sharp.
Displays: A Small Bump in Size Goes a Long Way
The Flip 7 has bigger screens outside and in. The outer display expands from 3.6 inches on the Flip 6 to 4.1 inches. It has incredibly narrow 0.05-inch bezels that frame the display. It is a Super AMOLED screen with a resolution of 1,048 by 948 pixels and a variable refresh rate between 60Hz and 120Hz. It includes Samsung's Vision Booster to improve outdoor viewing. The outer screen reaches 2,600 nits of peak brightness. For comparison, the Flip 7 FE has a 3.4-inch outer screen with a resolution of 720 by 748 pixels, a 60Hz refresh rate, and a peak brightness of 1,600 nits, and the Razr Ultra has a 4.0-inch pOLED external screen with a resolution of 1,272 by 1,080 pixels, a variable refresh rate up to 165Hz, and a peak brightness of 3,000 nits.
(Credit: Eric Zeman)The inner screen jumps from 6.7 inches to 6.9 inches. It is a Dynamic AMOLED 2x panel with a resolution of 2,520 by 1,080 pixels and an adaptive refresh rate between 1Hz and 120Hz. At its peak, it reaches a blazing 2,600 nits of brightness. The 7 FE's inner screen is a 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2x panel at 2,640 by 1,080 pixels, 1Hz to 120Hz refresh rate, and 2,600 nits. Rounding out the comparison, the Razr Ultra has a 7.0-inch main screen at 2,992 by 1,224 pixels, 165Hz refresh rate, and 4,500 nits. It's by far the brightest of the bunch.
(Credit Eric Zeman)Both of the Z Flip 7's screens are excellent when it comes to everyday usability. I really appreciate the larger outer screen, which is easier to read and interact with across the board. The brightness really helps when it comes to taking selfies. The broader inner screen still reveals the crease along the hinge, though it mostly disappears when the display is on. The inner display is also somewhat more reflective than the outer screen and can catch glare from time to time. The brightness helps get around this to a degree.
Performance: Things Get Hot With Exynos
Here's where things take a curious turn. Samsung drops the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 of last year's Flip 6 in favor of its own Exynos 2500 processor. The 2500 is joined by 12GB of RAM. The Flip 7 FE has 8GB of RAM and an Exynos 2400 processor. Meanwhile, the Razr Ultra has a top-of-the-line Snapdragon 8 Elite chip with 16GB of RAM.
(Credit: Eric Zeman)The Exynos 2500 is relatively unknown, but its primary core spins up to 3.2GHz. Samsung says the Flip 7's Exynos circuit board is the most dense it has ever designed. The base 256GB model costs $1,099.99, and the 512GB model costs $1,219.99.
I noticed two things right away while testing the phone. First, everyday performance seems fine. I didn't run into any issues using the phone for normal tasks, like browsing the web, watching some YouTube videos, or reading my email. Second, it gets crazy hot while seemingly doing nothing at all. I put the phone in my pocket one day while out running errands and noticed things heating up after about an hour. It stayed warm all afternoon. When I checked what was running in the background, it tagged location services as the culprit. Further, activities like using the camera seem to tax the processor, which gets remarkably warm even after capturing just a few snaps. Running benchmarks pushed the phone pretty hard, and it was hot to the touch afterward.
(Credit: Geekbench/PCMark/GFXBench/PCMag)We use Geekbench 6 to measure CPU performance. The Flip 7 scored 2,267 on the single-core test and 7,594 on the multi-core test. The Z Flip 6 scored 2,133 and 6,134 on the same tests, so there is a solid improvement year over year. Meanwhile, the Razr Ultra scored 2,913 and 8,727, and the Z Fold 7 scored 3,024 and 9,468.
On the PCMark Work 3.0 test, which shows how well the phone performs general mobile tasks, the Z Flip 7 scored 15,187, compared with the Z Flip 6 (17,847) and the Z Fold 7 (18,015 ). This is an obvious downgrade.
Last, I ran the GFXBench Aztec Ruins test to see how the GPU performs. The Z Flip 7 ran the test at 57 frames per second (fps), which is better than the Z Flip 6 (42fps) but behind the Razr Ultra (80fps).
