There are quite a few options available for Xbox consoles, but Microsoft's own Xbox Wireless Headset is enjoying a great sale right now. A 51 percent discount brings the Xbox Wireless Headset from $100 to $49, low enough to let you pick one up for yourself and a friend, or use the extra money to nab a new game. 

The Xbox Wireless Headset keeps you engaged and aware of your game's happenings with spatial audio formats like Dolby Atmos, Windows Sonic and DTS Headphone: X. You can rotate the earbuds to change chat levels and volume, as well as use auto-mute and voice isolation to have a clearer chat without having every breath heard. The wireless headset can hold up to 15 hours of battery life, but if you're running low, it can also connect to your Xbox with a USB-C cable. 

These Xbox headphones also ensure you won't miss a call while deep in gameplay. You can connect your phone right to them and take the call without even pausing your game (though you might want to if it's your mom or someone else important). Arguably one of the most comfortable features, though, is the lightweight, adjustable headband, so you can play as long as you want without feeling much pressure. 

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Samsung is giving Galaxy S23 owners the chance to be among the first users to see and try One UI 6. The tech giant has launched a beta program for its take on Android 14, which welcomes Galaxy S23 owners from the United States, Germany and its home country of South Korea. Participants are expected to provide feedback during the program, and Samsung says it intends to incorporate changes based on their comments to create "a richer, more intuitive experience for all."

The company promises a more modern look and feel for the new UI. It rearranged the Quick Panel's layout and put more shortcuts on one screen to give people quicker access to the features they use the most. If they want to go to the full Quick Panel, users could simply swipe down once from the upper right corner of their screen instead of having to swipe down twice. And if they simply want to adjust their screen's brightness, they no longer have to open the full Quick Panel — the setting is now available in the compact version of the panel that shows up upon swiping down once from the top of their phone. 

In addition to those changes, One UI 6 gives users a way to set different lock screens for different Modes, "such as a calming photo of a forest in Sleep Mode," the company suggests. Users will find a new camera widget, as well, allowing them to preselect storage locations for each mode used, so that they could have a cleaner and more well-organized gallery. 

Samsung has historically given its Galaxy S customers first access to its upcoming skins based on the latest Android platform. The beta program for One UI 6 opens today, and like in the past, Galaxy S23 owners in the three aforementioned countries can take part by submitting their registrations through the Samsung Members app. 

As Elon Musk awaits his doctor’s permission to fight Mark Zuckerberg in an on-again / off-again cage match, the two billionaires’ companies continue to spar in the consumer adoption arena. Meta forged ahead with Threads’ aggressive update schedule today as it tries to challenge Musk’s erratic X (rebranded Twitter). Zuckerberg announced today that the young platform now supports sharing posts to Instagram DMs, custom alt text for photos and videos and a new mention button.

The Send on Instagram option lets users publish their Threads posts directly to Instagram DMs via the Send button. The feature could be seen as one of the “retention-driving hooks” Meta cooked up to ensure “people who are on the Instagram app can see important Threads,” as Reutersreported Chief Product Officer Chris Cox said in a recent company meeting. The strategy is allegedly tied to reports of falling engagement after the fledgling platform added over 100 million users in less than a week. Zuckerberg reportedly described the decline as “normal” and expected retention to grow as Meta continues to flesh out the social channel, which launched in early July.

Meta

Meanwhile, the custom alt-text option is an accessibility feature allowing Threads users to add (or edit existing auto-generated) alt text for photos and videos before uploading. The new mention button makes it easier to tag profiles in your Threads posts. Finally, the platform is making it easier to verify your identity on fediverse platforms like Mastodon. “You can now add your Threads profile link on supported platforms to verify your identity,” Instagram head Adam Mosseri posted today.

These are only the latest additions Meta has rolled out in the past few weeks. It announced earlier this month that a much-needed web version is on the way, offering desktop use for the first time, along with a proper search function. Other post-launch additions include a chronological feed and the ability to sort your following list and view your liked posts.

