The Korean giant’s July event sees the unveiling of the Galaxy Z Fold 5, Z Flip 5, Tab S9 series, Watch 6 series, and more.
It’s Samsung Unpacked time, which means come on, Barbie, let’s go party because new products will be launching all summer long. This year’s July event sees the unveiling of seven new pieces of hardware, including foldable phones, tablets in all sizes, and smartwatches.
Whether you missed the live event because it’s happening when you’re not even half awake (read: in South Korea), or you don’t have the time to sit through an hour-plus-long keynote, I’ve gathered all the specs, features, and tidbits on the latest Galaxy products below, starting with the ones that were officially announced.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5
It’s year five for Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold and Flip series, which means all eyes were on Samsung to deliver a refined duo of foldables that justified their premium price tags and gave customers worthy reasons to switch from traditional slab phones.
With the Z Flip 5, Samsung sort of achieved that. The biggest change with this year’s model is the larger external display, sizing up to a 3.4-inch panel that the company now calls Flex Window. 
Samsung compares the user interface of the outside screen to using a Galaxy Watch, with swipeable pages of apps and widgets, gesture-based navigation, and quick access to the wallet, dial pad, and more.
Not every app is optimized for the 3.4-inch panel, but users will be able to force open services via Samsung’s Good Lock extension app. That puts the Z Flip 5 on par with Motorola’s Razr Plus.
The second notable upgrade with the new Z Flip is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy chipset, which, based on the numbers we saw on the Galaxy S23 Ultra from earlier this year, should improve the overall performance, battery efficiency, and low-light photography of the phone.
That’s very important because the actual battery size, charging speed, and camera layout of the Z Flip 5 are the same as last year’s Z Flip 4, so the improvements this time around stem from backend processing more than anything else.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5
This year’s Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 sees improvements to its overall design, display brightness, processing power, and multitasking features. And like the Z Flip 5, the camera hardware, battery capacity, and price remain the same.
To start, a new gapless design when folded and a hinge that’s built with fewer moving parts, allowed Samsung to trim down the size and weight of the Z Fold 5. You’re looking at a decrease of 10 grams which, depending on how often you’ll be carrying the phone around or holding it with one hand, is a significant difference.
The actual form factor and aspect ratio of the phone is the same, though, with the company favoring the taller appearance for its sleek fit and one-handed usability. That’s in contrast to Google’s wider approach to the phone-to-tablet experience with the Pixel Fold.
Both the outer 6.2-inch and inner 7.6-inch displays get a brightness upgrade, too, going from around 1,200 nits to 1,750 this time around. That should improve the viewing experience when using the foldable outdoors or in well-lit environments.
Like the Z Flip 5, the Z Fold 5 also gets the flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon processor treatment. We’ll have to see how the chipset fairs with the larger foldable form factor and all the multitasking that’s to come.
Speaking of which, the Z Fold 5 operates on the latest version of One UI, offering more ways to trigger multi-app windows and the ability to hold up to four most-recent apps in the Taskbar.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 and Watch 6 Classic
Samsung announced two new Galaxy Watch models at Unpacked: Watch 6 and Watch 6 Classic. There’s no „Pro“ upgrade this year, but the company will continue to sell the Watch 5 Pro for adventurers and more rugged users.
For the wider audience, the Watch 6 comes in 40 and 44mm sizes, with larger batteries across the board. Design-wise, both size options feature a 20% larger display that gives users more area to interact with widgets, notifications, and tracking features.
That’s important because the latest wearables operate on One UI Watch 5 (layered over WearOS) for improved sleep, fitness, and safety tools, including a built-in virtual safety coach, Personalized Heart Rate Zones, and an SOS feature for emergency services.
The Watch 6 Classic comes in 43mm and 47mm sizes, the latter being the largest option of any Galaxy wearable to date. Both units feature a physical rotating bezel around the displays. With it, users can navigate the watch without needing to tap the screen — ideal when the environment is not fit for touch input.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 series
Last year’s Galaxy Tab S8 series was a giant leap for Samsung, and I mean that literally. The trio of tablets was headlined by a 14.6-inch Ultra model that was well-specced, ginormous to use, and could fittingly replace a laptop. 
With the new Tab S9 series, there are improvements across the board, including a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy processor, better-looking AMOLED displays that support Vision Booster, and 20% larger speaker sizes, according to Samsung. 
Review: Google Pixel Tablet: What Android tablets should have been all along
The Tab S9 series will also be the first Samsung tablets outside of the brand’s XCover line to sport IP68 ratings for water and dust resistance. They will also receive up to four years of operating system updates and five years of security patches, the same standard in place for flagship Galaxy smartphones.
And for artists, graphic designers, and writers alike, the S Pen that’s included with all three models now is more pressure sensitive and has a latency of 2.8ms.
Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro
During last year’s summer Unpacked, Samsung released the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro, which featured improved active noise canceling, a more comfortable fit, and well-tuned audio playback.
