Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 vs Galaxy Z Fold 5: will this summer be the time to upgrade?

Samsung’s foldables are coming in hot this summer! The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is much slimmer, has a wider external screen, and upgraded camera. 

Are you still clutching that Galaxy Z Fold 5? Performance-wise, you are probably fine. But the hardware must feel dated, especially with super-slim foldables like Oppo Find N5 and Honor Magic V5 now being a reality.

No fear, though. If you are comfortable in your Samsung bubble, no need to step away, as the new Z Fold 7 seems to be prepared to fight the modern competition. The question is — is it worth upgrading to it now?

Pre-order the Galaxy Z Fold 7 for up to $1,120 off

$999
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$2119
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$1120 off (53%)

Pre-order the Galaxy Z Fold 7 at Samsung and grab a free storage upgrade on the 512GB model. On top of that, you can save an extra up to $1,000 with eligible device trade-ins.

Pre-order at Samsung

Galaxy Z Fold 5, 512GB: available at Amazon

Right now, Amazon sells the Galaxy Z Fold 5 with 512GB of storage is available at its standard price. There are limited quantities left and the device is only available in Icy Blue.

Buy at Amazon

Galaxy Z Fold 7 vs Galaxy Z Fold 5 expected differences:

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The Galaxy Z Fold 5 was lighter, flatter, and had a new hinge that finally folded flush — nice! But even back then, it still felt a bit chunky. Tech moves fast and now, two years later, competitors have super-thin and light foldable phones. The Galaxy Z Fold 5 may be fast and have an excellent screen. But design-wise — it’s less and less capable of competing. 

The Galaxy Z Fold 7, though, is shaping up to be a real design refinement. A 4.2 mm profile when unfolded and 8.9 mm when closed — that makes it almost as thin as a Galaxy S25 Ultra when in folded state. And the external screen has a “normal” aspect ratio of 21:9, making the phone much more comfortable and intuitive to use as a chocobar phone.

We’re also expecting some screen growth. The cover display stretches from 6.2 to 6.5 inches, and the inner screen is nudged from 7.6 to 8 inches. But the best part? The cover screen gets wider, not taller. That means no more typing like you’re trying to send a text on a TV remote.Its bezels are also thinner than the ones on the Fold 5, which are starting to get unsightly when compared to modern competitors. And while the Z Fold 5 has IPX8 rating for water protection, the Z Fold 7 no has IP48 for some limited debris protection as well (sadly, dust and fine sand are still a danger).

If you liked the displays on the Z Fold 5, you’ll probably love what’s coming on the Fold 7. We still get Dynamic AMOLED 2X panels on both the inner and outer screens, each with a 1-120Hz adaptive refresh rate, high resolution, and peak brightnessof 2,600 nits. But the real story here is shape and usability.

The cover screen getting wider means it should finally feel less claustrophobic when dual-thumb typing on it. And the inner screen gives us a larger canvas to work on. Too bad it doesn’t support an S Pen now!

The hinge has been toughened up more, and the flexible screen glass has been thickened to make the crease even less noticeable than before. It’s still there, we’d say. Slightly less intrusive, but then again — we are quite used to a crease on foldables nowadays.

This is where things really start to split.

The Galaxy Z Fold 5 runs on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy — a great chip in 2023, still good for daily use, but already starting to show its limits in sustained performance and AI tasks. The Fold 7 is powered by the 3nm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy, which already proved its grit on the Galaxy S25 series.

Not only will this translate to faster performance, but also better battery efficiency and cooler thermals. The 12GB RAM baseline is still the same, but if you go for a 1 TB upgrade with the Galaxy Z Fold 7, you will get 16 GB of RAM.

Software-wise, the Fold 5 shipped with Android 13 and One UI 5.1. It did get an Android 15 update this year, after months of delays — hopefully that was just a snag in the path to seamless updates from Samsung.

Meanwhile, the Fold 7 will arrive with Android 16 and One UI 8 out of the box! Mostly some Google Gemini integrations, don’t worry, there isn’t a major UI overhaul (again).

Both devices are expected to enjoy 7 years of software support, which is fantastic for future-proofing, but again — don’t make us wait for months to get the next Android build, please. The Galaxy Z Fold 5 still has time to go until 2030, the Z Fold 7 will be supported until 2032.

One of the biggest knocks on the Fold 5? The camera system. It borrowed the same 50MP main shooter, 12MP ultrawide, and 10MP 3X telephoto from the Fold 4 — and while it was fine, it felt outdated for a $1,800 phone.

The Fold 7 finally changes that. It’s lifting the 200 MP main camera from the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Not the wild Super Zoom, but for main camera shots, it should be very adequate. 

Here’s where Samsung still refuses to evolve.

Both the Fold 5 and the Fold 7 pack a 4,400mAh battery — seemingly the same, though do keep in mind that the Z Fold 7 is now a much thinner device. So, progress has been made here, no two ways about it. It’s just that there’s some give and some take with such major design shifts.

Neither phone is pushing charging boundaries. The Z Fold 5 capped out at 25W wired and 15W wireless, and so does the Z Fold 7.

In 2025, that’s going to draw some ire — especially when foldables from China are pushing 100W+ charging and 6,000mAh silicon-carbon batteries.

The only silver lining? With a newer, more efficient chip, the Fold 7 might still outlast the Fold 5 on a single charge, even with the same capacity. But don’t expect a two-day phone here.

Sacrifices need to be made, so… no S Pen support on the new one. If that’s important to you, maybe hold on to a Galaxy Z Fold 6 for as long as it works. The future of the Samsung stylus is hazy, but it’s possible that Samsung is working on alternative solutions.

Some long-standing weaknesses remain. Charging speed is stuck in the past, and battery innovation continues to be MIA. But for anyone holding out for the right moment to fold, this might be it.