Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 4 took productivity tips from your PC
Dual-screen foldable gains a taskbar and flagship-tier cameras
Samsung has finally pulled back the curtain on the Galaxy Z Fold 4, and it’s a dual-screen doozy. The flagship foldable has been given a performance upgrade for 2022, along with camera tech borrowed from the excellent Galaxy S22 and a productivity-focused software suite that’ll help you get things done in double-time.
The form factor hasn’t changed, meaning you’re getting a two-piece, outward-folding device with a smaller 6.2in, 2316×904 resolution outer screen and larger 7.6in, 2176×1812 internal one. Samsung has trimmed 3.1mm from the overall length of the phone, but added 2.7mm to the width and slimmed the external bezels a bit, making for a more manageable 23.1:9 aspect ratio when closed. At 263g it’s also lighter than the outgoing Galaxy Z Fold 3.
It shares its flatter appearance and matte finish glass with the Galaxy Z Flip 4, which launched alongside it at the company’s Unpacked 2022 event. Samsung has chosen a bespoke set of colour options, though: you can pick between Phantom Black, Graygreen, and Beige. Gorilla Glass Victus should help cut down on scratches and scrapes, and it’s IPX8 rated for water resistance. The hinge mechanism has been tested for over 200,000 folds, too.
Inside the 7.6in folding OLED panel is 3mm wider, with a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate and 1000nit peak brightness. It also plays nicely with Samsung’s S Pen digital stylus, which gets its own Fold Edition with retractable pen tip to protect the screen.
Big-screen support on Android was fairly basic in the past, but big-name third party app developers have finally seen sense, and the Galaxy Z Fold 4 is among the first to benefit. Facebook can now put your full timeline on one half of the screen, and the navigation menu on the other. Microsoft Office and Outlook use the space better, as does Google Meet, YouTube and even Netflix.
Samsung’s contribution is the Taskbar, a PC or Mac-like way to launch apps instantly from the bottom of the screen, rather than constantly having to head back to the home screen first. It lets you pin your faves, or save multi-app combos for even speedier multitasking. A Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 CPU and 12GB of RAM should have no trouble running a handful of apps at once. A 4400mAh battery aims to keep the lights on, with 25W fast charging and wireless charging with powershare.
On the camera front, Samsung has gone for a triple-lens setup again – only here the sensors are shared with the Galaxy S22. That means a 50MP main snapper, which the firm reckons captures 23% more light in Night mode than the Z Fold 3, along with a 12MP ultrawide and a 10MP telephoto with 3x optical zoom. The main lens gets enhanced optical image stabilisation, with VDIS thrown in for good measure.
There’s also a 10MP, f/2.2 punch hole cam on the outer screen, plus a 4MP, f/1.8 under-display snapper for video call duties on the inside.
The Galaxy Z Fold 4 goes on sale from the 26th of August, with prices starting at £1649 for a model with 256GB of storage. Expect to pay £1749 for 512GB, or £2019 for a whopping 1TB capacity.
Tom Morgan-Freelander
Deputy Editor 
