HP Victus 15 review: A solid mainstream gaming option

If you’re looking for a gaming laptop on the cheap, the HP Victus 15 is something that’s certainly worth taking a look at. It’s an entry-level gaming PC, meaning that you’re not going to see any RGB lighting, 360Hz displays, or high-end RTX graphics. What you will get is a lot of bang for your buck.

It does still have a 16:9 display, and it’s reminiscent of older gaming laptops that sacrifice color gamut in favor of a higher refresh rate. But performance was a lot better than I expected, considering that HP sent me the base model with a Core i5, a GTX 1650, and 8GB RAM, which costs under $800.

I actually had a great time with it, and since games automatically adjust their graphics based on your hardware, I found that gameplay was actually smoother than on some high-end gaming laptops. For a casual gamer that’s looking for value, the Victus 15 is a good pick.

HP Victus 15

The HP Victus 15 is a casual gaming laptop with a proper gaming design, Intel 12th-gen processors, and more.

Features:

Pros: Cons:

See at HP

Navigate this review:

• HP Victus 15 pricing and availability
• HP Victus 15 specs
• Design: It’s designed for gaming without the bells and whistles
• Display: It’s FHD at 144Hz, but that’s the whole story
• Keyboard: Chiclet-style keys and a standard backlight
• Performance: It has Intel’s 12th-gen processors and mainstream Nvidia graphics
• Should you buy the HP Victus 15?

HP Victus 15 pricing and availability

• As an entry-level gaming laptop, the HP Victus 15 starts at $549.99, although the Intel model starts at $799.99
• It’s available now, and it comes in Mica Silver, Ceramic White, and Performance Blue

Announced earlier this year, the HP Victus 15 is available now. You can get it in your choice of AMD Ryzen 5000 or Intel 12th-gen, although as usual, Intel’s processors come at a bit of a premium. The AMD Ryzen model starts at $549.99, while the Intel model will start at $799.99.

These base models come with either a Ryzen 5 5600H or a Core i5-12450H, either of which will be paired with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650. On the higher end, it can come with RTX 3050 Ti or Radeon RX 6500M graphics.

It comes in three colors: Mica Silver, Ceramic White, and Performance Blue. For the most part, you’ll find the full array of colors at HP.com.

HP Victus 15 specs

Processor	Intel Core i5-12450H (up to 4.5 GHz, 18 MB L3 cache, 12 cores, 16 threads)
Graphics	Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Laptop GPU (4 GB)
Body	14.09 x 10.04 x 0.93 in, 5.06 lbs
Display	15.6″ diagonal, FHD (1920 x 1080), 144 Hz, 9 ms response time, IPS, micro-edge, anti-glare, 250 nits
RAM	8 GB DDR4-3200 SDRAM (2 X 4 GB)
Storage	512 GB PCIe NVMe TLC M.2 SSD (4×4 SSD)
Battery	3-cell, 52.5 Wh Lithium-ion prismatic Battery
Ports	1 SuperSpeed USB Type-C 5Gbps signaling rate (DisplayPort 1.4, HP Sleep and Charge) 1 SuperSpeed USB Type-A 5Gbps signaling rate (HP Sleep and Charge) 1 SuperSpeed USB Type-A 5Gbps signaling rate 1 HDMI 2.1 1 RJ-45 1 AC smart pin 1 headphone/microphone combo 1 multi-format SD media card reader
Webcam	HP Wide Vision 720p HD camera with temporal noise reduction and integrated dual array digital microphones
Audio	Audio by B&O; Dual speakers; HP Audio Boost
Keyboard	Full-size, backlit, mica silver keyboard with numeric keypad Precision Touchpad Support
Color	Mica Silver
OS	Windows 11 Home
Price	$799.99

Design: It’s designed for gaming without the bells and whistles

• It has two USB Type-A ports, Ethernet, a full-size SD card slot, HDMI, and USB Type-C
• Mica Silver is just black

The HP Victus 15 looks and feels like a gaming laptop, something that actually surprises me a bit. Given the entry-level nature of it, it can be assumed that customers who buy one will also be using it for something else, like school. They might also be doing some photo or video editing on it.

But like I said, you only need to take one look at the HP Victus 15 to know that it was made for gamers. It has the vents all across the back, and there are angled edges that elevate the bottom for better air flow. And of course, it’s got the Victus logo stamped in the lid, as opposed to an HP logo or an HP OMEN logo.

The color of the unit that HP sent me is called Mica Silver, which is similar to the Dark Ash Silver that the company used to use on its Spectre laptops. In other words, it’s not silver at all. It’s really just black, or maybe even a dark gray. It also comes in Ceramic White and Performance Blue, which is pretty neat for a laptop like this. It makes it more personal.

Now, let’s talk about ports, because the selection is interesting. First of all, I just want to say that I’m disappointed that none of them are on the rear of the laptop. By nature, a gaming laptop has things plugged into it while you’re using it; at the least, you’ll be connected to power. And when you have cables sticking out the sides of your laptop, they get in the way. This is even worse on a gaming laptop, because there’s only one power port.

Other than that, I like the port selection. On the left side, you’ll find the power port, a 3.5mm audio jack, a USB Type-A port, and a full-size SD card slot. That SD card slot is actually a pretty solid value indicator if you might also be using this laptop to edit photos and videos. Suddenly, it doesn’t feel like it’s just an entry-level gaming laptop.

On the right side, you’ll find HDMI, USB Type-A, USB Type-C, and Ethernet ports. Wired internet is another thing I wouldn’t expect to see from an entry-level laptop like this. Obviously, steadier connectivity means better gaming performance, faster downloads, and so on.

Unfortunately, all of the USB ports are USB 3.2 Gen 1, meaning that they offer 5Gbps data transfer speeds.

Display and keyboard: The screen is FHD at 144Hz, but that’s the whole story

• There are only three display options, all of which are FHD

The model that HP sent me includes a 15.6-inch 1,920×1,080 display with a 144Hz refresh rate. Obviously, a 16:9 screen isn’t something we see too much of these days, with so many brands switching over to 16:10, but again, this is more entry-level. In fact, there are three options, all of which are FHD. The other two come in at 250-nit and 300-nit brightness.

