Let’s kick things off with the Galaxy Z Fold 4.

The phone follows the Galaxy Z Fold 3, an entry into the series that saw the price drop but was still staggeringly high for a smartphone at around R36 999. The Galaxy Z Fold 4 retains that price point and will ship starting at R37 999. Dr. TM Roh, President and Head of Mobile eXperience Business at Samsung, described the new foldable range as offering “unparalleled mobile experiences that meet the needs of our most dynamic users.”

The phone is powered by the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 Mobile Platform, which offers up to 3.2GHz of processing power and should make both multitasking and gaming a breeze. The model will also be the first device to ship with Android 12L, which Google has specifically created for larger-screened products. The phone will also ship with 12GB of RAM and up to 1TB of internal memory.

New swipe gestures have been added to assist users in making the most of the screen space and managing multiple apps at the same time. Google’s array of apps work well with the device, as does Microsoft’s Office suite. Samsung’s S-Pen is also compatible with the Fold 4 and is arguably at its most useful when paired with a large screen device like this. The main screen itself is a Dynamic AMOLED 2X Infinity Flex display that unfolds to 7.6 inches and boasts a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate. 

Elsewhere there are five cameras scattered around the device; these consist of a 50-megapixel wide-angle camera, 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera, 10-megapixel telephoto camera, 10-megapixel selfie camera (the one on the cover side), and a well-disguised 4-megapixel under-display camera (UDC). Powering all of this is a 4,400mAh dual battery alongside Super-Fast Charging support, which Samsung says will get the Fold 4 from zero charge to 50% in around half an hour, assuming you’re using at least a 25-watt adapter.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4

The model looks a lot like the phone it succeeds, but the innards have been upgraded and there are a few additional tricks in tow to get the most out of its foldable form factor.

Let’s start with the key changes. The Galaxy Z Flip 4 gets Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC, the same as its pricier Galaxy Z Fold 4 sibling. Compared to the 3,300mAh battery of its predecessor, which struggled to last a full day under moderate usage, Samsung has upgraded the battery capacity on its latest clamshell foldable phone to a 3,700mAh unit.

Samsung has also upgraded the main camera on the Galaxy Z Flip 4. While the resolution remains the same at 12 megapixels, the pixels are now bigger (1.8 microns vs 1.4 microns) and the lens array can capture a wider field of view (83 degrees vs 78 degrees). As a result, Samsung claims that it can let in 65% more light, which means images will carry more details and offer better colour reproduction.

It is paired with another 12-megapixel camera for ultrawide photography, while selfie duties have been handed over to a 10-megapixel front camera. The main foldable OLED panel measures 6.7-inches across, offering a 120Hz refresh rate and a resolution of 2,640 x 1080 pixels. The cover display measures 1.9-inches and this one is also an OLED screen. On the software side, partially folding the phone enables the FlexCam mode for capturing photos and videos, plus the trick also works in apps like Instagram and WhatsApp. QuickShot mode, meanwhile, allows video capture using the tiny cover display and continues uninterrupted when the phone is unfolded.

The Galaxy Z Flip 4 will be offered in three storage variants: 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB. You can pick it up in four colors that include Bora Purple, Graphite, Pink Gold, and Blue.

The Galaxy Z Flip4 will be made available at a recommended retail price of R21 999 and Galaxy Z Fold4 for R37 999.

Foremost, the question we’ve had on our minds for months now is just how much the Galaxy Z Fold 2 going to cost. Pre-orders will kick off on September 7, and the foldable phone will be R49 999. Deliveries will begin from 25 September, and it’ll be available from Samsung direct, as an unlocked device, and from your favourite leading networks (read: to be confirmed).

That is certainly not a small price tag, sure, but then again the Galaxy Z Fold 2 is no ordinary device. As we saw, the outside gets a much larger touchscreen: at 6.2-inches and HD+ resolution, its Super AMOLED panel is similar to that of a Galaxy S20. You can interact with the whole system that way, too, for those times you don’t need the maximum internal screen. It also gets a 10-megapixel selfie camera.

