Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 gets big new cover screen and flat hinge

The follow-up to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 looks like a real, honest upgrade.

Announced at Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked event in Seoul today, the latest clamshell foldable phone from Samsung, the Galaxy Z Flip 5, has two major hardware upgrades to clamor over: a bigger, more functional cover display and a much flatter hinge. It's available for pre-order now, starting at $1,000 and coming in four colors: Mint, Graphite, Lavender, and Cream.

Those two upgrades may sound kind of minor on paper, but in practice, they could be very nice to have. The old, mostly horizontal cover display that was really only useful for reading some notifications has been replaced by a much bigger one that you might actually want to use. And the empty space that was left by the old hinge is a thing of the past, as both of the new Galaxy Z foldables this year can fold completely flat.

As for specs, here's what you can expect from the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5:

• 3.4-inch AMOLED cover display with 60Hz refresh rate

• 6.7-inch AMOLED inner display with 120Hz refresh rate

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor

• 8GB RAM

• 256GB or 512GB storage

• 3,700mAh battery

• 10MP selfie camera

• Rear dual lenses: 12MP ultra-wide lens and 12MP wide-angle lens

Those specs are awfully similar to last year's model, with the exception of a newer Snapdragon processor and obviously the bigger outer display. Considering how experimental the very notion of a foldable phone was just a few years ago, it's impressive that Samsung has reached the point where these incremental annual upgrades are good enough.

Not sure which is better? We've compared the specs on the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 and 5 for you.