Even the 144Hz refresh rate is something that’s aimed at the more casual gamer. If you’re a competitive gamer, you’re looking at QHD screens with 240Hz refresh rates or FHD screens with 360Hz refresh rates. Still, 144Hz is solid if you’re gaming more as a hobby, and I highly recommend it over the 60Hz options. It does make a difference in gameplay.

According to me testing, it supports 65% sRGB, 46% NTSC, 48% Adobe RGB, and 48% P3. These numbers aren’t particularly good. Historically, a lot of gaming laptops have sacrificed things like a wide color gamut in favor of refresh rate. In fact, the idea has been to sacrifice anything necessary for gaming performance. The gaming laptop market has gotten a lot better, but this laptop is still entry-level.

Brightness maxxed out at 261.4 nits, exceeding the 250 nits that were promised, and contrast was a healthy 1,190:1. For an entry-level gaming laptop, the display is pretty good overall. It’s just not ideal for things that require color accuracy like photo and video editing, a shame considering that it has an SD card slot.

Sadly, the webcam is 720p. I know that 1080p webcams tend to be reserved for more premium devices, but I really don’t qualify that as an excuse. In this day and age of working from home, webcams are important. You can get a smartphone for half of the price of the Victus 15 base model that has a much better front camera than this webcam. The difference is that while selfies have been popular in mobile since day one, webcams on PCs really weren’t important at all until 2020.

The keyboard has standard Chiclet-style keys, and a white backlight. You won’t find any RGB lighting here, which is fine. HP went with its usual design of including all buttons as part of the keyboard, and that includes the power button. There’s also a dedicated button to launch OMEN Gaming Hub, which you can use to access your library of games, or to customize lighting if you have any HP RGB accessories.

Performance: It has Intel’s 12th-gen processors and mainstream Nvidia graphics

• With a Core i5 and GTX 1650, gaming performance is surprisingly good

When companies send a laptop for review, the majority of the time, it comes with a Core i7, 16GB RAM, and a 512GB SSD. This time, HP sent over a base model with a Core i5-12450H, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650, 8GB RAM, and a 512GB SSD. My first thought was, who can game with 8GB RAM?

It actually worked. I loaded up Forza Horizon 5 and played with the beautiful new Hot Wheels expansion pack. The default graphics setting was medium, and it played just fine. I also recently decided to once again play through all of the Halo campaigns as a means of testing a mix of native gaming and cloud gaming, so I played through a big chunk of Halo: Combat Evolved as part of Halo: The Master Chief Collection on the Victus 15. That ran great as well.

Obviously, most games will do their best to adjust their graphics to match your hardware. Some games have higher minimum requirements than what’s available here, and that’s to be expected too. If you want better performance, there’s still the RTX 3050 Ti model.

For benchmarks, I ran PCMark 10, 3DMark, Geekbench, Cinebench, CrossMark, and VRMark. The units I compared it to actually weren’t gaming laptops at all, but you can see by the scores that some are better at certain things.

	HP Victus 15 Core i5-12450H, GTX 1650	Acer Swift X Ryzen 7 5800U, RTX 3050 Ti	HP Pavilion Plus Core i7-12700H
PCMark 10	5,988	6,019	5,682
3DMark: Time Spy	3,621	4,046	1,676
Geekbench 5 (single / multi)	1,584 / 6,759	1,447 / 8,104	1,747 / 8,658
Cinebench R23 (single / multi)	1,694 / 9,937	1,434 / 10,568	1,660 / 9,725
CrossMark (overall / productivity / creativity / responsiveness)	1,454 / 1,469 / 1,486 / 1,320		1,695 / 1,664 / 1,793 / 1,512
VRMark (orange / cyan / blue)	5,190 / 3,332 / 1,037

For example, while the Pavilion Plus is a better laptop for photo editing with its OLED display, and the CPU scores are better than the rest, it doesn’t have the same graphics power, so there’s a big difference in the 3DMark result. The Acer Swift X gets better overall scores, but as tends to be the case with AMD Ryzen processors, single-core CPU scores can’t beat the competition.

Overall, performance on the HP Victus 15 was great, and exceeded my expectations. I thought the Core i5 and 8GB RAM would be real bottlenecks.

Should you buy the HP Victus 15?

The HP Victus 15 offers a lot of value for your money, but it’s not for everyone.

Who should buy the HP Victus 15:

• Frugal gamers that are looking for a lot of value
• Casual gamers that only play in their spare time

Who should not buy the HP Victus 15:

• Creators that need color accuracy for photo or video editing workflows
• Competitive gamers

The HP Victus 15 is an excellent entry-level gaming laptop, with a lot of value and a lot of power. However, you might need more power, or a better display, and there are higher end options for that. That’s why HP has its OMEN brand, for competitive, enthusiast gamers.

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Samsung, please make a Galaxy Z Fold Ultra with a real flagship camera system

Samsung is the pioneer of foldable phones, and its inner folding design language laid the path on which all other Chinese foldables have followed. But a good case can be made that, in the last couple of years, foldables from brands like Huawei, Oppo, and Vivo have surpassed the Galaxy Z Fold series in pure hardware prowess. For example, the most prominent design improvement Samsung gave to the Galaxy Z Fold 4 this year is an improved hinge that no longer protrudes from the side as much in folded form. This drastically improves the in-hand feel, as the folded Fold 4 now feels more symmetrical in the hand, without a clear bulkier left side like in years past.

But this flatter hinge structure is not new. It was first seen in the 17-month-old Huawei Mate X2, and the Oppo Find N, Honor Magic V, and Vivo X Fold have since hit the market with a similar hinge. The Galaxy Z Fold 4 is merely playing catch up in this particular area.

The Galaxy Z Fold 2’s hinge (right) protrudes from the side significantly compared to the Huawei Mate X2’s hinge (left). Samsung wouldn’t reduce hinge bulkiness until this year’s Z Fold 4.

While Samsung has introduced genuine hardware breakthroughs in foldable tech last year like official IP water resistance rating and stylus support, the company has also not addressed some glaring hardware flaws that have been the butt of jokes, like the hard screen crease and the fact the Fold still cannot fold entirely flat. These problems have long been solved in the Chinese foldable space.

Samsung’s Fold series all leave a gap when folded (left), while the Huawei Mate X2 can fold completely flat (right).

