Image: Samsung
Samsung launched the foldable Galaxy Z Flip 4 earlier this month, and now teardown expert PKBreviews reveals what’s behind those specs before fans receive their shipment.
The Galaxy Z Flip 4 is not much different from the Z Flip 3. They share the same 6.7-inch main AMOLED display and a secondary 1.9-inch Super AMOLED cover display, have high-end Qualcomm Snapdragon processors, similar cameras and ships with 8GB of RAM.
The Z Flip 4 will hit stores and mailboxes on August 26th, so the teardown is useful for those who are still considering whether to help the foldable category take off or keep it on the sidelines. Elsewhere, the mainstream flagship Galaxy S22 Ultra is a tempting option at the moment: normally $1,199, it was heavily discounted with a switch this month in the US by Samsung, Verizon, T-Mobile or AT&T.
WATCH: After Samsung Unpacked: How is the foldable phone market now?
One notable difference between the Flip 3 and Flip 4 is the battery capacity. The Flip 3 has a 3,300mAh battery, while the Flip 4 has a 3,700mAh battery, which should give owners of the new device three more hours of battery life.
But PKBreviews’ disassembly suggests that it’s not easy to get to the batteries, which are glued in place and buried under various flexible cords, brackets and boards on each half of the foldable. On one side is a smaller 1,700 mAh battery and on the other is a 2,630 mAh battery.
The Galaxy Z Flip 4 probably isn’t for hobbyists who like to repair their own hardware. PKBreviews gave it an overall repairability score of four out of 10. It scored 0.5 out of 2 for screen replacement and 0.5 out of 2 for how easy it is to replace the battery. PKBreviews didn’t dare to remove the Z Flip 4’s screen, as there was a high chance of damaging the $999 device.
The good news with the Galaxy Z Flip 4 is that the Samsung Care Plus program lowers the cost of repairing a cracked screen to just $29. As noted by The Verge, replacing the screen on the Z Fold 3 carried a $249 deductible. If the Flip 3 was out of warranty and without Care Plus, you’d have to pay $480, iFixit notes. Another notable feature is that the Galaxy Z Flip 4 is waterproof but not dustproof (IPX8). The Z Flip 3 completely failed iFixit’s dust test.