We put the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 through our rigorous SBMARK Display test suite to measure its performance across four criteria. In the results of this test, we will analyze how it performed in a series of tests and in several common use cases.
Overview
Key Display Specifications:
- 7.6 inch AMOLED
- Dimensions: 154.9 x 67.1 x 13.4 mm (6.10 x 2.64 x 0.53 inches)
- Resolution: 1812 x 2176 pixels (~373 ppi density)
- Refresh rate: 120Hz
Pros
- Good color fidelity and adequate brightness for HDR10 video content
- Good readability in all tested lighting conditions
- Smooth in most uses
Against
- In sunlight, the high brightness mode gives an unnatural appearance to the color content
- The crease is visible in most situations
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 delivered decent display performance, demonstrating excellent video and color performance with the updated protocol.
Good readability in sunlight is rare among ultra-premium devices, however the Z Fold5 achieved good contrast on content viewed even in bright outdoor conditions. Our engineers measured the device’s peak brightness at 1682 nits under sunlight. At the expense of its excellent all-round performance only slightly, the Z Fold5’s screen was highly reflective.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 provided a wide color gamut in the default “Vivid” mode, resulting in nice, saturated colors in low-light and indoor conditions. When outdoors in direct sunlight, the device’s high-brightness mode made some colorful content appear slightly desaturated and flat in “Vivid” mode. When tested with the protocol’s natural mode setting, color rendition was true, comfortable, and pleasing in most lighting conditions except bright sunlight.
As is typical of many Samsung devices, the Z Fold5’s brightness, colors and detail rendering make it a good device for watching HDR10 video both in low-light conditions and indoors.
A recurring problem with many foldable screens is the visibility of a crease when the screen is unfolded. The fold of the Z Fold5 was visible in all conditions, especially outdoors; and as with other foldable phones, the device was affected by a jello effect: a slight perceptible lag between the left and right sides of the display that can make content appear a little “bent.” But our engineers observed no frame discrepancies when evaluating the Z Fold5 while watching videos.
Its brightness, color and detail rendering make it a great choice for watching videos. Precise and responsive, the device feels smooth when browsing the web and scrolling through the gallery, but sometimes tends to react to unwanted touches.
Please note that SBMARK tested the Z Fold5’s main screen with the protective screen turned on, per Samsung’s recommendations to consumers.
Exceptionally, our engineers also measured the Z Fold5’s maximum brightness and screen reflectance, which is not part of the protocol and was not taken into account in the device score. The Z Fold5’s overlay screen peaked brightness at 1710 nits and had the same color gamut as the main screen; furthermore, the cover screen was less reflective than the main screen (4.8% versus 6.3%).
Test summary
About SBMARK display tests: For scoring and analysis, a device is subjected to a series of objective and perceptual tests under controlled laboratory and real-life conditions. The SBMARK Display Score takes into account the overall user experience provided by the screen, considering hardware capability and software optimization. Only factory-installed video and photo apps are used during testing. More in-depth details on how SBMARK tests displays can be found in the article “A Closer Look at SBMARK Display Testing.”
The following section focuses on the key elements of our comprehensive testing and analysis performed in SBMARK laboratories. Comprehensive reports with detailed performance evaluations are available upon request. To order a copy, contact us.
How the display readability score is composed
Readability evaluates the user’s ease and comfort in viewing stationary content, such as photos or a web page, on the display under different lighting conditions. Our measurements performed in laboratories are complemented by perceptual tests and analyses.
Skin tone rendering in an indoor environment (1000 lux).
From left: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5, Google Pixel Fold, Honor Magic vs
(Photo for illustrative purposes only)
Readability in an outdoor environment (20,000 lux).
From left: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5, Google Pixel Fold, Honor Magic vs
(Photo for illustrative purposes only)
SCI stands for Specular Component Included, which measures both diffuse reflection and specular reflection. The reflectance of a simple glass plate is around 4%, while it reaches around 6% for a plastic plate. Although the first surface of smartphones is glass, their total reflectance (uncoated) is usually around 5% due to multiple reflections created by the complex optical stack.
The average reflectance is calculated based on the spectral reflectance in the visible spectrum range (see graph below) and human spectral sensitivity.
This graph shows the luminance distribution across the entire display panel. Uniformity is measured with a 20% gray pattern, with bright green indicating ideal luminance. An evenly distributed bright green color across the screen indicates that the display brightness is uniform. Other colors indicate a loss of uniformity.
Displays flicker for 2 main reasons: refresh rate and pulse width modulation. Pulse width modulation is a modulation technique that generates pulses of variable width to represent the amplitude of an analog input signal. This measurement is important for comfort because low-frequency flickering can be perceived by some individuals and, in more extreme cases, can induce seizures. Some experiments show that discomfort can occur more frequently. A high PWM frequency (>1500 Hz) tends to disturb users less.
How the display color score is composed
Color evaluations are performed under different lighting conditions to see how well the device handles color with its surroundings. The devices are tested with sRGB and Display-P3 image models. Both faithful mode and default mode are used for our evaluation. Our measurements performed in laboratories are complemented by perceptual tests and analyses.
Circadian action factor is a metric that defines the impact of light on the human sleep cycle. It is the ratio of the light energy that contributes to sleep disturbances (centered around 450 nm, representing blue light) compared to the light energy that contributes to our perception (covering 400 nm to 700 nm and centered at 550 nm, which is green light). A high circadian action factor means that the ambient light contains strong blue light energy and is likely to affect the body’s sleep cycle, while a low circadian action factor means that the light has weak blue light energy and is less likely to affect sleep patterns.
How the Display Video score is composed
The video attribute evaluates the handling of Standard Dynamic Range (SDR) and High Dynamic Range (HDR10) video in indoor and low-light conditions. Our measurements performed in laboratories are complemented by perceptual tests and analyses.
Video rendering in a low light environment (0 lux).
Clockwise from top left: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5, Google Pixel Fold, Honor Magic Vs
(Photo for illustrative purposes only)
These indicators present the percentage of frame irregularity in a 30-second video. These irregularities are not necessarily perceived by users (unless they are all with the same timestamp) but are an indicator of performance.
How the Display Touch score is composed
We evaluate touch attributes in many types of content where touch is critical and requires different behaviors such as gaming (fast touch and response times), web (smooth page scrolling), and images (accurate and smooth navigation from image to image). other ).
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