Samsung fans can argue that the Z Fold series is still the best overall foldable with the most polished software (and I’d agree with you!). But objectively speaking, a Galaxy Z Fold screen with a harsh crease is just not as nice to look at as recent Chinese foldable screens.

The crease in Chinese foldables like the Oppo Find N (left) is a lot harder to find than in Samsung’s Z Fold series (right).

And then there’s the Z Fold camera system: the first three Galaxy Z Fold phones had modest camera hardware that were several tiers below Samsung’s actual best camera offerings seen in its Ultra phones. No high megapixel count, no large sensor, and just a mediocre 2X zoom lens. The Z Fold 4 improves matters by upgrading to the Galaxy S22‘s camera system, with a 50MP main camera with a larger 1/1.56-inch image sensor, and a functional 3X telephoto zoom lens.

This system, however, is still a level below the Galaxy S22 Ultra camera system; it also still lags behind the optics seen in the Huawei Mate X2 or Vivo X Fold, which packed a periscope zoom lens and main cameras that were on par with each brands’ best possible camera hardware at the time. If you have time, check out my Vivo X Fold review and see the photo samples vs the Galaxy Z Fold 3, Vivo’s camera system is objectively superior.

The Vivo X Fold (middle) with the Galaxy Z Fold 3 (left) and OPPO Find N (right).

But here’s the thing: I don’t think the Galaxy Z Fold series’ more modest hardware is due to a lack of technical ability on Samsung’s part. If Vivo engineers can cram a Periscope zoom lens and in-display fingerprint reader into a foldable, surely Samsung engineers can too.

Instead, I think Samsung is choosing not to pursue those things, because it would rather make the Fold series lighter and more affordable.

Samsung confirmed this direction two years ago when company representatives told South Korean news outlet The Elec that its goal is to make foldable phones “more mainstream” by going “lighter and thinner.” And Samsung is accomplishing this, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 was thinner and lighter than the Fold 2, and the Fold 4 further sheds weight from the Fold 3. Samsung also managed to lower the retail price of the Fold series these last two years. And while the price hasn’t changed this year, understand that the global economy and factors of production are not the same as last year, so that static price will very likely be translating into lowered net profit.

Most consumers don't need 10X zoom cameras. They'd rather have a lighter and cheaper phone

To focus on going mainstream is a very wise business move on Samsung’s part. While phone enthusiasts like me may be disappointed by the lack of new hardware push, the reality is that I am in the minority. Most consumers don’t need 10X zoom cameras. They’d rather have a lighter and cheaper phone.

Had Samsung put the Ultra camera system into the Fold 4, and pursued other breakthroughs like in-display fingerprint readers and perhaps a crease-less screen, it surely would have driven the price and weight up. Samsung decided not to do that in pursuit of mainstream consumers. It will probably succeed, with so many good deals for the Z Fold 4, the phone should sell quite well.

However, once Samsung has successfully made the foldable more mainstream (and it is well on its way: I am seeing far more Fold and Flips in 2022 than ever before), Samsung should consider making an Ultra version of the Fold, one that appeals to the enthusiasts like me who want the absolute best. This wouldn’t be any different from its current flagship slab phone strategy: Samsung makes three Galaxy phones a year, with the Ultra model clearly aimed at power users and enthusiasts, while the non-Ultra models are aimed at more casual consumers.

Samsung could release a Galaxy Z Fold 5 next year that continues the current trend, but also give us a Galaxy Z Fold 5 Ultra with all the latest bleeding-edge tech

Why not do this with the Fold? Samsung could release a Galaxy Z Fold 5 next year that continues this current direction of focusing on shedding weight and size. Maybe Samsung could even consider using a lower-tier Snapdragon 7 series SoC to get the pricing down by another couple hundred dollars.

The Galaxy Z Fold 4 (left) brings an improved camera system, but it’s still no match for the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s epic optics (left).

At the same time, Samsung can push forward a Galaxy Z Fold 5 Ultra, one with Samsung’s best possible camera system, a superior crease-less display with an in-display scanner, and whatever breakthroughs Samsung may be working on. Heck, cram an integrated S-Pen in there. Sure, the phone would probably cost $2,500 and weigh north of 280g, but enthusiasts would buy it. I know I would.

Of course, the standard Fold model would outsell the Ultra model by a big margin, but this is already usually the case with most flagship smartphone series. The iPhone 13 far outsells the iPhone 13 Pro Max, and the Galaxy S21 outsold the Galaxy S21 Ultra. That’s how the pricing economics usually plays out, and companies are fully cognizant of these dynamics.

The only exception? This year’s Galaxy S22 Ultra became the only top-tier flagship phone to outsell a lower-tier variant in recent memory. Perhaps this is a sign to Samsung that its fans want an Ultra phone with all the latest tech breakthroughs. For now, Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 4 is looking like a really appealing mainstream foldable for the masses.

Exclusive Deal on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4

The fourth generation of Samsung's flagship folding phone brings subtle improvements that add up for a much more polished premium foldable. Pre-order a Galaxy Z Fold 4 or Galaxy Z Flip 4, and get up to $200 worth of extra benefits by clicking the button below!

View at Samsung

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Does the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 have a headphone jack?

Samsung seems to have made a lot of improvements with the Galaxy Z Flip 4, making it a solid successor to the last year’s clamshell foldable. The Galaxy Z Flip 4 is now more compact, has slimmer bezels around the display, and is also more durable compared to the Galaxy Z Flip 3. It also has a strong specifications sheet with several new additions including the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chipset, a slightly improved camera, and more. If you’re looking to buy the Galaxy Z Flip 4, you may be wondering whether a 3.5mm headphone jack is a part of its exhaustive specifications sheet. It does seem to have a lot of improvements, after all. The short answer, though, is no. The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 doesn’t have a headphone jack.

The fact that the Galaxy Z Flip 4 doesn’t come with a headphone jack shouldn’t really be a surprise as the company stopped adding this port to a lot of its phones. The overall form factor of the Galaxy Z Flip 4 is probably a huge contributing factor too as there’s not a lot of room for a headphone jack on this device. The real kicker, however, is the fact that the phone doesn’t come with a USB Type-C to 3.5mm adapter in the box either, thereby rendering any of your 3.5mm headphones useless unless you’ve purchased an adapter separately. Samsung sells its adapter which you can purchase by clicking the link below:

Samsung USB-C Headphone jack adapter

Use this simple accessory to connect 3.5mm headphones to your Galaxy Z Flip 4 for listening to music.

