Samsung Galaxy Unpacked: all the news and updates from the event

After seeing incremental changes and updates to the Galaxy S22 line in February, it’s now the ultra-flagship Galaxy Z Fold’s turn. Samsung announced the new Galaxy Z Fold 4 alongside the Galaxy Z Flip 4, Galaxy Watch 5, and Galaxy Buds 2 Pro at its latest Samsung Unpacked event — all of which are set to arrive on August 26th — and, well, the new Fold definitely looks like a Galaxy Fold.

While this new iteration doesn’t set itself apart very much from last year’s model in the looks department, it does bring some new features, including improved durability and a wider outward-facing cover screen. But how does the Galaxy Z Fold 4 stack up to the Z Fold 3 when we get to the nitty-gritty on paper? Here, we’re comparing them spec for spec to see just how different Samsung’s upcoming Fold is.

The Flip and Fold turned a corner last year. Previous versions of Samsung’s folding phones were more tech demos than anything — awkward, very expensive, and too fragile for just anyone to consider against a garden-variety slab-style phone. That started to change in August 2021 when Samsung figured out how to waterproof folding phones.

This year, Samsung has made some key upgrades that bring even more parity to the foldable line versus the S-series flagships. Picking a Z Fold 4 over the S22 Plus doesn’t require you to make as many sacrifices as it did in the past (except for, you know, an extra $800 or so). But there’s still a lot to prove if foldables are really going to go mainstream.

Samsung announced the new Galaxy Watch 5 and Watch 5 Pro alongside the Galaxy Z Fold 4, Galaxy Z Flip 4, and the forthcoming Galaxy Buds Pro 2 during its Galaxy Unpacked event this week. Both smartwatches are set to launch on August 26th but are available for preorder today starting at $279.99 and $449.99, respectively.  

Like its predecessor, both versions of the Galaxy Watch 5 are built on Google and Samsung’s Wear OS 3 platform as well as the Exynos W920 processor, announced last year. However, Samsung says the new Galaxy Watch 5 lineup offers longer battery life, faster charging, and a sapphire crystal display that should be more durable and scratch resistant than the glass found in previous models.

Folding phones seem, intuitively, like a great idea. Phones are good! Tablets are good! Put them both together, fold it in half, and presto: you’ve made the best of both worlds. Credit to Samsung, too, for willingly subjecting itself to all the growing pains of figuring out how to make a good foldable phone. Last year’s Galaxy Z Fold 3 was a good foldable, and the new Z Fold 4 looks to be even better, if ever so slightly. (I have lots of thoughts about the new era of flip phones, like the Z Flip 4, but we’ll save those for another day.)

What Samsung hasn’t done — what no one has done yet, really — is make the case for why you’d actually want a foldable phone. And until it can explain why it’s worth all the extra cost and tradeoffs, I’m having a hard time figuring out why you’d be willing to give up the phone you know and love to get one.

Samsung revealed its latest pair of true wireless earbuds, the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro, during its Galaxy Unpacked event earlier today, introducing them alongside the forthcoming Galaxy Watch 5, Galaxy Z Fold 4, and Galaxy Z Flip 4. The second pair of earbuds under the Pro moniker launch on August 26th and are available for preorder starting today for $229.99, a cool $30 more than the price of the original Pros and $80 more than the standard second-edition buds.

While we have yet to put them through their paces — we’ll be doing so in the coming weeks ahead of our full review — the Buds 2 Pro don’t drastically depart from the design Samsung established with the original Buds Pro. They retain their oblong shape but scale it down, supposedly to make the earbuds more comfortable for all-day wear. Samsung is also offering the earbuds in a handful of colorways (white, purple, and black), all of which showcase a matte finish. Some of the returning standout features from the original Buds Pro include IPX7 waterproofing and wireless charging, and while the Buds 2 Pro support seamless switching between Samsung devices, they lack true multipoint support.

Samsung has just wrapped its latest Galaxy Unpacked event where, as expected, it announced two foldables, new smartwatches, and an update to its Galaxy Buds Pro line. While the company didn’t surprise us too much with what was announced, the updates seem like quality refinements across the board — though, as always, you should wait for full reviews of the products to see if they’re truly meaningful improvements.

Read on to learn more about what was announced.

After its recent announcements at the August 10th Unpacked event, Samsung’s latest generation of foldable phones are official, and they’re coming out soon. The Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Z Flip 4 are promising many refinements to Samsung’s established foldable formula. It remains a two-pronged approach: the cheaper Flip 4 folds in half from a “normal”-sized phone to a tiny device that’s easily pocketable, while the ultra-flagship Fold 4 sits at the top end, expanding from an average-sized phone to a mini tablet. Both models are set to arrive on August 26th, and preorders are now open across retailers and carriers.