For several years, 8BitDo has offered a dongle that lets folks connect modern controllers to the NES Classic Edition, SNES Classic and Sega Genesis Mini. The latest version of the Retro Receiver brings support for the likes of the Switch Pro Controller, Xbox Elite Series 2 and the DualSense Edge to older hardware in the form of the PlayStation 1 and the PlayStation 2. The $25 dongle includes Windows 10 and 11 support as well.

The device supports lag-free gaming, 8BitDo claims, as well as controller vibration functions. You'll be able to link controllers to it using Bluetooth or a wired connection.

Along with Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo's peripherals, the Retro Receiver works with many of 8BitDo's own controllers. The supported gamepads are:

• DualShock 4, DualSense and DualSense Edge

• Xbox One, Series, Elite Series 2, Elite Series 2 - Core, and Adaptive Controller

• Wii U Pro and Switch Pro Controllers

• 8BitDo Ultimate Bluetooth, Pro 2, SN30 Pro+, SN30 Pro, SN30 Pro for Android, Lite 2, Lite SE, and Lite Controllers; Arcade Stick v3; PS1 Modkit and PS1 Classic Modkit

There is a way to connect such controllers to a PS3 using 8BitDo's previous Retro Receiver, but having a plug-and-play option for Sony's first two consoles is a welcome move. It's especially great to see 8BitDo including support for the Xbox Adaptive Controller, which could make it possible for some folks to play classic PS1 and PS2 games on original hardware for the first time.

Epic Games has lost an attempt to force Apple to change its App Store payment practices sooner rather than later. The Fortnite maker asked the Supreme Court to overturn a US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that delayed an injunction against Apple over App Store rules. However, Justice Elena Kagan denied the request without providing an explanation, as Bloomberg reports.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals originally upheld the injunction in April. However, it suspended the injunction in July so Apple could take the case to the Supreme Court. 

Following a blockbuster trial between Apple and Epic Games in 2021, a lower-court judge ruled that Apple violated California's Unfair Competition law by blocking third-party developers from directing users to alternative payment options. The judge issued the injunction to stop that practice.

For the last three years, the companies have been battling over the issue of in-app payments on iOS. Epic raised the ire of Apple (and Google) when it told mobile Fortnite players they'd get a discount on the in-game V-Bucks currency if they bypassed the iOS and Android payment systems. Apple and Google take up to a 30 percent cut of in-app transactions on iOS and Android.

The mobile platform holders swiftly yanked Fortnite from their respective app stores, Epic sued them both and the legal battles are still rumbling on. The Google case (in which Match Group is involved as a plaintiff) is set to go to trial this November.

Regardless of what happens in the US, Apple and Google are already being forced to open up their platforms to third-party payments systems in certain markets, such as South Korea and the Netherlands. It has also been reported that Apple plans to allow third-party app stores on the iPhone as soon as next year, in large part to comply with incoming European Union rules. Epic is already prepared for that, as its own mobile app store is ready to go.

Our local and state level government systems are hacked and held ransom with disheartening regularity. At the Black Hat USA Conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday, the Biden Administration revealed its plans to better defend the nation’s critical digital infrastructure: It's launching a DARPA-led challenge competition to build AI systems capable of proactively identifying and fixing software vulnerabilities. That’s right, we’re having a hackathon!

The “AI Cyber Challenge” (AIxCC) is a two-year development program open to competitors throughout the US. It’s being hosted by DARPA in collaboration with Anthropic, Google, Microsoft and OpenAI. Those companies are providing both their expertise in the field and access to their AI technologies.

“The challenge is critical in bringing together the cutting-edge in automatic software, security and AI, which will empower our cyber defenses by being able to quickly exploit and fix software vulnerabilities,” Anne Neuberger, Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber and Emerging Technology, said during a press call Tuesday.

“This is one of the ways that public and private sectors work together to do big things to change how the future unfolds,” Arati Prabhakar, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, added. “That's why the White House asked DARPA to take on the critical topic of AI for cybersecurity.”