See at Samsung

If you don’t want to spend money on an adapter or don’t want to go through the hassle of carrying it around with you, then you can also consider buying a pair of wireless earbuds. The company also launched the new Galaxy Buds 2 Pro alongside the new foldable, and we think it’s worth checking out. Almost all the wireless earbuds out there will work with the Galaxy Z Flip 4, but the overall experience might not be as seamless.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4, just like its predecessor, doesn't have a headphone jack. You'll have to rely on an adapter or buy a pair of TWS earbuds for music.

See at Samsung

If you’re interested in buying the Galaxy Z Flip 4, then be sure to hit the link mentioned in the box above to find the best price of it online right now. Alternatively, you can visit our best Galaxy Z Flip 4 deals page to find out the best places to buy it. Also, don’t forget to check out our round-up of the best Galaxy Z Flip 4 cases if you want to protect your new phone.

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MacBook Air (M2, 2022) review: Setting a new standard

Apple’s new MacBook Air is an amazing piece of computing engineering. When the company introduced the M1, it pretty much stuck it inside of old hardware that was designed for Intel chips. We started to see hardware that could take advantage of Arm silicon with the 24-inch iMac, the 2021 MacBook Pro, and the Mac Studio. Now, it’s time for a redesigned MacBook Air.

It is delightful. Thin, light, and yet powerful, it just doesn’t seem to get hot; in fact, it doesn’t even have a fan, so you won’t have to deal with that noise that we’re all too familiar with. On top of that, the webcam got a boost to 1080p, and it’s actually a really good webcam.

There’s one big, glaring problem, which is that like the M1, the M2 only supports one external monitor. That probably won’t be too big of a deal for most people buying this, but it should be. Remember, pretty much any Intel chip can handle three monitors, so multi-monitor support typically isn’t something that’s reserved for the high end.

But on its own, this is just a delightful laptop. Everything about it feels great to use, and of course, when you leave the house in the morning, you won’t have to feel like you need to bring a charger with you.

MacBook Air (M2, 2022)

The MacBook Air is totally redesigned, and one of the first to use Apple's brand new M2 processor.

Features:

Pros: Cons:

See at Best Buy

Navigate this review:

• MacBook Air (M2, 2022) pricing and availability
• MacBook Air (M2, 2022) specs
• Design: Good-bye wedge-shaped MacBooks
• Display: The Liquid Retina display is bright and colorful
• Keyboard: The haptic touchpad is nice and big
• Performance: The M2 shows a bright future for Macs
• Should you buy the MacBook Air (M2, 2022)?

MacBook Air (M2, 2022) pricing and availability

• The MacBook Air with the M2 processor is available now and starts ay $1,199
• It comes in Silver, Space Gray, Starlight, and Midnight

Apple’s new MacBook Air, along with the M2 chipset, was announced at WWDC, but it wasn’t released until July. It’s available now, but at the time of this writing, wait time is still a few weeks in most places.

The M2 MacBook Air starts at $1,199, which is a bit of an increase over previous generations. To make up for that, Apple is still selling the M1 model, but keep in mind, you’re not just missing out on the new chip – which is considerably better as we’ll cover later on – but you’re missing out on a much-improved webcam, a better screen, and an all-new design.

The 2022 MacBook Air comes in four colors, two of which are new: Space Gray, Silver, Starlight, and Midnight. Obviously, Space Gray and Silver have been around for ages. Starlight, the color we’ve chosen for review, is what we’ve already seen from new iPads, iPhones, and Apple Watches. And of course, Midnight is basically a black aluminum laptop, like we’ve seen from Microsoft’s Surface Laptop for a few generations now.

MacBook Air (M2, 2022) specs

Processor	Apple M2 chip 8-core CPU with 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores 10-core GPU 16-core Neural Engine 100GB/s memory bandwidth
Display	Liquid Retina display 13.6-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit display with IPS technology;1 2560-by-1664 native resolution at 224 pixels per inch with support for 1 billion colors 500 nits brightness Wide color (P3) True Tone technology
Body	Height: 0.44 inch (1.13 cm) Width: 11.97 inches (30.41 cm) Depth: 8.46 inches (21.5 cm) Weight: 2.7 pounds (1.24 kg)
Battery	Up to 18 hours Apple TV app movie playback Up to 15 hours wireless web 52.6-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery 30W USB-C Power Adapter (included with M2 with 8-core GPU) 35W Dual USB-C Port Compact Power Adapter (included with M2 with 10-core GPU and 512GB storage, configurable with M2 with 8-core GPU) USB-C to MagSafe 3 Cable Fast-charge capable with 67W USB-C Power Adapter
Charging and expansion	MagSafe 3 charging port 3.5 mm headphone jack Two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports with support for: Charging DisplayPort Thunderbolt 3 (up to 40Gb/s) USB 4 (up to 40Gb/s) USB 3.1 Gen 2 (up to 10Gb/s)
Memory	16GB
Storage	512GB SSD
Keyboard and trackpad	Backlit Magic Keyboard with: 78 (U.S.) or 79 (ISO) keys including 12 full-height function keys and 4 arrow keys in an inverted-T arrangement Touch ID Ambient light sensor Force Touch trackpad for precise cursor control and pressure-sensing capabilities; enables Force clicks, accelerators, pressure-sensitive drawing, and Multi-Touch gestures
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 wireless networking IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac compatible Bluetooth Bluetooth 5.0 wireless technology
Camera	1080p 1080p FaceTime HD camera Advanced image signal processor with computational video
Audio	Four-speaker sound system Wide stereo sound Support for Spatial Audio when playing music or video with Dolby Atmos on built-in speakers Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking when using AirPods (3rd generation), AirPods Pro, and AirPods Max Three-mic array with directional beamforming 3.5 mm headphone jack with advanced support for high-impedance headphones
Display support	Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display at 1 billion colors and: One external display with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz Thunderbolt 3 digital video output Native DisplayPort output over USB-C VGA, HDMI, DVI, and Thunderbolt 2 output supported using adapters (sold separately)
Material	Aluminum
Color	Starlight
Price	$1,699

Design: Good-bye wedge-shaped MacBooks

• The design of the new MacBook Air is similar to the MacBook Pro, but smaller
• It only has two USB ports, both of which are Thunderbolt

I really like the design of the MacBook Air, and as is the case with most Macs, I really didn’t think I’d like it at all. After all, it weighs in at 2.7 pounds, which is on the light side for an aluminum laptop, but there are far lighter laptops out there that are made with carbon fiber or magnesium alloy. Friends were impressed by the new Midnight color, and now that I’ve seen it in person, I can confirm that it looks no different than the Surface Laptop 4 looks, as long as you swap out the Microsoft logo for an Apple one.

