Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 Review: A Fabulous Foldable Phone
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 Review: Voice, Data, And Benchmark Performance
Samsung has always put a lot of thought into antenna designs, and it was among the first to tinker with 5G years back. It should come as no surprise, then, that the Z Fold4 has excellent wireless performance. We took it to some areas where T-Mobile's 5G network tends to falter, but it was able to hold onto 5G better than a Pixel 6. We didn't experience any dropped calls, even while driving, and the other party could hear loud and clear in both speakerphone and normal modes.
It's also nice to see the latest Wi-Fi 6e standard onboard. If you have a compatible router, the Z Fold4 can hit multi-gigabit speeds over the new 6GHz wireless band. The range on 6e isn't great, but that's not Samsung's fault—it's just physics.
We tested the Z Fold4 on T-Mobile's 5G network, which focuses on low and mid-band 5G (Sub6). The screen above is indicative of what you can expect when you're out and about. The Fold4 supports both sub-6GHz 5G as well as the faster millimeter wave (mmWave) standard, which is currently found in denser urban environments. We didn't have a chance to test that feature, but you should be able to hit gigabit speeds if you happen to have line-of-sight to a mmWave antenna. The phone even makes a design compromise for the mmWave antenna, though: there's a plastic window in the metal frame above the volume toggle. It doesn't look great, but you'll be thankful it's there if you rely on mmWave.
Geekbench is not always the most informative benchmark as it's completely synthetic and OEMs are known to optimize for it—Samsung has even been cited for such this very year (we've asked for an update on the Game Optimization Service, as it's known, and will update if we get a statement). Regardless, Geekbench can be a useful, relative data point. The Z Fold4 gets close to the top of the charts, with just the performance-tuned ROG Phone 6, Snapdragon reference, and iPhone13 Pro ahead.
The Galaxy Z Fold4 is among the best in this productivity benchmark. It has no problem beating the OnePlus 10T, falling well into the top quartile of results.
Again, the Galaxy Z Fold4 is one of the highest scoring phones we've tested in Antutu. It shows a significant improvement over Samsung's Galaxy S22 family, as well as the OnePlus 10T.
We've seen Qualcomm's latest chips put up impressive scores in general machine learning tests like AiTuTu, even compared to Google's AI-optimized Tensor. It's the same story with the 8+ Gen 1. The Galaxy Z Fold4 bests the Snapdragon reference hardware, but it fall short of the high-water mark set by the OnePlus 10T.
The GFXBench numbers are good for Samsung. It beats the OnePlus 10T, falling just behind the 8+ Gen 1 reference hardware. In the Manhattan test, the ROG Phone 6 bests all the consumer phones, but the Galaxy Z Fold4 finished very close to the 10T. The Aztec Ruins test is newer and we have fewer points of comparison, but the Fold4 was again almost tied with the 10T at the top of the heap.
UL's 3DMark Sling Shot is a newer benchmark module that's been added to the 3DMark mobile suite. Unlike previous gen 3DMark mobile tests, Sling Shot is a much more advanced OpenGL ES 3.1 and Metal API-based benchmark that employs more advanced rendering techniques, like volumetric lighting, particle illumination, multiple render targets, instanced rendering, uniform buffers and transform feedback. We're running this test in off-screen mode once again to remove display resolution differences from the equation. This lets us compare cross-platform results more reliably
In this test, Samsung's foldable comes in just below the ROG Phone 6, but the scores are extremely close. The 8+ Gen 1 reference hardware sits out in front, but only barely.
In the latest 3DMark test, the Galaxy Z Fold4 is within a few points of the ROG Phone 6, which retains the top spot.
While the Galaxy Z Fold4 put up some very impressive benchmark numbers, the thermal design leaves a little something to be desired. As indicated by the stress test above, the device will slow down after a few minutes of intense gaming. Our testing shows the Galaxy Z Fold4 drops more than 20% when the heat ramps up.
It's also nice to see the latest Wi-Fi 6e standard onboard. If you have a compatible router, the Z Fold4 can hit multi-gigabit speeds over the new 6GHz wireless band. The range on 6e isn't great, but that's not Samsung's fault—it's just physics.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4: Voice And Data
We tested the Z Fold4 on T-Mobile's 5G network, which focuses on low and mid-band 5G (Sub6). The screen above is indicative of what you can expect when you're out and about. The Fold4 supports both sub-6GHz 5G as well as the faster millimeter wave (mmWave) standard, which is currently found in denser urban environments. We didn't have a chance to test that feature, but you should be able to hit gigabit speeds if you happen to have line-of-sight to a mmWave antenna. The phone even makes a design compromise for the mmWave antenna, though: there's a plastic window in the metal frame above the volume toggle. It doesn't look great, but you'll be thankful it's there if you rely on mmWave.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 Performance
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 has the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, which we saw previously in the OnePlus 10T. Like that phone, the Galaxy Z Fold4 is very fast in daily use—it really has to be when you are encouraged to run up to three apps in split-screen view. However, the design doesn't seem to be as good at dissipating heat compared to the 10T. After a few minutes, the Galaxy Z Fold4 can be quite toasty, and that causes performance to throttle. Still, it puts up some impressive benchmark numbers.Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 Geekbench Results
Geekbench is a cross-platform benchmark that simulates real world processing workloads in image processing and particle physics calculation scenarios. We tested all of the smartphones featured here with Geekbench's single and multi-core workloads.