White House officials concede that properly securing the nation’s sprawling federal software systems against intrusion is a daunting task. “They don't have the tools capable of security at this scale,” Perri Adams, Program Manager, Information Innovation Office, DARPA, said during the call. “We've seen in recent years, hackers exploiting the state of affairs, posing a serious national security risk.”

Despite those vulnerabilities, “I think we have to keep one step ahead and AI offers a very promising approach for that,” Adams said. There’s nearly $20 million in prize money up for grabs. And to ensure that the competition isn’t dominated by the teams with the deepest pockets, DARPA is making $7 million available to small businesses who want to compete as well.

The research agency will hold an open qualifying event next spring where the top scoring teams (up to 20 can potentially qualify) will get invited to the semifinals at DEF CON 24. That cohort will be whittled down to the top five teams, who will win monetary prizes at the competition and be invited back to DEF CON 25 for the finals. The top three scoring teams from DC25 will win even more money. You land first place, you get $4 million — but to do so, your AI had better be able to, “rapidly defend critical infrastructure codes from attack,” per White House officials. Ideally, the resulting system would scour networks seeking out and autonomously repairing any software security bugs it finds. 

The winning team will also be strongly encouraged to open-source their resulting program. The competition is bringing on The Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF), a Linux Foundation project, as an advisor to the challenge. Their job is to help ensure that the code is put to use immediately, “by everyone from volunteer, open-source developers to commercial industry,” Adams said. “If we're successful, I hope to see AIxCC not only produce the next generation of cybersecurity tools in this space, but show how AI can be used to better society by defending its critical underpinnings.”

“The president has been completely clear that we have got to get AI right for the American people,” Prabhakar said. Last fall the Biden White House unveiled its Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights, which defined the Administration’s core values and goals on the subject. Follow-up efforts included pushing for an AI risk management framework and investing $140 million in establishing seven new national research institutes to AI and machine learning. In July, the White House also wrangled a number of leading AI companies to agree to (non-binding) assertions that they will develop their products responsibly.

Three point five inches. That’s about the size of the original iPhone’s display. That’s downright tiny compared to today’s smartphones, and it’s hard to imagine typing or using most modern apps on such a cramped screen. But as a secondary panel on a phone that folds in half, even 3.4 inches feels positively roomy. At least, it’s much more useful than the 1.9-inch sliver that we got on last year’s Galaxy Z Flip 4.

With its latest flip-style foldable, Samsung brings a 3.4-inch external display that it’s confusingly renamed the Flex Window (it doesn’t flex, so yes, I’m mad at the name). And that’s about it. The Galaxy Z Flip 5 also has a new hinge that allows for gapless closure when folded, as well as some software tweaks. Aside from those updates, this phone is very similar to its predecessor, with basically the same cameras, water-resistance rating and battery size. It also costs the same as last year’s model and comes with twice the base storage, which is a nice touch. But with greater competition in the US this year, Samsung can no longer coast on being the only player in the space.

Design

One of a few signs that Samsung is coasting? The Flip 5’s design. Setting aside its larger external display, this thing looks pretty much identical to its predecessor, which itself was basically a clone of the version before it. The Flip 5’s frame is the same 6.5 x 2.8-inch rectangle as last year’s model, and it cuts the same 0.27-inch profile, too. It also maintains the same weight, measuring 6.6 ounces (or 187 grams).

Some things have changed this year, though. The external cameras are no longer stacked vertically on top of each other; they’re laid out side by side, presumably to accommodate the new larger screen. The available colors are also different, which I appreciate, since the purple hue on last year’s model was getting a bit stale. This time, you can choose from pink and a minty green, in addition to the standard cream and black. Sadly, our review unit is the basic black version, but the green variant I saw at Samsung’s launch event is worth lusting after.

A notable upgrade on the Z Flip 5 is what Samsung calls its Flex Hinge, which allows the device to fold completely flat and leave no gap between the two halves of its internal screen. This should not only appeal to people who were put off by the asymmetry of the previous design, but it leaves less of a chance that a key in your purse might get lodged in that little opening and scratch the fragile panel.