One year later, there’s no successor in sight, leaving the potential of a Galaxy Buds 3 Pro up in the air. If it does launch this year, expect the wearable to come in October.
Samsung x Qualcomm x Google XR headset
Earlier this year, Samsung announced an ongoing partnership with Google and Qualcomm to develop a mixed reality headset, positioned to compete with the then-rumored Apple headset.
Another teaser or executive photo op may be in the cards soon; just not „this week“ soon.

Samsung’s new Galaxy Z Flip 5 is ready to see off challenges from Oppo and Motorola and prove that it’s still the flipping best
Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 5 is finally here, and the phone has landed as a pretty direct riposte to the latest Motorola Razr: do your best, we’ll still do better.
When Motorola’s Razr+ (or Razr 40 Ultra, the name varies annoyingly by market) launched last month its expansive outer screen was a genuine first, and a welcome surprise – after a few years as the underdog, the company finally seemed to be punching above its weight. 
Stretching across most of the phone’s outer side, even down and around the two camera lenses, the panel is big enough to play games and even run full apps – albeit slightly squished.
Motorola getting there first could have taken the wind out of Samsung’s sails a little, but after using both phones I don’t really think that the Korean tech giant has much to worry about when the Z Flip 5 goes on sale on 11 August – especially since it’s an exact match for the Razr’s price at $999/£1,049.
Sure, the Razr’s 3.6in outer display is technically a little larger than the Z Flip 5’s 3.4in panel, and the 120Hz refresh rate doesn’t hurt either. Spec for spec, Motorola has it. But specs don’t tell the whole story.
Samsung’s enlarged cover display – officially known as the ‘Flex Window’, but I shan’t be calling it that – is all about polish. 
Where the Razr wraps its screen around the cameras in a way that’s as impractical as it is eye-catching, the Z Flip 5’s extra screen stops just short, but drops a little lower on its left side for an attractively offset look.
It means that, unlike the Razr, you’ll never have the cameras blocking bits of the display. And thanks to starting the screen closer to the hinge, you actually get almost as large a panel on the Samsung phone, without the interference.
Or how about apps? Motorola allows you to open just about any Android app you’d like on the outer screen, with mixed results. Some suit the small space well, while others are cramped to the point of uselessness, and it’s up to you to find out which is which.
Samsung’s approach is the almost total opposite. You can run apps on the outer display, but only the ones Samsung wants you to. At launch, that list includes the likes of WhatsApp and YouTube, with Spotify and Disney+ support on the way, but it’s still a fairly terse selection.
That gives users a lot fewer options, and means I probably can’t expect the likes of my workout tracking app Strong to ever get official support, but at least you don’t run the risk of opening up an app to find out that it just plain doesn’t work. 
Even better, Samsung has worked with developers to tweak app interfaces to suit the screen, meaning everything is optimised for the unusual aspect ratio. 
On apps I’ve seen so far the changes aren’t enormous, but the stripped back UI in Google Maps is a clear indicator of the subtle benefits that Z Flip 5 owners can expect.
It’s not clear which approach to apps is better overall, and I’m confident that Motorola’s ‘anything goes’ attitude will find plenty of fans. But I’m increasingly leaning towards the Samsung side, perhaps the result of my previous scepticism about these larger displays in the first place – there’s something to be said for a phone you can close, and if all your apps are still there then the effect is a little lost.
Besides, there’s something to be said for Samsung’s cautious curation, designed to ensure that your thousand-dollar phone always feels like one, free of the jank that Motorola’s method allows in.
The rest of the hardware has also been refined. An updated hinge means that the latest Z Flip finally closes fully flat, making it thinner and adding some much-needed solidity. 
The Razr does the same, but conversely doesn’t open fully flat, instead stopping at something like 175 degrees. Samsung’s hinge covers the full range of movement, though I’ll admit I did notice a slightly worrying amount of wobble whenever it’s only partly open.
Throw in a faster chipset – the Galaxy-exclusive version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, the fastest in any Android phone – and you can see why Samsung decided it could get away with leaving the battery and cameras essentially unchanged from last time around.
Success with the Flip is all the more important in a year when minimal upgrades have left the Z Fold 5, Watch 6, and Tab S9 launches a little less exciting than usual. 
It helps that Samsung has little other competition to worry about. The Oppo Find N2 Flip is a contender in Asia, and will pick up a few sales across the UK and Europe, but it’s not even sale in the US.
Besides, while its 3.26in cover screen was the biggest around when it launched just five months ago, it now feels diminutive, relegating the Oppo phone to being the bargain buy in the flip phone market.
Outside of Huawei’s compromised P50 Pocket and Vivo’s Asia-only X Flip, that’s it. 
Samsung has one meaningful rival in Motorola, and the Z Flip 5 has not only caught up to that competition, but will likely return to the spot at the top of our best foldable phone ranking once we’ve finished reviewing the phone in full.
All eyes are on the Z Flip 5, but Samsung seems poised to reclaim its flip phone throne.