But there really is something about it that’s just delightful. For one thing, Apple has done away with the wedge design, something that we’ve already seen this year from other companies like Lenovo. The weight is now evenly distributed, and the build quality feels solid. After all, while you can get a much lighter laptop that’s made out of magnesium, aluminum just feels premium.

And while I was unimpressed with Midnight, the color I picked for review was Starlight, the same color that I picked for my iPad Mini. Some have referred to it as gold, but I really don’t think that’s what it is. It’s much more pale than the Gold MacBooks and other products that we’ve seen in previous years. It’s a lot more subtle. Obviously, the Space Gray and Silver colors have been around the longest.

The MacBook Air feels comfortable to carry and delightful to use.

I’m going to put it this way. I review a lot of laptops, and in fact, I have a rather large queue of devices to review right now. When I’m in that cycle, I’m using all of them for various things, but sometimes, I just grab a laptop to do something on the couch. That laptop ended up being the MacBook Air. There’s something about it that feels nice to carry and delightful to use.

Of course, it does suffer from a lack of ports, unfortunately. There are just two Thunderbolt 4 ports, along with a headphone jack and the MagSafe charging port. One particular pain point is that aside from the 3.5mm audio jack, they’re all on the left side of the laptop. Across the industry, it’s becoming more and more common to place USB Type-C ports on each side of the device, and that always makes things a bit easier. After all, if you use a mouse, you probably don’t want a charging cable sticking out on the side where you’re using it.

There’s another big problem, which is that the M2 processor, like the M1, only supports one external monitor. The one exception was the Mac Mini, which can support a second monitor via an HDMI port, so when there’s an M2 Mac Mini, that shouldn’t change. For most people buying a MacBook Air, they’re probably not going to need to connect two monitors. But it’s sort of an expectation to be able to, since even entry-level Intel chips offer support for three displays.

It also then begs the question of what the actual benefit of Thunderbolt 4 is. You do get 40Gbps data transfer speeds, but you can’t connect an external GPU like you could with an Intel-powered Mac. And as we just discussed, there’s only support for one external monitor. That external monitor can be up to 6K though, so that is one benefit. But whether the screen you connect is 720p or 6K, it’s only going to support one. If you want two external displays, you’ll need to look at DisplayLink adapters or go for an M1 Pro powered MacBook Pro. For more than two external displays, you’ll need an M1 Max or M1 Ultra.

As for the MagSafe charging port, I really couldn’t care less about it. I know that some people like it, so they can rejoice in its return. You can use the Thunderbolt ports for charging too if you’d like, and that’s what I do, since I’m already set up for USB Type-C charging. You might be too if you’ve got modern iPads lying around. The MagSafe cable does come in the box, along with either a 30W charger, a 35W Dual USB-C Port adapter, or a 67W charger, which gets you fast charging.

Display: The Liquid Retina display is bright and colorful

• The screen is bigger and better
• It has a notch, which houses a much-improved webcam

The new MacBook Air comes with a 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display. Now, what does Liquid Retina mean? Retina has always meant that you shouldn’t be able to see any pixelation from a normal viewing angle, and on a MacBook Air, that’s apparently achieved with a 224ppi pixel density. Of course, Apple has broken up Retina into what seems like endless categories, and Liquid Retina is on the lower end of those. Honestly, Liquid Retina seems to be the evolution of regular Retina.

Still, this screen is beautiful, supporting over a billion colors. It just won’t get the 120Hz refresh rate that’s found on the MacBook Pro, or XDR (Extreme Dynamic Range).

It supports 100% sRGB, 85% NTSC, 87% Adobe RGB, and 98% P3, which is all very good. It’s not best-in-class, like you’d find on a Dell XPS laptop with an IPS display, or like you’d find on a number of OLED displays, but it’s still pretty far above average.

As we all know, there’s also a notch in the display. This was something that Apple first did with the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro laptops, and now it’s making its way across the Mac lineup. It doesn’t obstruct anything, since it doesn’t go any deeper than the menu bar, and the menu does adjust to it.

It also leaves Apple room to put a better webcam in there. The camera is now 1080p instead of 720p, which is a big deal. That means you get about 2.1 million pixels instead of 0.9 million pixels. Also, the computational improvements are noticeable. When I have a virtual background set in a call, the MacBook Air webcam makes me feel like there’s a green screen behind me sometimes, as opposed to other laptops that seem sloppy in comparison.

In this day and age, this improved webcam provides a meaningful boost to the user experience.

Indeed, a good webcam is critical to any modern workflow. Whether you’re working from home, a student, or just someone that wants to FaceTime with friends and family, this is a big upgrade to the user experience.

Keyboard: The haptic touchpad is nice and big

• The keyboard and trackpad are good, but really haven’t changed gen-over-gen

The keyboard and trackpad are really the only parts of this laptop that are mostly unchanged since the last generation. In fact, there’s not a whole lot to say. The keyboard is great, both comfortable and accurate.

Honestly, it’s really just important to note that the keyboard is good at all. If you’re replacing your laptop every three to five years, you might not even know that, because for a good long time, Apple unapologetically used awful keyboards in laptops.

There are a few things to note. One is an unsung feature of MacBook keyboards that I love, which is that the Caps Lock key is the least sensitive key on the keyboard. If you’ve ever used a Windows laptop, you’ve undoubtedly meant to hit the A key and accidentally hit Caps Lock as well. That problem has been solved on MacBooks, and it’s been solved for at least a decade, when I first used a MacBook. I have no idea why the Windows market hasn’t been able to emulate this.

