Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7

The cover screen: brilliant hardware, frustrating software

Samsung's previous Flips put a folder-shaped cutout around the camera lenses, so the outer display was a rectangle with a bite taken out and most Android apps refused to run on it properly. The Flip7's 4.1-inch panel wraps around the cameras instead, presenting a continuous 948 x 1048 surface at 120Hz and 2600 nits peak. On hardware alone it is the best cover screen in the clamshell category.

The software is where a year of reviews has landed its sharpest criticism, and it is the single most important thing to understand before buying. Samsung's own FlexWindow experience covers widgets, replies, media controls, navigation, and camera framing well enough. But running arbitrary third-party apps still requires installing Good Lock and the MultiStar module and enabling them manually — a process most buyers will never discover.

The comparison that keeps coming up is Motorola. The Razr line ships with a full, unrestricted app experience on its cover screen by default, on hardware that is technically smaller. Reviewers have repeatedly described Samsung as having built the better panel and the worse experience, and the fix everyone wants is for Samsung to fold those Good Lock capabilities into One UI natively.

There is a real battery benefit either way: driving a 4.1-inch cover panel for quick interactions costs far less than lighting the 6.9-inch inner display, which is part of why endurance improved despite only a 300mAh capacity bump.

Exynos 2500: how much does the chipset swap cost you?

Samsung fitted its own Exynos 2500 rather than the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy that powers the Z Fold7 and the S25 line. It is a 3nm ten-core design — one Cortex-X5 at 3.3GHz, seven A725 cores, two A520 cores — with an Xclipse 950 GPU built on AMD RDNA architecture.

In benchmarks the gap is measurable: about 1.51M AnTuTu against the Fold7's 1.99M, and 7,433 Geekbench 6 multi-core against 9,152. In everyday use — messaging, browsing, camera, social apps — you will not notice it. In sustained load, you will: the Exynos runs warmer, and a 6.5mm clamshell has very little room for a vapour chamber, so long gaming sessions throttle harder than on a bar-style flagship.

The realistic framing is that the Flip7 is a fast phone with a chipset one tier below the best available. If that bothers you at $1,099.99, the objection is legitimate — but the Flip has never been the phone you buy for benchmark scores.

Cameras: two lenses, no telephoto

The Flip7 ships a 50MP f/1.8 main sensor with dual pixel PDAF and OIS, plus a 12MP f/2.2 ultrawide at 123°. There is no dedicated telephoto, so 2x zoom is a crop from the centre of the 50MP sensor — good in daylight, visibly softer indoors and at night.

The compensating advantage is structural: because the phone folds, you can use the main 50MP camera for selfies with the cover screen as a viewfinder, and you can stand the phone half-open on any flat surface for hands-free shots and video calls. Nothing in a bar-style phone at this price does either. In practice the Flip7's best selfies come from the rear sensor, not the 10MP inner camera.

Video tops out at 4K60 on the main camera with HDR10+, and 4K60 on the selfie camera. There is no 8K mode.

Galaxy Z Flip7 vs Motorola Razr Ultra: the comparison that actually matters

This is the decision most clamshell buyers are weighing, and the two phones are closer than their spec sheets suggest.

The Razr Ultra launched $200 higher at $1,299 and wins on several measurable points: a 7-inch main display at 165Hz with 4,500 nits peak against the Flip7's 6.9-inch 120Hz panel, a Snapdragon 8 Elite with 16GB of RAM, 512GB of base storage, better battery life, and faster charging. It also offers materials the Flip7 doesn't — wood and Alcantara finishes — and a silicone-polymer back that is noticeably less slippery in hand than the Flip7's glass.

The Flip7 wins on camera quality, on thinness and weight (11g lighter), on price, and decisively on software support with seven years of updates against Motorola's shorter commitment. Its 4.1-inch cover screen is also marginally larger than the Razr's 4 inches.

Where it gets interesting is that overall review scores land very close, with the Razr Ultra generally a nose ahead — and the deciding factor is almost never a specification. It is cover-screen software, where Motorola's out-of-box experience is simply better.

The practical answer in late 2026: at clearance pricing around $849, the Flip7 is the better value and the better camera. If you want the best flip experience regardless of price and don't need seven years of updates, the Razr Ultra remains the more polished device.

Should you buy the Flip7 or the Flip 8?

Samsung launched the Galaxy Z Flip 8 in July 2026 at $1,199 — a price increase over the Flip7's $1,099.99 launch. Meanwhile the Flip7 has fallen to roughly $849, with used units on Swappa closer to $454.

The Flip 8 addresses the Flip7's most-cited weaknesses: it is lighter, uses a revamped hinge that opens more easily, and — most importantly — offers a more customisable cover-screen interface. That last change is Samsung finally responding to the criticism that defined the Flip7's reception.

So the question is whether a better cover-screen experience and a lighter body are worth roughly $350. If the cover screen is central to why you want a flip phone, the Flip 8 is the better device and the premium is defensible. If you mainly want a compact, well-supported clamshell with a good camera and will happily install Good Lock to unlock the cover screen's potential, the discounted Flip7 is the smarter buy.

One further consideration worth knowing: there is persistent reporting that the Flip 8 may be Samsung's last clamshell foldable. If long-term ecosystem continuity matters to you, factor that in — though seven years of guaranteed updates on the Flip7 means software support is secure regardless.