Samsung just announced the Galaxy Z Fold 7 with big upgrades in the camera, design, and other departments. But with the Vivo X Fold 5 finally arriving in the Indian market, the competition in the foldable segment in 2025 is heating up. In the past, Vivo’s foldables had a clear edge over Samsung’s offerings. But with the various improvements, let’s see how it takes on the South Korean tech giant’s flagship foldable.
1. Vivo X Fold 5 vs Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7: Design & Display
With the Galaxy Z Fold 7, Samsung finally made major upgrades to the design. It is finally matching the foldables from Chinese competitors with a slim 4.2mm body when unfolded and 8.9mm when folded. This makes it even slimmer than the Vivo X Fold 5’s 9.2mm body (4.3mm unfolded). While this is a minor difference, the Galaxy Z Fold series doesn’t fall behind in this regard. So your decision here is based on personal preference. Notably, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 offers an IP48 rating for water and dust resistance, while the Vivo X Fold 7 brings an IP5X and IPX8 rating, which is slightly better.
On the display side, the Vivo X Fold 5 brings an 8.03-inch foldable QHD+ AMOLED inner screen and a 6.53-inch 1.5K AMOLED outer display. Both panels offer a 1-120Hz variable refresh rate, 4500 nits of peak brightness, and Dolby Vision. Meanwhile, Samsung offers a 6.5-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with a 21:9 aspect ratio, FHD+ resolution, Corning Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2 for protection, and a 120Hz refresh rate. The primary screen is an 8-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel with a QXGA+ resolution (2184 x 1968) and 120Hz refresh rate. So once again, you’re getting gorgeous displays on both models.
2. Performance
Vivo packs the X Fold 5 with last year’s flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC that offers high performance capable of handling gaming and everyday tasks with ease. But Samsung’s foldable flagship goes above and beyond with the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy. This custom version of the 8 Elite is more powerful, meaning, you’re getting the best Android chip on the market. Apart from a noticeable improvement in raw performance and graphics computing, this chip is also more power efficient. So if you want the best money has to offer, Samsung clearly has the edge here.
3. Camera
Vivo swings back in the photography department with its Zeiss camera lens and tuning on the X Fold 5. The 50MP (Main, Sony IMX921) + 50MP (Ultra Wide, Samsung JN5) + 50MP (telephoto, Sony IMX882, 3x) is a flagship grade camera setup that is also found on the Vivo X200. While Samsung did make an upgrade in the camera setup by bringing the S25 Ultra’s 200MP primary sensor, the rest of the kit (12MP ultra wide + 10MP telephoto) lags behind.
The main shooter is a true flagship camera, but the overall versatility with Zeiss modes and the other two sensors are just superior in my opinion. For selfies and video calls, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 has 10MP cameras while the X Fold 5 has 20MP cameras.
4. Battery & Charging
Another area that Vivo dominates is in the battery and charging department. Thanks to its massive 6,000mAh cell, you can expect a much better battery life on the Vivo X Fold 5 compared to the Z Fold 7’s 4,400mAh battery. Samsung still offers the embarrassingly slow 25W wired fast charging and 15W wireless charging speeds on its ultra premium phone, while Vivo offers a more respectable 80W wired and 40W wireless fast charging.
5. Pricing and Verdict
The Vivo X Fold 5 only arrives in a single 16GB + 512GB variant in India that costs 149,999 INR. On the other hand, the 12GB + 256GB base variant of Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 7 costs 174,999 INR. The higher end 512GB model with 12GB RAM costs 186,999 INR. So Vivo is undercutting the Galaxy Z Fold 7 in the global market.
Samsung has made great improvements in its latest foldable flagship, but the Vivo X Fold 5 is a better rounded foldable overall. But once you factor in aspects like the software, Samsung definitely has an edge. But for that much extra money, it’s still hard to recommend the Z Fold 7 to first-time buyers of a foldable phone or those outside of Samsung’s ecosystem.
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