That’s not to say that the Flip 5 is dust resistant. Its IPX8 rating means it can withstand brief submersion in water, but it wasn’t tested for protection from foreign solid particles. That’s a lot of jargon to say the Flip 5 will be fine if you drop it in the tub, but it’s more susceptible to, say, sand, than most modern smartphones. However, the phone’s exterior is likely tougher than its inside, thanks to the Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 glass covering its rear and Flex Window.

External display

Regardless of my feelings toward Samsung’s absurd name, the Flex Window is a major improvement over last year’s Cover display. It’s a 3.4-inch Super AMOLED panel with a 60Hz refresh rate and 720 x 748 resolution, and the photos I chose as my wallpapers looked crisp and vibrant. But the biggest upgrade is its size.

The benefits are obvious: A larger canvas means you can see more at once and buttons can be bigger and easier to hit. With the extra space, the Weather widget can display the forecast for multiple days, while the Calendar offers a monthly view.

Photo by Cherlynn Low / Engadget

Unlike Motorola’s Razr+, though, the Flip 5 doesn’t behave like full Android on its cover screen. It runs One UI in a way that’s more like the company’s Tizen OS for its older smartwatches. You’ll swipe left through widgets like Timer, Stopwatch, Samsung Health, Dialer and more, drag down from the home page for quick settings and swipe right to see your notifications. But because the Flip 5 supports up to 13 widgets, rotating through the carousel to find what you need can quickly get tedious. Thankfully, Samsung added a new pinch gesture that lets you zoom out to see all your widgets at once and jump to what you want.

Though you can’t natively run every app in the world on the Flex Window, the company did optimize a handful to work on the smaller panel. You have to go into Settings to enable them, but once you do you can launch Google Maps, YouTube, Netflix, Messages and WhatsApp on the external display. I guess these are the ones Samsung thinks people most want to use when the Flip is closed.

If you’re feeling adventurous, you can install Good Lock from the Galaxy App Store, which lets you run pretty much any app on the outside. It took me a while to figure out that to get this to work, you’ll have to go into Good Lock and download the MultiStar launcher, then add the launcher as a widget on the Flex Window. Once I did, though, I quickly selected apps like Instagram, Chrome, Reddit and Gallery to run on the outside. Each of them ran as expected — that is, as a mini version of itself on an awkwardly shaped screen.

This is a good time to point out that the Flip 5’s Flex Window isn’t a typical rectangle. It’s shaped more like a document folder, mostly square with a small tab on the bottom left. Functionally, that extra space doesn’t get in the way of apps or widgets. Swiping up on it brings you back to the home page, and if you have a timer or song running, a little countdown shows up there.

Photo by Cherlynn Low / Engadget

You don’t have to install Good Lock to find the new Flex Window useful, but it does make for a better experience. For example, when replying to a notification from an app like Telegram, you won’t actually be able to see the message your friend sent. This might be because Telegram notifications are typically hidden anyway, to prevent onlookers from seeing your chats. So if you want to respond to Telegram contacts, you’ll likely still have to open the Flip to see what they said.

That is, unless you use Good Lock to let the app run outside, in which case tapping the notification on the Flex Window will just take you to the conversation in the app. It’s surprisingly smooth and weirdly satisfying to see a non-native experience work so well.

Replying to messages is another improvement over the Flip 4, by the way. Samsung now has room to offer a QWERTY keyboard, and typing on it is an absolute delight. I have relatively small hands, and reaching across this panel to reach letters like Q and A was no trouble, especially with swipe typing. The Flip 5’s software is more refined than the Moto’s, too, since the latter’s keyboard takes over the entire screen and requires an extra tap to actually send your reply. Samsung’s interface also lets you see some of your conversation above the input field, whereas you won’t see any of it on the Razr+.

Photo by Cherlynn Low / Engadget

The larger Flex Window also makes for a far superior viewfinder for the external cameras. With the increased space, I can now see the entire frame when lining up a selfie or setting up a video. Swiping sideways on this viewfinder screen switches between Portrait, Photo or Video modes, while pinching changes the level of zoom and the ultrawide camera kicks in at 0.5x.

