Galaxy Z Flip 7 hands-on: Samsung's flip phone has leveled up

The Galaxy Z Flip is Samsung's most popular foldable series and with good reason. The starting price point is the same as any flagship device, so it's not overly expensive, and it's a true flagship phone given the specs that it boasts under the hood. Its clamshell form factor, portability, and versatility is just the cherry on top.

Samsung fans had a lot of expectations from the Galaxy Z Flip 7 as last year's model was more of an iterative upgrade. They had a few wishes from the company to really make the Flip feel like a fashion-forward futuristic device again, and they'll be happy to know that Samsung has delivered for the most part.

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The Galaxy Z Flip 7 was unveiled today at the company's Unpacked event in New York City. We got to spend some hands-on time with the device and our first impressions of the device are very positive. This is a monumental upgrade for the series, one that's going to entice a lot of users to upgrade and even bring in new users who have stayed away from foldables so far.

The new device brings an element of uniqueness back to its design, thanks to its larger cover display and the overall build quality. It's the thinnest and lightest phone in this series and you really feel it in the hand. The slim profile coupled with the robust aluminum build make it feel like a super premium device.

Samsung has equipped the phone with the largest cover display on a Z Flip series phone yet, a 4.1-inch Super AMOLED panel that feels massive given it also has the slimmest bezels yet on any Samsung display.

It wraps around the camera lenses beautifully and the company has put in some nice animated touches to really amplify this design. The panel itself is brilliant, boasting an eye-searing 2,600 nits of peak brightness and a fixed 120Hz refresh rate. This results in fast and fluid interactions that are very visually appealing.

The inner foldable display has also been increased to a 6.9-inch panel which is wider and delivers a more traditional aspect ratio. It's all been executed very well as not only do you get a user experience that's similar to what you'd find on a conventional phone but also the versatility of a device that folds in half. The crease isn't as prominent as it has been on older models and the improvements made to the hinge allow for a smoother folding and unfolding experience.

Granted, some might be concerned about the lack of a Snapdragon chipset on this device, but performance fears are overblown. The 3nm Samsung Exynos 2500 chipset paired with 12GB RAM is entirely capable of providing all the power you may need to do everything this device is capable of. Animations are smooth, multi-tasking is crisp, and there's no lag in any interaction. There's nothing to suggest that the Galaxy Z Flip 7 will deliver anything less than a true flagship experience.

The Galaxy Z Flip 7 comes with One UI 8 Android 16 out of the box, so there are plenty of new features, including Galaxy AI enhancements. Samsung has also granted the wish for a bigger battery. It's now a 4,300mAh battery but wired charging speeds have been kept at 25W.

Despite improvements to the camera software, the hardware gets no love, as it's the same 50-megapixel wide and 12-megapixel ultra-wide setup as last year's model. We'll be sure to put the camera and all of the new hardware through the wringer once we have the device in for a full review.

Do check out our full Galaxy Z Flip 7 hands-on video for more details on Samsung's latest clamshell foldable. You can pre-order the Galaxy Z Flip 7 starting today and it will be released on July 25.