It also has a fingerprint sensor for Touch ID, which to me, seems borderline useless. I have to say, macOS is terrible when it comes to dialog boxes. It asks permission for every little thing you can imagine. In fact, if you’re on a call and you go to share your screen for the first time, you’ll actually have to leave the call and restart the app before you can do it.

But when it comes to Touch ID, macOS has this weird mix of things where it might ask for your MacBook password, your iCloud password, or it will let you use Touch ID. It’s sporadic enough that I find myself just typing my password all the time.

You also can’t use Touch ID to log in when you first boot up the PC. You have to enter your password, unlike on Windows where biometric authentication is a lot more common across the OS.

The haptic trackpad is nice and big, and that’s somewhat rare in a laptop that’s more mainstream. You see this more in 15- and 16-inch creator laptops, but it’s really nice to see on a 13.6-inch PC.

Performance: The M2 shows a bright future for Macs

• Performance from the M2 processor is significantly better than the M1, and beats the competition in many areas
• Battery life is so good that it’s an afterthought

The M2 is Apple’s second generation of its custom Arm silicon, and yes, the Cupertino firm is carving out its own path here. Unlike other Arm chip vendors like Qualcomm, it’s not relying on the Arm designs that are released every year. Apple is making its own.

There are some drawbacks to switching away from Intel, which the entire PC industry is built around. You can’t run Windows natively on a Mac anymore, as there’s no more Boot Camp; you have to run it in virtualization using something like Parallels. There’s also no more external GPU support.

By now, pretty much everything runs natively on Apple Silicon. When I first reviewed an M1 PC, it wasn’t long before I’d get that notification that it needed to install Rosetta – Apple’s translation layer – to run. I don’t think I even got that message with the new MacBook Air, which means that everything I use runs natively. If it doesn’t, I haven’t noticed.

The whole thing is pretty great, but make no mistake, this is a productivity machine. It might even be a photo editing machine. But it is not a video editing machine, and it is not a ‘pro’ machine. The M2 is not a ‘pro’ chip. While M2 replaces the M1, it’s absolutely not a replacement for the M1 Pro, M1 Max, or M1 Ultra.

The M2 processor is more than just an incremental spec bump.

For testing, I ran Geekbench, which is probably the most popular test to run on a Mac, since so few benchmarking apps actually are supported by macOS. Unfortunately, it tells such a small part of the story. I also ran CrossMark, Cinebench, and 3DMark: Wildlife Extreme. Then, I ran some video rendering tests. For comparison, I used a Lenovo Yoga 9i which has a 28W Intel Core i7-1260P, and a Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 which uses an AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850U.

	MacBook Air M2	MacBook Pro 13 M2	MacBook Pro 13 M1	MacBook Pro 14 M1 Pro	Lenovo Yoga 9i Core i7-1260P	Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 Ryzen 7 PRO 6850U
Geekbench	1,904 / 8,952	1,902 / 8,964	1,742 / 7,693	1,755 / 9,954	1,736 / 9,525	1,507 / 8,697
Cinebench	1,589 / 7,907	1,573 / 8,704	1,499 / 7,699	1,530 / 9,532	1,638 / 7,757	1,504 / 10,092
CrossMark	1,499 / 1,382 / 1,825 / 1,059	1,495 / 1,376 / 1,837 / 1,036	1,333 / 1,252 / 1,594 / 939	1,510 / 1,327 / 1,938 / 1,052	1,454 / 1,353 / 1,650 / 1,235	1,499 / 1,466 / 1,636 / 1,233
3DMark: Wild Life Extreme	6,790	6,279	4,993	9,202	3,939	4,005
8K video rendering (Premiere Pro)	37:29	32:17	1:02:38	32:22	41:33	26:45
4K video rendering (DaVinci Resolve)	3:58	3:56	6:21	2:27	18:18	13:53

There’s a lot to unpack here. First of all, the M2 has the highest single-core score on Geekbench of any processor that exists right now. Geekbench only tells a small part of the story, only testing the CPU, but this is still a really big deal. Depending on your workload, that single-core score is probably the more important one. It also means that later on this year and next year, when we see an M2 Pro, M2 Max, and M2 Ultra, the multi-core performance on those will be off the charts (the single-core performance will probably be relatively unchanged).

There really aren’t any benchmarks on macOS that paint a full picture, although CrossMark is probably the closest. That’s why I also ran some video rendering tests. AMD Ryzen 6000 did the best with Adobe Premiere Pro, while the M2 smoked the competition when using DaVinci Resolve.

But most importantly, you should see that this is a remarkable improvement over the M1. The M2 chipset is setting a new standard for performance, and while this is a mainstream chip that’s competing with the U-series, higher-end processors like the M2 Pro and M2 Max are absolutely something to look forward to.

That’s not all though, because it does all of this with great battery life. That’s the real benefit of switching to an Arm processor. Normally, I work on a laptop until the battery runs out to get a proper idea of how long it lasts, but I wasn’t even able to do that with the MacBook Air. You can use it for a full workday without a problem.

Battery life is an afterthought, and I’ll put it this way. If I’m going to Starbucks with an Intel-powered laptop, and I’m planning to stay for a couple of hours, I bring a charger. most Intel-powered laptops get between four and six hours of battery life, but they’re often inconsistent, sometimes draining in just two hours. The point is, you don’t want to take your laptop and not bring a charger.

Say goodbye to worrying about carrying a charger.

That’s not the case with the MacBook Air. You just don’t have to think about charging with this laptop. Sure, if you’re going out and using it for 10 hours, have a charger on hand. If you’re using it for two hours on a train ride, you’ll find you won’t even think about it. It’s a different mindset, when you suddenly find yourself not thinking about bringing a charger.

That being said, the MacBook Air does support fast charging. While the base model comes with a 30W charger, there are two other options. There’s a 35W dual USB-C port charger, and a 67W charger. Obviously, the higher wattage is what you’ll need for faster charging.

In my testing, the 67W adapter charged the laptop to 100% in 85 minutes, and to 50% in 30 minutes. The 35W adapter charged it to 100% in 120 minutes, and to 50% in 55 minutes. When I attached an iPhone 13 Pro to the 35W charger, being that it has dual USB Type-C ports, charging speed slowed down significantly, charging to 100% in 220 minutes, and 50% in 105 minutes.

Should you buy the MacBook Air (M2, 2022)?