Cameras

While the experience of using the external 12-megapixel cameras has drastically improved thanks to the Flex Window, image quality itself has not. Samsung uses basically the same sensors on the Flip 5 as those on the Flip 4, and though there’s no generational upgrade, they still take pretty good pictures.

In fact, out of all two flip-style foldables available in the US, the Flip 5 easily gains the upper hand. Its only competition is the Moto Razr+, which has similar sensors on paper but delivers washed out photos in comparison.

My photos of the Metropolitan Museum of Art showed vibrant blue skies and red banners when I used the Z Flip 4 and Flip 5, but the scene seemed pale when I shot it with the Razr+. Though I prefer the rosier hues in selfies I snapped with the Razr+, the ones that Samsung produced had more accurate colors.

Photo by Cherlynn Low / Engadget

At night, cityscapes were pretty grainy across all three phones I tested, but the Flip 4 and Flip 5 were slightly better at exposing buildings amidst all the lights in New York. Though both Samsung phones were neck-and-neck in terms of low-light photo quality, I was pleasantly surprised that the Flip 5 took about half the time of its predecessor when capturing a shot in Night mode. As a result, I didn’t have to hold still for as long, and my selfies from the newer handset were clearer.

I also enjoyed using the Flip 5 and Razr+ as TikTok machines, setting them up with their cover screens facing out to shoot some (hopefully) humorous clips. Video quality was, again, very close across the three devices. In short, don’t write off the Flip 5’s cameras, but you won’t be writing home about the photos you took, either.

As a “regular” phone

You won’t be spending all your time with the Flip 5 using only its external screen. For the most part, you’ll most likely interact with the flexible 6.7-inch Full HD AMOLED panel inside, which is what I did. I’ll admit, I mostly used this phone to scroll Reddit or Instagram and play mind-numbing puzzle games like Goods Sort and Solitaire.

Everything felt as it did on last year’s Flip — even the crease looks the same. My friends’ vacation photos and game graphics were colorful and crisp. At certain angles, content looked slightly discolored under the wrinkle, but it didn’t bother me. I also enjoyed stroking the crease as much as I did before. There’s something deliciously satisfying about repeatedly running my thumb over it.

Photo by Cherlynn Low / Engadget

I also tried a few times to carefully push my thumb into the screen as I started to bend the phone to close it, and I never felt like the panel was going to break. But of course, I’ve only had the Flip 5 for slightly over a week, so long-term use may reveal durability issues. It’s worth noting, though, that compared to Motorola, Samsung has a more established repair and parts replacement system in place. Should you actually damage your foldable, or if you know you’re accident prone, the better company to choose is Samsung.

There are some software updates to Flex Mode that I didn’t spend a lot of time with, mostly because I don’t find them all that useful in daily use. As a refresher, Flex Mode is an interface that kicks in when you bend the phone slightly and have it open at between 20 and 160 degrees (approximately). Compatible apps will split their layout in half, typically showing content up top and controls below. Like on older Flips, apps that work well with this are YouTube, which continues to display the video on the higher half while letting you scroll through comments at the bottom.

This year, though, you can choose to (after first toggling through several hidden settings) display a button at the bottom left of every app. It’ll bring up the Flex dashboard, which offers shortcuts for taking a screenshot, pulling down the notifications shade and more. Some of these, like the two I named, are helpful. But some, like the touchpad that you can enable, are just silly. With the touchpad, you can drag your finger around the bottom half of the screen to maneuver a cursor up top. In some situations, like for people with mobility issues, I can see this being useful. For most other scenarios, however, it’s usually easier to just reach a little and tap the top half of the screen.

Photo by Cherlynn Low / Engadget

Performance and battery life

We’re reaching a point where smaller foldable phones are pretty much as fast as their non-flexible counterparts, which brings them ever so slightly closer to being feasible as mainstream devices. Thanks to its Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy processor, the Flip 5 is on par with flagships like the Galaxy S23+. It also packs the same 8GB of RAM, and this year’s Flip even offers twice the base storage of its predecessor, starting with 256GB.

