Nothing Phone (2) vs Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5

Nothing Phone (2)

Nothing

7.9

Best design-led $599 phone of 2023

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5

Samsung

7.9

Bigger cover screen, same compromises

Nothing Phone (2)

What Reviewers Agree On

Best industrial design of any 2023 phone — transparent back + 33-zone Glyph LED interface + clean aluminum chassis make it instantly recognizable.
Nothing OS 2.0 is the cleanest Android skin of 2023 — minimal bloat, fast updates, distinctive monochrome icon pack, and the universal search box.
$599 US launch (Nothing's first officially-sold-in-US phone) hits a clean price/value sweet spot — competes with Pixel 7a + iPhone SE 3rd gen.
Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 + 12GB RAM delivers genuine flagship-tier 2022 performance — beat iPhone 14 Plus in 9to5Mac's speed test.
5,000mAh battery + efficient 4nm chip delivers ~1.5-day endurance in normal use per MrMobile.

Deal Breakers

Pros & Cons

Nothing Phone (2)

Pros

Best industrial design of any 2023 phone — transparent back + 33-zone Glyph LED interface + clean aluminum chassis make it instantly recognizable.
Nothing OS 2.0 is the cleanest Android skin of 2023 — minimal bloat, fast updates, distinctive monochrome icon pack, and the universal search box.
$599 US launch (Nothing's first officially-sold-in-US phone) hits a clean price/value sweet spot — competes with Pixel 7a + iPhone SE 3rd gen.
Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 + 12GB RAM delivers genuine flagship-tier 2022 performance — beat iPhone 14 Plus in 9to5Mac's speed test.

Detailed Comparison

Cameras

Nothing Phone (2)

Dual 50MP setup (main + ultrawide) with no telephoto — solid daylight performance per GSMArena + 6 Months Later, but the missing zoom lens limits versatility against $499 Pixel 7a hybrid zoom or $799 Pixel 8 Pro periscope.

50MP f/1.88 main with OIS + 50MP f/2.2 ultrawide — saves 12.5MP by default, those output 'excellent' per GSMArena.
No telephoto camera — biggest hardware gap vs $499 Pixel 7a (2× hybrid zoom) and $799 Pixel 8 Pro (5× periscope).
Auto Night Mode delivers excellent ultrawide shots with detail, exposure, dynamic range — competitive low-light for the class.
4K @ 60fps main + ultrawide; 1080p selfie video — competitive video specs for the $599 class.
4K video stutter + dropped frames during recording — MrMobile flagged this as the most annoying day-to-day camera issue.

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Buy Nothing Phone (2)

Buy Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5

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Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5

What Reviewers Agree On

Big new 3.4-inch Flex Window cover display fits widgets, a full keyboard and even Netflix/YouTube — the headline upgrade over the Flip 4's 1.9-inch panel
New waterdrop hinge folds completely flat with no gap — same mechanical improvement as the Fold 5
Same bespoke Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy chip as the Fold 5 / S23 family — flagship-grade performance, much better efficiency than Flip 4's 8+ Gen 1
Pocketable, fashion-foldable form factor with a 6.7-inch FHD+ LTPO 1-120Hz inner display
Base storage doubled to 256GB at the same $999 starting price as the Flip 4
4 OS + 5 years of security updates — same industry-leading commitment as the S23 family

Deal Breakers

3,700mAh battery is the lineup's weakest — real-world SOT noticeably worse than slab phones (GSMArena measured ~15h video / 12h web)
Cover-screen app support is awkward — Netflix on the cover is 'the worst way to watch streaming content', native apps require workarounds at launch
Cameras unchanged from the Flip 4 (12MP+12MP, no telephoto) — meaningful gap vs Flip 6/7 and slab flagship cameras
25W wired charging only (~1h-1.5h to full), and Flip 5 charges to 100% slower than the Flip 4 at the same wattage
Build-quality concerns: r/Android owners flag protective film peeling, hinge area fragility, and 22:9 tall aspect 'awful for media'
IPX8 only — no dust rating

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5

Pros

Big new 3.4-inch Flex Window cover display fits widgets, a full keyboard and even Netflix/YouTube — the headline upgrade over the Flip 4's 1.9-inch panel
New waterdrop hinge folds completely flat with no gap — same mechanical improvement as the Fold 5
Same bespoke Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy chip as the Fold 5 / S23 family — flagship-grade performance, much better efficiency than Flip 4's 8+ Gen 1
Pocketable, fashion-foldable form factor with a 6.7-inch FHD+ LTPO 1-120Hz inner display
Base storage doubled to 256GB at the same $999 starting price as the Flip 4
4 OS + 5 years of security updates — same industry-leading commitment as the S23 family