To sample some gaming, I played Asphalt Legends for a bit. The game ran well, and I zipped through a couple of stages with no problems, but the phone did get warm to the touch. The Z Fold 7 also warmed up during benchmark testing and gaming, but it didn't get nearly as warm as the Flip 7. It could be that the phone's ultra-thin frame plays a role. We reached out to Samsung for comment.
Battery Life: It Lasts Long Enough
The Flip 7's battery specs and performance mostly mirror those of last year's Z Flip 6, but there is some good news. Samsung bumped up the battery's capacity from 4,000mAh to 4,300mAh, which is a nice improvement of 7%. The phone's 25W wired charging, 15W wireless charging, and 5W reverse wireless charging remain the same.
(Credit: Eric Zeman)Samsung says the Z Flip 7 can deliver 31 hours of video playback for a 720p video that's stored locally on the phone. We test battery life by streaming a 1080p high-definition video over Wi-Fi with the screen brightness maxed out. In our test, the Flip 7 showed some improvement and ran for 17 hours and 30 minutes, a decent jump over the Z Flip 6's time of 16 hours and 20 minutes. Neither of these times comes close to the Moto Razr, which lasted 22 hours and 3 minutes. The Ultra also supports faster charging speeds at 68W for wired and 30W for wireless. It charged up in 1 hour and 27 minutes compared with the Z Flip 7's time of 1 hour and 58 minutes.
Normal slab-style phones often charge dramatically faster. The OnePlus 13 ($899.99), for example, can charge at up to 80W when plugged in using the company's SuperVOOC tech. It recharges fully in just over 30 minutes.
The Z Flip 7 consistently lasted all day during two weeks of testing, but it was often down near 30% by bedtime.
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Connectivity: Fast Speeds Are What We Like
The phone has a fast set of radios. Samsung gave the Z Flip 7 the same advanced radio package it gave the Fold 7, which includes Bluetooth 5.4, dual-band GPS, NFC, sub-6GHz, C-band, and mmWave 5G, as well as Wi-Fi 7. The phone performed flawlessly in 5G and Wi-Fi speed tests.
(Credit: Eric Zeman)We tested the phone on T-Mobile's network in the New York City area, where it reached excellent maximum speeds of 745Mbps down and 83.7Mbps up. Those are some of the quicker speeds we've recorded lately. To compare, the Z Fold 7 reached 652Mbps down and 61.4Mbps up when tested in the same spot. The Z Flip 7 covers all the spectrum needed to run just as well on the 4G/5G networks of AT&T and Verizon.
When tested against the Wi-Fi 6E access point in my office, the Flip 7 nabbed 681Mbps down and 273Mbps up, which is in the same ballpark as the Z Fold 7 (756Mbps down and 231Mbps up). Both phones showed speeds of about 220Mbps down and 85Mbps up when tested at the far edge of my network, which demonstrates how good the radios are.
Audio: Punchy, Pulsing Sound That Adds Depth
The Z Flip 7 has two speakers—one that fires downward from the bottom edge and one that doubles as the earpiece for phone calls. Together, they create stereo sound for your music and video content. This phone sounds way better than it has any right to.
(Credit: Eric Zeman)Phone calls are crystal clear. Samsung's tech does a great job of lowering background noise so your caller can hear you clearly despite any surrounding din. The earpiece produces plenty of volume (88dB in our measurements) during calls, which is sufficient for most places you'll need to make a call. The stereo speakers also do a fine job with your media. The pulsing bass notes of our test track, The Knife's "Silent Shout," thumped loudly and were easy to hear throughout the song's ups and downs. The latest movie trailers sounded excellent, too, with plenty of low-end adding depth to things like explosions and crashes.
The phone supports a good range of Bluetooth codecs, include the high-resolution LDAC, which makes it a great companion for a good pair of wireless headphones.
Cameras: Sharp, Colorful Photos Abound
Unlike the Z Fold 7, the Flip 7 doesn't get a big glow-up when it comes to the cameras. In fact, the phone carries over the hardware from the Flip 6, which means it has a 50MP main sensor with an aperture of f/1.8, dual-pixel autofocus, optical image stabilization (OIS), and a decent 85-degree field of view (FoV). It is joined by a 12MP ultra-wide camera with a 123-degree FoV, and a 10MP selfie camera with an 85-degree FoV. While the first two cameras are located in the outer display, the selfie camera is visible in a small cutout at the top of the inner display.
