Can Samsung extract improved shots from the same camera setup?
Samsung’s redesign of its foldable devices for 2025 introduced significant enhancements to both the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Galaxy Z Flip 7. However, unlike the Galaxy Z Fold 7, the Flip didn’t acquire any camera hardware advancements this generation. The clamshell foldable continues to feature a dual-camera arrangement on the exterior, consisting of a 50MP main sensor and a 12MP ultrawide sensor, along with a 10MP front camera.
The pressing question is whether Samsung’s transition to an in-house Exynos 2500 processor has led to enhanced image quality for the Galaxy Z Flip 7. With a new processor and updated computational photography technology, it’s feasible that the new model might surpass the previous Galaxy Z Flip 6—even with identical hardware.
To investigate, I subjected the Galaxy Z Flip 7 to a series of camera evaluations against the Galaxy Z Flip 6 and the Galaxy S25. It appears that Samsung’s image processing has significantly evolved in the new Flip. However, your preference may hinge on your personal style tastes. Let’s take a closer look.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7: Main camera
One of the advantages of having a clamshell foldable is the ability to access your best camera almost all the time. For the Galaxy Z Flip 7, that’s the 50MP primary camera featuring an f/1.8 aperture and a 1/1.57-inch sensor. The Galaxy Z Flip 6 utilizes the same primary camera, while the Galaxy S25, included for comparison, houses a 50MP f/1.8 sensor with nearly the same sensor size.
The Galaxy Z Flip 7 boasts a distinctive computational photography profile and color science, evident in the camera samples below. It showcases heightened color saturation in images and favors contrast, sometimes at the cost of accurately representing real-world colors. In contrast, the Galaxy Z Flip 6 may appear a bit washed out at times, indicating that the new model has made progress in this aspect.
For instance, in the first slide, the Galaxy Z Flip 7 displays excessive saturation and contrast, leading to a heavily darkened palm tree trunk. The sunset hues in the sky are more vibrant, but the rest of the image is darkened to achieve this effect. In the second slide, this approach proves effective as the Flip 7 better captures the blue sign than the Flip 6.
The third and fifth slides reflect a similar trend of darker hues and strong contrast—observe the roof color in the former and the leaf color in the latter. The selfie shot in the fourth slide tells a different story, as I believe the Flip 6 better replicates my skin tone than the Flip 7. This might suggest that the Flip 7 employs different color science profiles for faces and landscapes, which wouldn’t be unexpected.
In comparison to the Galaxy S25, the images are surprisingly alike. This is somewhat astonishing until one realizes that apart from a slight increase in megapixels and a minor difference in sensor size, both the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy Z Flip 7 share comparable main sensors. Overall, I tend to favor the output from the Galaxy S25, although the Galaxy Z Flip 7 surpassed it on several occasions.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7: Ultrawide and macro photography
When it comes to ultrawide and macro images, the Galaxy Z Flip 7 and Galaxy Z Flip 6 deliver nearly indistinguishable photos. Some pictures may be slightly more saturated on one device compared to the other, but this fluctuates in ultrawide and macro shots—there’s no clear trend like with the main camera images. Both phones utilize a 12MP, f/2.2 ultrawide lens with a 123-degree field of view.
For wide-angle shots, this lower-quality sensor falls short of the detail produced by the main lens. However, the expansive FOV allows you to fit more subjects into the frame or capture a vast landscape.
As previously mentioned, color accuracy shifts back and forth between the Flip 7 and the Flip 6. In the first slide, the Flip 7 is better at reproducing the palm tree colors. By the third slide, the opposite is true, with the Flip 6 excelling in capturing the tree’s shade. Again, since the hardware remains the same, this variation is to be expected.
For reference, the Galaxy S25 also features a 12MP, f/2.2 ultrawide lens, but it has a narrower 120-degree field of view. This implies that you won’t be able to include as much in the frame while zooming out when compared to the Galaxy Z Flip 6. Nonetheless, the Galaxy S25 excels in providing detail in close-up shots.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7: Zoom shots
Flip phones typically do not offer telephoto lenses for optical zoom,
