Samsung has led the way with the flip phone revival thanks to its Z Flip series of folding phones. Once consigned to tech history thanks to the dawn of the smartphone, foldable screen technology has meant we can again have phones that flip just like old phones from the 1990s and 2000s.
Ever since the original Z Flip came out in 2020, Samsung has slowly iterated on the design, up to last year’s Z Flip 6, which, like the Z Flip 5, has a fairly large cover display that can be used when closed.
This means you can reply to messages and even run whole apps on a small outer screen without flipping open the device. Although this is very handy, Samsung can’t currently match one of its closest Android rivals in this area.
One of the best Z Flip alternatives is the Motorola Razr series, namely the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra and the Razr 60 Ultra. These flip phones have much larger external displays compared to the Z Flip 5 and 6, covering the whole surface of the phone. The screen is only punctured by the dual cameras – on Samsung’s phones, the screen curves around them, resulting in much less usable screen space.
This could be set to change in the very near future, if the latest leak from Android Headlines is accurate. The site has published what it claims are official renders of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7, which is expected to launch soon alongside the Z Fold 7. Although unconfirmed, rumours point to Samsung holding its next Unpacked event in early July.
The images show the alleged Z Flip 7 with a much larger cover screen that fills the whole face of the phone when closed – much like the design of the Razr, even down to the dual camera design.
If accurate, this would represent a much-needed upgrade. I’ve reviewed both the Z Flip 6 and Razr 60 Ultra, and it’s surprising how much more usable these diddy displays are with even a tiny bit of extra space.
Samsung would also be wise to let buyers run any app on this screen. Motorola lets you use any app on the cover screen, no matter how ridiculous it looks, whereas Samsung only lets you run a select few. You have to download the Samsung Good Lock app and then enable apps for use on the screen. It’s a very hidden option that is hard to discover and that Samsung does not advertise well.
The new leak also claims the Z Flip 7 will be thinner than the Z Flip 6, which was quite chunky. I hope this thinness does not decrease the battery size and therefore battery life. I loved the design of the very thin Galaxy S25 Edge, but the small battery resulted in bad battery life.
The Z Flip 7 is also said to use the Snapdragon 8 Elite For Galaxy, the overclocked version of the Qualcomm chipset that can be found in the Galaxy S25 series. Pricing rumours are harder to come by, but flip phones remain expensive. The Z Flip 6 costs £1,049 for 256GB storage.