Geekbench is not always the most informative benchmark as it's completely synthetic and OEMs are known to optimize for it—Samsung has even been cited for such this very year (we've asked for an update on the Game Optimization Service, as it's known, and will update if we get a statement). Regardless, Geekbench can be a useful, relative data point. The Z Fold4 gets close to the top of the charts, with just the performance-tuned ROG Phone 6, Snapdragon reference, and iPhone13 Pro ahead.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 PCMark For Android Benchmark Results
UL's PCMark for Android is an excellent suite of tests if you want to benchmark a wide range of tasks on any handset -- things like image and video editing, as well as lighter-duty, everyday workloads such as email and web browsing. When you see the test running live, it's clear the scripted application tests are carefully selected and tuned to make use of the each mobile platform in a very controlled way.
The Galaxy Z Fold4 is among the best in this productivity benchmark. It has no problem beating the OnePlus 10T, falling well into the top quartile of results.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 AnTuTu 8 Benchmark Results
AnTuTu’s latest benchmark returns a number of metrics anked with somewhat nebulous scores, rather than frame rates or time to complete. Here we're running the latest version of AnTuTu across multiple Android devices. AnTuTu returns four top level performance results which are all included here: CPU, RAM, 3D, UX (or User Experience), along with a total score.
Again, the Galaxy Z Fold4 is one of the highest scoring phones we've tested in Antutu. It shows a significant improvement over Samsung's Galaxy S22 family, as well as the OnePlus 10T.
We've seen Qualcomm's latest chips put up impressive scores in general machine learning tests like AiTuTu, even compared to Google's AI-optimized Tensor. It's the same story with the 8+ Gen 1. The Galaxy Z Fold4 bests the Snapdragon reference hardware, but it fall short of the high-water mark set by the OnePlus 10T.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 3D Graphics And Gaming Benchmarks Results
Up next, we're checking how the Galaxy Z Fold4 compares in GFXBench, which has been one of the standard mobile graphics/gaming performance benchmarks for years. To ensure that display refresh (v-sync) and resolution aren't limiting factors, we're comparing off-screen test results here. GFXBench tests OpenGL ES graphics workloads and we're specifically testing OpenGL ES 2.0 and 3.0.
The GFXBench numbers are good for Samsung. It beats the OnePlus 10T, falling just behind the 8+ Gen 1 reference hardware. In the Manhattan test, the ROG Phone 6 bests all the consumer phones, but the Galaxy Z Fold4 finished very close to the 10T. The Aztec Ruins test is newer and we have fewer points of comparison, but the Fold4 was again almost tied with the 10T at the top of the heap.
UL's 3DMark Sling Shot is a newer benchmark module that's been added to the 3DMark mobile suite. Unlike previous gen 3DMark mobile tests, Sling Shot is a much more advanced OpenGL ES 3.1 and Metal API-based benchmark that employs more advanced rendering techniques, like volumetric lighting, particle illumination, multiple render targets, instanced rendering, uniform buffers and transform feedback. We're running this test in off-screen mode once again to remove display resolution differences from the equation. This lets us compare cross-platform results more reliably
In this test, Samsung's foldable comes in just below the ROG Phone 6, but the scores are extremely close. The 8+ Gen 1 reference hardware sits out in front, but only barely.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 3DMark Wild Life Benchmark Tests
3DMark Wild Life is the latest cross-platform test from UL. Its primary purpose is to measure GPU performance across platforms, and two distinct tests are available. The standard Wild Life test is designed to give feedback on how a game performs over a short period of time. With mobile games, people typically play in brief spurts when they find some free time; be it on the bus, on the subway, or a quick battle royale session over lunch break. The 3DMark Wild Life Stress Test, on the other hand, shows how a device performs over a longer stretch of time, and takes note of performance degradation that might crop up due to increased heat levels and throttling.
In the latest 3DMark test, the Galaxy Z Fold4 is within a few points of the ROG Phone 6, which retains the top spot.
While the Galaxy Z Fold4 put up some very impressive benchmark numbers, the thermal design leaves a little something to be desired. As indicated by the stress test above, the device will slow down after a few minutes of intense gaming. Our testing shows the Galaxy Z Fold4 drops more than 20% when the heat ramps up.