The MacBook Air (M2, 2022) is an awesome PC, but Apple makes a range of MacBooks for a reason. No one model is for everyone.

You should buy the MacBook Air (M2, 2022) if:

• You want one of the best mainstream laptops
• You work on a lot of video calls
• You live in the Apple ecosystem

You should NOT buy the MacBook Air (M2, 2022) if:

• You might connect your laptop to two external monitors in the lifetime of the device
• You need more than two USB ports

I really think that the biggest issue is that you can’t connect dual monitors. My mother recently started having to work from home one day a week, and when I helped her set up her work computer, she had two monitors. So while you might not think you’ll ever need that many screens, let me just say that if my mother can end up with a dual monitor setup, so can you. It’s a weird limitation to have when you’re spending a minimum of $1,200 on a laptop.

The post MacBook Air (M2, 2022) review: Setting a new standard appeared first on XDA.

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Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 vs Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus: To fold or not to fold, that is the question

Samsung’s Galaxy S and Fold series may still pack superior tech, but the Z Flip series has lowkey become the breakout star of the South Korean tech giant’s mobile family. The Galaxy Z Flip 3 was the first foldable phone to achieve mainstream sales status, and the Galaxy Z Flip 4 looks to continue the momentum. A major reason the Flip is winning over customers is that it is essentially a very good flagship phone that can fold in half to fit easier into pockets and purses. And while it’s not fair to compare the Z Flip 4 against the top dog Galaxy S22 Ultra, the Z Flip 4 does hold up very well against Samsung’s base model flagships.

Let’s take a look at the Galaxy Z Flip 4 and how it compares against Samsung’s own Galaxy S22 Plus.

Exclusive Deal on the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4

The new Galaxy Z Flip 4 takes the absolutely awesome Z Flip 3 and adds a bit of a polish and a much more energy efficient SoC for an even better all-around foldable. And we have an exclusive deal for XDA readers! Pre-order a Galaxy Z Fold 4 or Galaxy Z Flip 4, and get up to $200 worth of extra benefits by clicking the button below!

View at Samsung

Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus

With a large and beautiful screen and a good set of cameras, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus is one of the best flagship Android phones of 2022 so far.

View at Samsung

Navigate this article:

• Specs
• Hardware
• Software
• Performance
• Which one should you buy?

Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus vs Galaxy Z Flip 3: Specifications

Specification	Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus	Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4
Build	Armor aluminum frame Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+ IP68 dust and water resistance	Corning Gorilla Glass Victus Armor Aluminum frame IPX8 water resistance
Dimensions & Weight	157.4 x 75.8 x 7.6mm 196g	Folded: 84.9 x 71.9 x 15.9-17.1 mm Unfolded: 165.2 x 71.9 x 6.9 mm 187g
Display	6.6-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X FHD+ (1080 x 2340) 10-120Hz Adaptive Refresh Rate 1750 nits	Cover display: 1.9-inch Super AMOLED 260 x 512 pixels Inner display: 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X 1080 x 2640 (426 PPI) 120Hz adaptive refresh rate 1200 nits
SoC	Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Exynos 2200	Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1
RAM & Storage	8GB + 128GB 8GB + 256GB	8GB + 128GB 8GB + 256GB 8GB + 512GB
Battery & Charging	4,500mAh 45W wired fast charging support 15W wireless charging support 4.5W reverse wireless charging Charger not included	3,700mAh 25W fast charging support 15W wireless charging support 4.5W reverse wireless charging Charger not included
Security	Ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor	Side-mounted fingerprint sensor
Rear Camera(s)	Primary: 50MP, 1.0µm, 85° FoV, 23mm, f/1.8, DPAF, OIS Ultra-wide: 12MP, 1.4µm, 120° FoV, 13mm, f/2.2 Telephoto: 10MP, 1.0µm, 36° FoV, 69mm, f/2.4, OIS, 3x optical zoom	Primary: 12MP f/1.8, 1.4μm, OIS Secondary: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.2, FOV 123°
Front Camera(s)	10MP, 1.22µm, f/2.2, 80° FoV	10MP, f/2.4, 26mm (wide)
Port(s)	USB Type-C	USB Type-C
Audio	Stereo speakers	Stereo speakers
Connectivity	5G (mmWave/sub6) 4G LTE Wi-Fi 6E Bluetooth 5.2 NFC	4X4 MIMO, 7CA, LAA, LTE Cat.20 SA/NSA 5G (Sub6/mmWave) Wi-Fi 6E Bluetooth 5.2 NFC
Software	One UI 4.1 based on Android 12 Promised four Android OS upgrades Promised five years of security patches	One UI 4.1 based on Android 12 Promised four Android OS upgrades Promise five years of security patches

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Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 vs Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus: Hardware and design

Galaxy S22 Plus

Despite the fact one is an exciting foldable and the other is a somewhat standard slab, these two phones actually have a lot in common, and the overall user experience will be similar. Unlike the Galaxy Z Fold phones, which take on two forms (phone and tablet), the Flip 4 really is just a normal slab phone that can bend in half. Considering the Galaxy Z Flip 4 and Galaxy S22 Plus run on the same software and have similar screen sizes (Flip 4 has a 6.7-inch screen to S22 Plus’ 6.6-inch). This means when the Z Flip 4 is unfolded, it operates almost exactly the same as a Galaxy S22 Plus.

The Galaxy Z Flip 4

The Z Flip 4 is a bit thinner and lighter than the S22 Plus, but that’s due to the latter packing a bigger battery and a better camera system — more on this later. Otherwise, they both have back sides crafted out of Gorilla Glass and Samsung’s so-called “Armor Aluminum” frame (it just means aluminum that’s been toughened). The display material is different, obviously, with the S22 Plus using a typical glass panel while the Flip 4 uses flexible bendable OLED.

The Z Flip 4, as a foldable, has a secondary screen on the outside, which Samsung calls Cover Display. This 1.9-inch is just large enough to allow the Flip 4 to do some smartphone things when closed, such as view notifications and control music playback.

The Flip 4’s cover display.

One trick for the Flip 4 that sets it apart from any other slab phone is it can be used while folded up, and also when it’s halfway opened, in an L-shaped form that Samsung calls “Flex Mode.” This opens up a bunch of new ways to use the phone, including hands-free selfies or video recording.