No matter what I threw at it, the Flip 5 never hiccuped. Granted, I never played a game more demanding than Criminal Minds or CSI: Hidden Crimes on it, but I was also pleased when I realized the phone never really ran alarmingly warm.

The Flip 5’s Geekbench 6 scores of 2,015 (single-core) and 4,972 (multi-core) were about the same as the Z Fold 5, and significantly better than the Pixel Fold, which uses Google’s own Tensor G2 chip.

This is clearly flagship-level performance, so you’re not sacrificing much if you pick a Flip over a traditional handset. But one area where foldables tend to fall short is battery life. The Flip 5 delivered very similar runtime to its predecessor, which isn’t a shocker considering its battery is the same 3,700mAh. Sure, it has a larger external screen to power, but precisely due to the Flex Window being more useful, I didn’t have to open up the Flip 5 as much as the older model. So it makes sense that both Flips had about the same endurance.

Photo by Cherlynn Low / Engadget

Wrap-up

Here we are, staring at the fifth generation of Samsung’s Galaxy Z series of foldables and still asking the same question: Are phones with flexible displays ready for the mainstream? With its larger and more useful external screen, the Flip 5 is the best candidate in the category’s history to appeal outside the tech-savvy crowd. It offers excellent performance, capable cameras and — lest we forget — it folds in half! Plus, it combines relatively advanced bendable-screen tech with an exterior panel in a size that’s sure to win nostalgia points, meaning it’ll appeal to experimentalists and sentimentalists alike.

If your existing Flip is falling apart, the Flip 5 is worth the upgrade for the Flex Window alone. But if you’re contemplating adopting a foldable for the first time, just know that you’ll probably sacrifice some camera quality, have to take extra care when manhandling the device and resign yourself to always be charging. In exchange, you’ll get a very capable phone, some cool points and an easy conversation starter.

Samsung's latest slate of Galaxy devices arrives on August 11, but there's still time to lock in a pre-order to get free perks like a storage upgrade and gift card. The company's new flagship foldable, the Galaxy Z Fold 5, is included in the offer. If you pre-order one, you can get double the storage (jumping from 256GB up to 512GB) and a $200 Amazon gift card at no extra cost. That should take some of the sting out of the $1,800 price.

In our review of the Galaxy Z Fold 5, we gave the device a score of 86. We feel that Samsung is still making the best foldable out there. However, the company could be doing more with the format (such as trying to bring down the price) as its momentum in the space seems to be slowing.

The big change this year is the new Flex Hinge. It's smaller than the hinge in previous Fold devices and it helps make the handset slightly thinner. That's because it allows the phone to close properly and get rid of the gap between the two halves.

Samsung has upgraded many other components. There's a brighter main display and a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 that helps to improve the performance. Two new gestures could make it easier to get the phone to do what you want. Battery life is solid as well — the Galaxy Z Fold 5 lasted for nearly 20 hours on a single charge in our video rundown test.

Although Samsung has stuck with the same camera setup as last year's model, you can still take good quality photos with the Galaxy Z Fold 5. It's also disappointing that there's no option to store an S Pen inside the device and that it's still fairly bulky. Still, if you're looking for a foldable phone, we reckon this is the best one out there.

In case the Galaxy Z Flip 5 is more compelling to you, there's a pre-order offer for that device too. Again, you'll get 512GB of storage rather than 256GB, as well as a $150 Amazon gift card if you pre-order the $1,000 foldable.

Our review of the Z Flip 5 is in progress, but we felt it had some promise after our initial hands-on. The device has a larger and more useful external display compared with the previous models. It should be easier to carry out actions like controlling media playback and dashing off a text without having to open up the main screen. The Z Flip 5 has the new Flex Hinge as well.