Open the foldable up, however, and there’s a 7.6-inch QXGA+ Dynamic AMOLED panel, with at 2208 x 1768 resolution. It supports up to 120Hz refresh, with adaptive rates that can scale automatically from 11-120Hz depending on what’s on-screen. However, that’ll only be available in Full HD resolution; anything higher and you’re locked to 60Hz.

Gone is the big camera notch in the upper right corner, replaced with a far more surreptitious 10-megapixel hole punch selfie camera. As with the Galaxy Z Flip, there’s Samsung’s Ultra Thin Glass (UTG) covering the main screen, while the front display uses Gorilla Glass Victus and the rear gets Gorilla Glass 6.

The glass isn’t the only similarity. The Galaxy Z Fold 2’s “Hideaway Hinge” uses the same approach as its smaller clam shell sibling, with a dual-CAM mechanism that can now be opened to any angle rather than just fully-opened or fully-closed. Flex Mode communicates to apps where the display is opened to; opened, closed, or somewhere in-between. Samsung’s camera, video calling, gallery, clock, calendar, and media player apps all support Flex Mode, as do Google’s YouTube and Duo apps.

There are over sixty components in the hinge alone, including the “sweepers” – tiny hair-like brushes – used to keep dust and debris out of the gaps. Samsung says it’s rated to last at least 200,000 folds over five years, or around 100 folds a day, without issue. There’s a factory-installed screen protector, and the hinge gap itself is slimmer than on the first-gen Fold, with increased tension to reduce accidental closings.

Inside, it’s Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 865+ as in the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, with 12GB of memory. 5G, unfortunately, is not standard in Mzansi. The 5G variant will be available “later” with both Sub-6 and mmWave support, as is WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1. There’s NFC, MST, Ultra Wide Band (UWB), a 4,500 mAh battery – split across both halves – with wired and wireless fast-charging, and Wireless PowerShare to use the Galaxy Z Fold 2 as a Qi charger with other devices. A USB-C port is on the bottom, and there are stereo speakers and Dolby Atmos support.

On the back, there’s a similar camera array to the Note 20. The primary sensor is 12-megapixels with Super Speed Dual Pixel AF, OIS, and f/1.8; the ultra wide is 12-megapixels, f/2.2, and has a 123-degree field of view. A 12-megapixel telephoto – with PDAF and OIS – offers 2x optical zoom and up to 10x digital zoom. Video tops out at 4K – not 8K like on the Note 20 Ultra – and you also don’t get the Ultra High Resolution photography that the latest Note offers.

It’s software, of course, where the Galaxy Z Fold 2 stands out. Dual Preview in the camera, for example, shows a full preview of the frame on the outer display; that also makes it easier to use the primary cameras for selfies. You get the same Pro Mode, Night Mode, and Single Take mode as on the Note 20 Ultra, but also an auto-framing camera feature which, with the Fold 2 in Flex Mode stood on a table or other surface, uses machine learning to virtually zoom and pan to keep the subject in frame.

Fold owners loved multitasking – they were more than 7x as likely to use multi-window than even Note owners, Samsung says – and so Android 10 on the Galaxy Z Fold 2 makes that even easier. You can have up to three apps showing at once, and drag-and-drop between them. Take a screenshot, and you get three different pictures – one for each app running – rather than the less-useful single capture of the whole screen. App Pair still allows you to load multiple apps simultaneously from one icon, but now you can link three rather than two.

Samsung has been working with major app-makers to better utilise the larger main panel. In Microsoft’s Office apps, for example, there are more controls in the toolbar visible. Or, you can load up DeX Wireless – using Miracast on a compatible TV – and get a full desktop experience, with support for a keyboard and mouse. Microsoft Your Phone and Link to Windows are supported, but sadly there’s no S Pen option.

That’s not the only annoyance. Samsung is also taking the headphones out the box this time around, and so you won’t be getting a set of Galaxy Buds thrown in.

What you do get is the ability to customise the hinge finish. Samsung has two primary colours for the Galaxy Z Fold 2 – Mystic Bronze and Mystic Black – but you’ll also be able to choose from metallic red, silver, gold, and blue for the hinge itself. Owners also have access to Galaxy Z Premier Service, with faster access to product support, a one-time display repair for accidental damage in the first year at cost.