Foldable smartphones are full of promise, but so far, they’ve also been full of compromise. With the Galaxy Z Fold 5, though, Samsung really nailed it in one aspect by finally delivering on the promise of stellar battery life.
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I’ve been running a Galaxy Z Fold device since Samsung’s second generation, but I’ve always carried a second device because the battery life on Samsung’s foldables has never really been all that good. The Galaxy Z Fold 4 got much better, with the foldable able to handle the average day without much trouble thanks to the efficiency of Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. Even then, it was neither an endurance champ nor as good as the traditional flagship with a significantly lower price.
Somehow, that changed this year.
The Galaxy Z Fold 5 is, on paper, not really all that different from the Galaxy Z Fold 4. It has the same 4,400 mAh battery, the same screen sizes and resolution, and the only slightly better Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor. But in practice, this all adds up to dramatically better battery life. And really, it’s been impressive
During my review period, I was getting upwards of 30-40% better battery life (measured by screen time) compared to Galaxy Z Fold 4 – upwards of 5-6 hours, easily. I was often ending “average” days with about 40-50% battery left in the tank.
With a roughly even split between the inner and outer displays in daily use, I’m getting easily 5-6 hours of screen time through a full day with 15% or so left by 11:00 p.m., and on lighter days with 3 or so hours, I might end the day just shy of 50%.
As I’ve spent more time on the Pixel Fold in the weeks since – I just can’t give up Google’s camera – I’ve felt the difference. As I’ve gotten addicted to the Android release of Little Big Workshop, I was also watching my Pixel drain its battery in a matter of hours. Meanwhile, I was able to run the game on Galaxy Z Fold 5 for the entirety of a two-hour flight earlier this week, and it only ate up about 20% of the phone’s capacity.
And this isn’t just me. I’ve heard from several others who have used the Fold 5 and seen similar improvements, and tests show the same. A test from TechDroider, for example, saw Fold 5 outlast Pixel 7 Pro and OnePlus 11 – both having bigger batteries and the latter using the same chipset.
Why is the Fold 5’s battery life so good? Again, it’s not the capacity, and the chip, while better, isn’t that much better. It seems a combination of optimization and continued upgrades to the foldable display is what has been helping.
The Galaxy Z Fold 5 is proof that we’re another step closer to foldables no longer needing to compromise in key areas. It’s not like Samsung’s foldable is the first to have good battery life, but in the United States and without the aggressive app-killing that’s so common in the software used by many Chinese brands, this is just impressive, and a staggering generational improvement.
I can’t wait to see what comes next.
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