Cons

3,700mAh battery is the lineup's weakest — real-world SOT noticeably worse than slab phones (GSMArena measured ~15h video / 12h web)
Cover-screen app support is awkward — Netflix on the cover is 'the worst way to watch streaming content', native apps require workarounds at launch
Cameras unchanged from the Flip 4 (12MP+12MP, no telephoto) — meaningful gap vs Flip 6/7 and slab flagship cameras
25W wired charging only (~1h-1.5h to full), and Flip 5 charges to 100% slower than the Flip 4 at the same wattage
Build-quality concerns: r/Android owners flag protective film peeling, hinge area fragility, and 22:9 tall aspect 'awful for media'

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5

Same 12MP main + 12MP ultrawide + 10MP selfie camera duo as the Flip 4 — the SD 8 Gen 2 image processing helps, but lack of a telephoto and unchanged sensors are real gaps versus rivals.

Cameras unchanged from the Flip 4 — 12MP main (f/1.8, OIS) + 12MP ultrawide (f/2.2) + 10MP cover selfie. No telephoto.
Use the main 12MP camera as a selfie camera by flipping it and previewing on the cover screen — best part of the foldable camera experience.
Image quality holds its own thanks to 8 Gen 2 processing — but the hardware ceiling is meaningfully lower than the S23/Razr+ 2023 main cameras.
Reddit owner verdict: 'worse cameras, battery life and performance' than a Pixel 7 Pro at the same money — Flip 5 trades raw camera for form factor.

Performance

Nothing Phone (2)

Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 + 12GB RAM is last-gen flagship silicon — the deliberate cost choice that keeps the Phone (2) at $599 vs $799+ for a 2023 SD 8 Gen 2 device. Real-world performance is excellent and battery efficiency is strong.

Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 (4nm, last year's flagship) + 12GB RAM + 256/512GB UFS 3.1 storage.
9to5Mac speed test: beat iPhone 14 Plus by 6 seconds at $200 less — strong 2023 real-world performance.
SD 8 Gen 2 was deliberately skipped to keep the price at $599 — pros call it a smart choice, critics call it 'not a true flagship' (SuperSaf).

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5

Bespoke Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy (3.36GHz) — same chip as the S23 family and Fold 5. Flagship-grade for everyday use and noticeably more efficient than the Flip 4's 8+ Gen 1.

Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy at 3.36GHz + 8GB RAM + 256GB UFS 4.0 base — same chip as the S23 family in a Flip form factor.
New chip is faster AND more efficient than the Flip 4's 8+ Gen 1 — battery life improvement comes from chip + 10% larger cell combined.
Two years in (2025), still smooth for everyday use — chip + 8GB RAM have aged well thanks to Samsung's update cadence.

Battery & Charging

Nothing Phone (2)

5,000mAh battery + 4nm-chip efficiency delivers ~1.5-day endurance per MrMobile and Cashify — but 33W wired + 15W wireless charging is firmly mid-tier vs OnePlus 11's 80W or Galaxy S23 Ultra's 45W.

5,000mAh battery + 4nm SD 8+ Gen 1 efficiency — MrMobile reported 'a day and a half' typical endurance.
Cashify long-term: '4,700mAh battery + 4nm chipset + lightweight software can last an entire day' — confirms all-day endurance after months.
33W wired charging: full charge in ~55 minutes per SuperSaf — slow vs OnePlus 11's 80W (~25 min) and Galaxy S23 Ultra's 45W.
15W wireless + 5W reverse wireless charging — included, a feature OnePlus 11 dropped.
No charger in the box — buyers must source their own 33W+ USB-C PD brick.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5

3,700mAh — only 10% more than the Flip 4 and the lineup's weakest. GSMArena measured ~15h video / 12h Wi-Fi web. 25W charging is slow, and oddly the Flip 5 takes longer to reach 100% than the Flip 4.

3,700mAh battery — only ~10% larger than the Flip 4. The lineup's weak spot, especially next to slab flagships with 4,500-5,000mAh.
GSMArena testing: just over 15 hours of video playback and 12 hours of Wi-Fi web browsing — 'not amazing, not half bad either'.
Real-world: about 1 hour more SOT per day than the Flip 4 thanks to chip + cell improvements — meaningful but still behind comparable slab phones.
25W charging matches the Flip 4 in the first 30 minutes — but oddly takes longer to reach 100% than the Flip 4 did.
15W Qi wireless charging supported and 4.5W reverse wireless — top up Galaxy Buds while traveling.