Elsewhere, pre-order the Galaxy Tab S9+ and you'll get (you guessed it) the same free storage upgrade. The tablet — which includes a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, a 12.4-inch AMOLED display and protection from dust and water — costs $1,000. Those interested in the Book Cover Keyboard can also save 50 percent when they buy it through Amazon.

As for the Galaxy Watch 6, that doesn't come with a free storage upgrade. However, if you lock in a pre-order now, you'll get a $50 Amazon gift card and fabric band at no extra cost. The deal applies to both the Bluetooth model (which costs $300) and the $350 LTE version.

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In 2019, Samsung released the original Galaxy Fold, the first phone with a flexible display (not counting pretenders like the Royole Flexpai). And even though it had more than its fair share of flaws, you could see its potential. Over the next couple of years, Samsung refined its flagship foldable with things like IPX8 water resistance, a more durable design and native stylus support. More recently, however, the pace of innovation has started to slow as more iterative improvements and fewer major upgrades have come to fill out the spec sheet. It's a similar situation on the new Galaxy Z Fold 5: While many of its upgrades including the brighter main screen are nice to have, they’re also kind of superfluous. Even the one big change for 2023 – Samsung’s new Flex hinge – doesn’t really change the way you use the device; it just makes it a bit thinner. When you consider that the price still sits at $1,800, it feels like Samsung’s Z Fold line – and possibly the category as a whole – is losing momentum.

Design and display

The Z Fold 5 was built on the same basic blueprint as its predecessors. It packs a skinny but tall exterior Cover Screen and opens up to reveal a big main display with a fingerprint sensor built into its power button. The major change this year is Samsung’s Flex hinge, which is based on a two-rail internal structure that’s not only smaller than before, but also eliminates the gap between the phone when closed.

This is something Z Fold users have been requesting since the original. In addition to slimming the phone down to just 13.4mm, losing that gap also reduces the chance that dust or rocks can get inside and ruin that fancy flexible screen. But that’s not all. Samsung says its Flex hinge creates a new waterdrop-shaped crease that puts less stress on the display, which is good for long-term durability. It also helps keep the factory-installed screen protector in place, which was an issue on previous models.

The new hinge also makes the device more pleasant to use and hold. The thinner hinge fits better in your hand when the phone is closed and it opens more smoothly, too. I just wish it hadn’t taken five generations to get here. Meanwhile, Samsung managed to increase the brightness of the main display to 1,750 nits, which is the same as the S23 Ultra and brighter than the Pixel Fold (1,450 nits). So while the flexible display on Google’s foldable is good, the Z Fold 5’s is better. It’s the perfect size and orientation for reading ebooks or browsing comics, and I’d argue that Samsung’s flagship foldable is the best device for playing Marvel Snap. You can still use a stylus to draw or take notes and the Z Fold 5’s new S Pen is 40 percent thinner than before. But since there’s still no room inside the phone to stash it when it’s not in use, you’ll probably want to pair it with one of Samsung’s new Slim S Pen cases.

Performance and multitasking

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Last year’s model was far from slow, but thanks to a new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy chip, the Z Fold 5 is now even faster. In traditional benchmarks, it posted notably higher multicore scores in Geekbench 6 than the Pixel Fold (5,362 vs 3,226). The Z Fold 5 feels incredibly responsive and in games, graphics and animations are downright silky. That means if you’re the kind of power user who demands an abundance of speed regardless of what you’re doing, the Z Fold 5 is the better pick over the Pixel Fold, whose Tensor G2 chip reserves more horsepower for AI tasks.

Samsung has also enhanced mobile productivity in three ways. To make it faster and easier to launch into side-by-side app mode, a new gesture lets you swipe in from the side of the screen with two fingers to instantly switch into dual-pane mode. Alternatively, if you want to turn a full-screen app to a windowed one, just swipe diagonally down from one of the top two corners. Both gestures are super handy and they’re a breeze to use. But they’re not on by default, so remember to activate them in the Advanced features tab in settings.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

The other update is that the Z Fold 5’s taskbar can now show up to four recent apps instead of two. It’s a simple but straightforward change that takes better advantage of the width of the Z Fold 5’s big main display. My only gripe is that the expanded taskbar and the added gestures are software updates, so we didn’t need a brand new device to get them. That said, compared to the Pixel Fold, which takes a more streamlined approach to multitasking, Samsung’s desktop-like taskbar remains the best for anyone who wants to use their phone like a PC. And don’t forget that Samsung’s handy Dex mode is still around, too.

