Four Years Of Software Updates Have Come To An End For The Original Galaxy Z Flip
The Galaxy Z Flip came out in early 2020 and was available for purchase just a few days after the Motorola Razr was (the one with the foldable display, not the original flip phone). These were the first two clamshell foldables available.
The Galaxy Z Flip launched with One UI 2.1, which was based on Android 10. Samsung promised three years of major updates, and delivered, with the Z Flip being bumped up to a final Android 13 plus an extra year of security updates. Samsung delivered on its promise and has finally decided to lay this notable phone to rest by cutting off its official software support.
However, keep in mind that the Galaxy Z Flip 5G isn’t the original version, as it was released six months later. The regular Z Flip only supported up to LTE. The Z Flip 5G is still going to get about six more months of security updates, so owners of that phone should be glad, though the updates will only come in with each quarter, and not as monthly updates.
Samsung’s Early Foldables Weren’t Proper Flagships (And Arguably Still Aren’t)
The Galaxy Z Flip was a very attractive smartphone when it came out, and for such a new segment, the specs were impressive. However, it was pretty tough to call them full-blown flagships. The Samsung Galaxy S20 came out at the exact same Samsung Unpacked event with a much better (though smaller) display, a better chipset, better cameras, a bigger battery, and faster charging.
Obviously, I’m not trying to say that the original Z Flip should have given the S20 a run for its money. It was an early entry in foldables, and to pack in the same degree of specifications would have meant an astronomical price point. However, sentiment aside, Samsung’s early foldables simply couldn’t be called flagships by the standards of the time.
Even now, when you look at Samsung’s modern foldables like the Z Flip 5 and Z Fold 5, they do a lot better in meeting up with the standards of Samsung’s S-series flagships. However, even accounting for the gap between when they’re released, there’s still a little left to be desired.
The Z Flip 5 came out a bit before the vanilla S24, but the difference in camera specifications is still too wide, especially at a time when other brands are making proper flagship-grade foldable devices.