The Galaxy Z Flip 4 is one of the most durable foldables around, with an official IPX8 rating and a screen that’s been tested to fold six-figure times without damage. But no matter how you cut it, the Galaxy S22 Plus is just a bit more durable. It has an IP68 rating, which means it’s protected against dust and water, while the Flip 4 only protects against the latter. And a hard glass screen is still going to be more durable than a soft bendy one, no matter how much Samsung tries to enforce the foldable OLED display.

Let’s be clear here: we don’t think the Flip 4 is fragile at all, but the S22 Plus in theory can take more damage.

SoC, Battery, and Memory

The Galaxy Z Flip 4 runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1, while the older Galaxy S22 Plus is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. Usually, I wouldn’t care about a minor mid-year iterative chip upgrade, but this year is different. The Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 has proven to be noticeably more energy efficient than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. If both of these phones had the same sized battery, the Z Flip 4 would certainly have longer battery life. But since there’s quite a sizable battery capacity difference (4,500 mAh for S22 Plus; 3,700 mAh for Z Flip 4), further testing will have to be done before we know which phone offers better battery life. The odds are stacked in the Galaxy S22 Plus’ favor due to the sheer size of the battery; after all, it doesn’t have to deal with moving parts internally to accommodate a hinge.

Both phones come with 8GB of RAM. The Galaxy S22 Plus only has two storage options: 128GB or 256GB, while the Galaxy Z Flip 4 has both plus an additional 512GB option.

Cameras

Due to the size constraint and more complex foldable structure, the Galaxy Z Flip series has never shipped with Samsung’s best camera system, and that remains true this year. The pair of 12MP shooters (covering main and ultra-wide) in the Z Flip 4 are just decent camera hardware by 2022 standards, and definitely not on the level of the Galaxy S22 Plus’ triple-lens array consisting of a 50MP main camera, 12MP ultra-wide, and 10MP telephoto lens. The main camera of the S22 Plus not only packs more pixels but also has a large image sensor as well. The telephoto zoom lens takes the win by default, considering the Z Flip 4 doesn’t have a zoom lens at all.

Galaxy Z Flip 3 and the Galaxy Z Flip 4

But the Galaxy Z Flip 4’s foldable nature allows more ways to use the cameras. The aforementioned Flex Mode allows the Z Flip 4 to serve as its own tripod, so you can take selfies, or group photos, or time-lapse videos, without needing to prop the phone against something.

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Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 vs Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus: Software

When the Galaxy Z Flip 4 is opened all the way, its software experience is completely identical to the Galaxy S22 Plus, as both phones run Android 12 with Samsung’s One UI on top. Samsung’s Android skin is intuitive, with lots of customization options and a great set of multi-tasking tools such as the ability to open apps in a floating window.

The Galaxy Z Flip 4 does have additional software features for when the phone is folded, or in Flex Mode. In folded form, you can take selfies with the Flip 4’s main camera system and the smaller second display as a viewfinder. When the Flip 4 is in Flex Mode, several apps will take adapt to this form. For example, in the camera app, the viewfinder will move to the upper half of the screen, leaving the bottom half for camera controls. Some third-party apps like YouTube will also behave the same way, moving the video to the top half of the screen and leaving the bottom half for comments.

Since the Galaxy S22 Plus does not support an S Pen as the Galaxy S22 Ultra does, it does not have any particular software advantage over the Galaxy Z Flip 4. The Galaxy Z Flip 4 most certainly does hold an advantage over the S22 Plus thanks to the host of Flex mode features that only a foldable can enjoy.

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Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 vs Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus: Performance

The Galaxy Z Flip 4 is a more capable phone as it has a newer chip. The Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 is better at handling heavy loads without throttling, so this would be noticeable if you’re a heavy gamer. The sustained performance is where the newer chip shines, and for those workloads, you will sip lesser battery and generate lesser heat. However, if your smartphone usage consists of more casual tasks like surfing the web or texting, then you won’t be able to notice the difference between the two phones.

What you will notice is the Galaxy S22 Plus’ better camera system. If you snap a lot of nighttime photography or like to zoom into things, the S22 Plus will just produce superior photos every time.

The Galaxy S22 Plus also has louder and fuller speakers than the Galaxy Z Flip 4. But the latter is lighter and can sit on a table in laptop shape, so it may still be a more convenient on-the-go media consumption device.

Battery life, as mentioned, we can’t give a final verdict yet as we haven’t had enough time with the Galaxy Z Flip 4. But with the more efficient chip, the Galaxy Z Flip 4 should be able to last a day for all but heavy users. The Galaxy S22 Plus, from my personal experience, can definitely last an entire 12-, 13-hour day on a single charge.

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Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 vs Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus: Which phone should you buy?

Even though the two phones are the exact same $999.99 price, this one is pretty straightforward, in my opinion. Are you enamored by the idea of a foldable phone? Do you often have to ask random strangers in public to take photos of you? Do you find modern-day flagship phones too big for your pocket? Do you find smartphones boring and want to try something new? If you answered yes to any of those, the Galaxy Z Flip 4 is definitely worth considering over the Galaxy S22 Plus. There are plenty of good deals for the Galaxy Z Flip 4 right now too, and using our link in the product box below to pre-order the Flip 4 will fetch you up to $200 of extra benefits over and above other deals, making it an even sweeter sell.

Exclusive Deal on the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4

The new Galaxy Z Flip 4 takes the absolutely awesome Z Flip 3 and adds a bit of a polish and a much more energy efficient SoC for an even better all-around foldable. And we have an exclusive deal for XDA readers! Pre-order a Galaxy Z Fold 4 or Galaxy Z Flip 4, and get up to $200 worth of extra benefits by clicking the button below!

View at Samsung

However, if you do care about taking low-light photography or zoom photos often, or if you want a phone that’s more durable, particularly against dust, or a phone that more confidently lasts an entire day, or just don’t want to unfold every time you want to use the phone, then the Galaxy S22 Plus is the better option.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus

With a large and beautiful screen and a good set of cameras, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus is one of the best flagship Android phones of 2022 so far.

View at Samsung

We don’t think you’ll go wrong with either phone if you’re on the market for a new flagship. But you do have to really think about if you want the foldable form factor or not.

The post Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 vs Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus: To fold or not to fold, that is the question appeared first on XDA.

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