As for the phones themselves, the Galaxy Z Flip 4 starts at $999.99 and features a new processor, a larger battery, faster charging, and a main screen with improved durability over the last-gen version. The camera is also inheriting the improved nighttime performance introduced with the Galaxy S22 line, and Samsung is promising the smaller outer display will be more useful than on previous models, allowing you to do more before unfolding.

Continuing its string of iterative hardware updates today, Samsung is introducing the new Galaxy Buds 2 Pro. The company says they’re smaller and more comfortable than the original Buds Pro, and the new model supports 24-bit audio playback over Bluetooth — if you’re using a Samsung phone, that is. Preorders for the $229.99 Buds 2 Pro start today, and they’ll be available on August 26th. (That’s $30 more expensive than the launch price of the original pair.) Samsung’s latest top-of-the-line earbuds will be offered in black, white, and purple.

The Buds 2 Pro are 15 percent smaller than the original Buds Pro, and Samsung has also expanded the venting grille to allow added airflow to reach your ears and cut down on any “plugged up” feeling during extended use. Hopefully this will also make the earbuds’ transparency mode sound even more convincing.

After weeks of leaks and rumors, Samsung finally announced the $279.99 Galaxy Watch 5 and $449.99 Galaxy Watch 5 Pro today at its Unpacked event. And while there weren’t too many surprises, it seems the company took criticisms about the Galaxy Watch 4’s poor battery life to heart. Both the Watch 5 and Watch 5 Pro boast bigger batteries, faster charging, and increased durability to boot.

With the Galaxy Watch 5 series, Samsung once again is shaking up its smartwatch lineup. While the Galaxy Watch 4 series rebranded the main Galaxy Watch and Watch Active lines from the Tizen era, this year’s event introduces a new model altogether: the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro. Whereas the vanilla Galaxy Watch 5 is the entry-level flagship, the Pro is meant to be a more premium version aimed at outdoor enthusiasts. Neither has Samsung’s iconic physical rotating bezel, though they both have the more subtle touch bezel. For physical bezel fans, the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic will remain as a midtier option between the Watch 5 and the Pro.

Samsung, purveyor of the only serious foldables available on a global scale, is taking a victory lap with the Galaxy Fold 4. As is tradition, the company has announced full details after a parade of teases and leaks, confirming what we strongly suspected: it’s not a huge update.

The overall design is ever so slightly sleeker, with a slimmer hinge and bezels. This is mostly cosmetic and doesn’t make much of a difference to how compact the phone folds down — just the difference of a fraction of a millimeter (15.8mm thick at the hinge and 14.2mm where the sides meet). It weighs a little less: 263 grams compared to the Z Fold 3’s 271 grams. It’s still a heavy phone, which is to be expected for something that doubles as both a phone and a small tablet.

It’s not a day for big updates or surprises from Samsung, and the Galaxy Z Flip 4 is holding the line. It’s the latest generation of Samsung’s smaller foldable, and it comes with some small but meaningful upgrades, like a bigger battery, upgraded camera hardware, and a stronger main display. There are some new colors, too, which you can mix and match to create your own “bespoke” Flip 4. But if you were holding your breath for a price drop, then we’ve got some bad news for you: it still starts at $999 — affordable by foldable standards but still in the upper echelons of smartphone pricing.

Naturally, there’s an updated chipset: the Flip 4 comes with a Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 (paired with 8GB of RAM), which you’ll find on basically every flagship Android phone not made by Google released this year. The hinge is a little slimmer, and Samsung straightened out the previously curved edges of the phone, shaving off a couple of millimeters in width and height. The thickness remains the same, though: 17.1mm at the hinge and 15.9mm where the ends of the display meet, so the gap when the phone is folded is the same size.

Samsung is throwing itself a party tomorrow with a couple of guests of honor: its foldable phones. We’ll likely see some updated watches and earbuds, but really, it’s a birthday party for the Z Fold and the Z Flip. They’ve been around for years now, but last August was when they really hit their stride with the most mainstream models yet.

We’re probably not going to see any dramatic upgrades or shocking price drops this year because Samsung doesn’t need to produce any of those thrills. It owns the foldable phone category, and it likely will for some time. It’s a foldable party with a guest list of one: Samsung.

Samsung Galaxy Unpacked is set to begin on Wednesday, August 10th.

Leading up to the event, Samsung has left us with breadcrumbs about what they’re going to announce at their Galaxy Unpacked event. Leaks and other clues have revealed that Samsung may be announcing an updated foldable to match last year’s announcement and release.