(Credit: Eric Zeman)The most important change is that the phone uses Samsung's latest ProVisual Engine. This new image signal processing software works in tandem with the Exynos 2500 to analyze photos and help them look their best. It also offers features like always-on 10-bit HDR+ color.
The main camera takes binned 12.5MP images by default, but a simple button lets you switch to full-resolution 50MP photos with a quick tap. In general, the photos look good. I saw good focus, mostly accurate color, decent exposure, and proper white balance. Not too much separates 12.5MP shots from 50MP shots at a glance (see comparison below), but the full-resolution photos capture a surprising amount of detail with little noise. It's an effective main camera that should make most people happy.
Because there's no telephoto camera, the Z Flip 7 uses digital cropping to get you closer to your subject. It offers simple 2x, 4x, and 10x notches for zooming and a dial for fine-tuning the frame. Even shots at 10x are sharp, clean, and have good color.
The 12MP ultra-wide camera shoots at 0.6x and has obvious optical distortion in the corners. Even so, super-wide photos are fairly impressive. They have the same color and exposure as those taken with the main camera, but aren't quite as sharp and tend to show more noise. The Flip 7 doesn't share the Fold 7's macro mode in the ultra-wide camera, but it still works well enough for close-ups with an exaggerated background.
As with previous Galaxy Flip phones, the Flip 7 has a dedicated camera mode that springs into action when you fold the phone in half. A special menu lets you easily adjust settings with your thumb, and you can even call up a touchpad for selecting your focus point and more.
There are two ways to take selfies with the Flip 7. You can open the phone and use the self-facing camera that's tucked into the top of the screen, but that would be wrong. Sure, it takes fine photos and offers the nice big main display to use as your viewfinder, but it's not all that much fun. Instead, you should leave the phone closed and use the main camera for your selfies. The outer screen provides a preview window so you can see what you're shooting, and you get much better shots thanks to the higher-resolution sensor. A quick access menu on this screen lets you swiftly change aspect ratios, resolution, and take control over other settings.
Video capture tops out at 4K60, but that's with HDR10+ color. You can turn the high-contrast color capture off to save storage space, but your videos will look better with it on. You can snag plenty of video styles, including hyperlapse and slow motion. If you're shooting action video, you can use the OIS tool to steady things out, but you'll lose resolution (drops from 4K to quad HD). The video results are quite good no matter which mode you use.
If photography and videography are your top requirement, you'll be better off with a Pixel 9 Pro XL ($899), but the Flip 7 doesn't ask you to compromise too much.
Software: Gemini Live AI Mode Is the Star
Like the Galaxy Z Fold 7, the Z Flip 7 is among the first wave of devices to ship with Android 16, putting Samsung ahead of Google for the first time. You'll enjoy seven years of OS and security upgrades, which is the same timeframe that Google offers its Pixels. The phone runs Samsung's OneUI 8.
The software experience largely mirrors that of the Z Fold 7, save for a few tricks that are reserved for the Fold's larger screen. You can read about all of them in depth in our Fold 7 review.
The Flip 7 lets you run up to two apps on the screen at a time, with a third available as an overlay. The Flex mode panel lets you use the phone as a tiny laptop, though this applies mostly to the camera app, and DeX mode is available to the Flip for the first time. DeX creates a PC-like desktop experience when you plug the phone into a monitor.
Unfortunately, the outer screen is somewhat frustrating due to some limitations. Where the Motorola Razr Ultra's outer screen can run full apps, the Samsung Flex Screen only supports widgets out of the box. If you jump into the advanced menu and find the right lab, you can enable some apps to run on the outer screen, but Samsung makes this harder than it should be, and the selection is limited.
The phone has Photo Assist (moves or erases background objects), Portrait Studio (cleans up photos), and Suggest Edit (phone automatically selects and erases background distractions). Beyond those three, Audio Eraser (detects and removes unwanted background noise), Drawing Assist (turns sketches into full images), and Writing Assist (revises your text) are all better than the versions on older Galaxy devices.
Then there's Gemini Live AI Mode. This tool is available on the Z Fold 7, too, but using it on the Flip 7—without ever opening the phone—is a lot of fun. You can easily call up Google's chatbot and have an ongoing conversation, share your screen for visual searches, and ask an unending barrage of questions. It almost makes up for the outer screen's inability to run full apps.