Cameras

The Z Fold 5 has the same imaging setup as its predecessor: a 50-megapixel main camera, a 12MP ultra-wide and a 10MP telephoto with a 3x optical zoom in the back, plus a 10MP selfie shooter and a 4MP camera beneath the main display. In a vacuum, they’re more than capable of taking a good picture in practically any environment. However, when you consider that the S23 Ultra costs $600 less and comes with a 200MP main sensor and a 10x optical zoom lens, that puts Samsung’s most expensive phone in a weird position.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

What makes things even more awkward is that the Pixel Fold sports a longer zoom (5x vs 3x) and better overall image processing. In my testing, that made the Pixel the more adept shooter across a variety of conditions.

In bright light, the Z Fold 5 captured images with Samsung’s typical rich, saturated color profile. The downside is this sometimes results in a small loss of detail, occasional blown-out highlights and slightly less accurate hues. Meanwhile in low light, Samsung’s Night Mode does a good job of improving exposure without a ton of side effects. That said, thanks to Google’s Night Sight, photos from the Pixel Fold are often just a touch brighter and sharper. A good example is a shot I took of some flowers at night, in which the Z Fold 5’s picture boasts more vivid colors while missing some of the finer texture on the petals.

Battery life

Despite having a smaller battery than the Pixel Fold (4,400 mAh vs 4,800 mAh), the Z Fold 5 lasts longer. In our video rundown test, Samsung’s phone lasted 19 hours and 48 minutes when using its main display and an impressive 23:10 with its Cover Screen. On both counts, that’s better than Pixel Fold, which posted a time of 15:22 with its internal screen and 22:21 with its exterior panel.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

The Z Fold 5’s charging speed has stayed the same with 25-watt wired charging, 15-watt wireless charging and 5-watt power sharing (aka reverse wireless charging). That’s serviceable, but once again, the less expensive S23 Ultra can do better, with the ability to go up to 45 watts when plugged in.

Wrap-up

As someone who’s still optimistic about foldable devices and has owned the last three generations of Samsung’s flagship flexible phone, I can't help but like the Z Fold 5. It’s faster and sleeker, with a brighter main display and even longer battery life than before. The question I wrestle with is how many tweaks and updates should we really expect from a device now in its fifth generation. 

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

The Z Fold 5 has matured a lot since that initial concept device came out back in 2019, and Samsung’s new Flex Hinge is an important milestone that people like me have been waiting for. But in the end, there’s not a ton the phone can do now that it couldn’t before. It’s just a bit leaner, as if the old model spent the last 12 months in the gym. And with a price that’s still extremely high, I don’t think the Z Fold 5 is doing enough to woo anyone who's not already sold on foldables.

After months of testing, Google has announced that all group chats that have RCS enabled in its Android and Wear OS Messages app now have end-to-end encryption (E2EE) enabled by default. That should help keep prying eyes away from your chats as only the group participants will be able to read your messages, as long as they're not sharing screenshots or showing their phone to someone next to them (there's not much you can do about that, unfortunately).

Google notes that RCS will now be enabled by default for new and existing users, as long as they haven't previously switched off RCS in their settings. So, maybe make sure that no one in your group has opted out of RCS before you start sharing your most private information.

E2EE has been available in one-on-one chats for some time and enabling it for group conversations is a welcome move. However, Android and iOS don't exactly play nicely together on this front. Google has been trying in vain to get Apple to support RCS, but the latter is quite content with using its own iMessage service for encrypted messaging. So, you'll only be able to embrace E2EE chats if every member of your group is on either Android or iOS, unless you opt to use a third-party app like Signal.