Technologies

Samsung’s New Flip Phone Highlights the Clamshell’s Comeback

The Galaxy Z Flip 5 shows that the flip phone has revived its main-character energy from yesteryear.

Before smartphones turned ubiquitous, flip phones were the consumer-tech status symbol. They had compact and cool designs and user-friendly features. And let’s be honest: It’s tough to beat the thrill of ending a call by snapping a phone shut.

Nowadays, the flip phone is back in vogue, albeit the «smart» kind, as old becomes new again.Just ask Euphoria star Sydney Sweeney, whom Samsung has tapped to drive that point home. In an ad for the company’s latest flip phone, the actress proclaims that her Galaxy Z Flip 5 is the «best accessory» for «how she looks and feels.»

In July, Samsung unveiled its latest wave of foldable phones at its Unpacked event, where the Galaxy Z Flip 5 was arguably the tech star of the show. Compared to the Galaxy Z Fold 5, it received major upgrades, including a redesigned hinge and a much larger cover screen. The addition of that larger external display, along with software upgrades, means you can do things like record audio, peruse your calendar or track the stock market without ever unfolding the Z Flip 5. Its predecessor, the Galaxy Z Flip 4 had a comparatively small cover screen that wasn’t nearly as versatile.

«Larger cover screens make these clamshells both more useful and more deliberate — sometimes you just want a piece of information without falling into a rabbit hole of app content, » Avi Greengart, analyst at Techsponential, told CNET over email.

Sydney Sweeney and Wonyoung at the Samsung event

Back in the spotlight, en route to the mainstream

But it isn’t just Samsung. In general, flip phones are undergoing a drastic transformation in comparison to their book-style counterparts like Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Google’s Pixel Fold. And much of that change is happening on the front screen.

Weeks before Unpacked, Motorola launched its Razr Plus, outfitted with a larger cover screen that raised the bar for flip phones everywhere. In late 2022, Oppo, a top Chinese phone maker, shook up the cover design of flip phones first by introducing a vertically oriented cover screen to its first-ever flip phone, the Find N2 Flip.

These new flippable cover screens seem to have hit a sweet spot: larger and more useful than a smartwatch, but smaller and less distracting than a normal phone screen. The previous generation of flip phones felt like a regular phone with a smartwatch on the front — convenient for cursory checks, but not much else.

«It’s the ‘be first or be better’ moment for the smartphone vendors,» said Will Wong, senior research manager at the International Data Corporation, a telecom market intelligence firm. «To win the foldable competition, the smartphone vendors will need to either be the first or create a more significant differentiation.»

Armed with bigger cover screens, flippables are poised to come back into the mainstream provided hurdles like durability are overcome. Either way, this latest wave of redesigns underscores how the flip phone is reclaiming its main-character energy more than ever before.

Take this anecdotal example: Oppo chose the Find N2 Flip as the product for its global foldable phone push, even though it had previously launched two book-style foldable phones in China. In fact, the Find N2 Flip is the crown jewel of Oppo’s global marketing blitz for its smartphone division, which involves sponsorships of elite sporting events including Wimbledon and the UEFA Champions League, which together attract a worldwide audience estimated in the hundreds of millions.

The phone in half flip Oppo Find N2 Flip.

Read more: Oppo Is Using Elite Sports Events to Convince People to Buy Phones

It’s very possible that Oppo’s decision hinged on past sales performance of flip phones. Clamshell-style phones have accounted for more than 50% of foldable shipments from 2020 through to the first quarter of 2023, IDC told CNET in an email. This trend is unlikely to change, the research firm said, since the average selling price, or ASP, of a flip phone is generally lower than that of a book-style phone.

«By the first quarter of 2023, clamshell’s ASP was below US$1,000 and was around 60% of the book-style’s ASP,» Wong told CNET in July.

Though foldable phones still make up a small sliver of the broader smartphone market, sales of both book-style and flip phones are expected to balloon. IDC expects worldwide shipments of foldable phones to reach 21.4 million units in 2023. This represents an increase of more than 50% over the 14.2 million units shipped in 2022. By 2027, IDC expects foldable phones to capture 3.5% of overall market share, which translates to more than 48 million shipments.

Refined, not redefined

Samsung announced the Galaxy Z Fold 5, its larger and more expensive foldable phone, alongside the Z Flip 5 at Unpacked. The book-style device is an improved version of last year’s Z Fold 4, with a different hinge. CNET’s Patrick Holland, who reviewed it, described the Z Fold 5 as a refinement rather than a redefinition. However, that essentially sums up the trend across the entire book-style foldable subcategory right now.

Though more players are entering the space, and with a range of designs, the transformation days for book-style foldables seem to be behind us. Sure, new entrants such as Google’s Pixel Fold and Honor’s Magic V2 are exciting and — in the case of the latter — impossibly thin. Book-style foldables may also be seen as being more technologically innovative than flip phones.

But they aren’t dramatically different from their predecessors right now, and that’s OK. In general, most phone makers have settled on the book-style design pioneered by Samsung in 2019 with its Galaxy Z Fold, meaning that device laid the foundation for the book-style foldable subcategory as we know it today. No small feat. A couple of years later, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 debuted with stylus support, which was also another major milestone in foldable phone innovation, but that was two years ago.

«In the short term, a significant transformation for book-style foldables in terms of hardware is not expected.» Wong told CNET in an email. «Nevertheless, we do see favorable use cases like navigation for this form factor. Thus, software optimization will still be one of the good directions for this particular product.»

Flipping into the future

Clamshell-style phones have come a long way since the trendy gadgets first broke onto the scene in the late 1990s. Today large cover screens seem to be a design hallmark for fancy flip phones, with Samsung, Oppo, and Motorola all slapping a bigger display onto the front of their respective flippables. With that change this year, it’s hard to imagine a dramatic evolution of the flip phone design going forward — it seems to have reached a stable point.

«The hardware design and the focus on the larger cover screen is not expected to have a huge change at this stage, as there is a limitation from the hardware aspect, especially when considering that the phone battery’s shape is unlikely to have a significant breakthrough in the short term.» Wong said.

The flip phone has certainly regained its cool factor, but it still has hurdles to clear before becoming mainstream. Device makers will likely focus on bringing improvements to the software and durability of their products, key areas of concern for foldables. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 5, for instance, has no official IP rating for dust, meaning it can’t withstand dust ingress apart from the hinge dusters brushing particles away. That’s a lot to overlook for a $1,000 phone. Flip phones will also have to compete with established smartphones in terms of performance, price and features (better cameras, for example).

«And that is why we saw Motorola launched both Moto Razr 40 (Motorola Razr 2023 in the US) and Moto Razr 40 Ultra (Motorola Razr Plus), which is a dual-track strategy to attract consumers with lower budget,» Wong added.

Meanwhile, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 and its flippable rivals can enjoy their moment in the spotlight. They may not fully replace regular candy bar-shaped phones anytime soon, but they certainly offer a unique and nostalgic experience for those who appreciate their charm.

Flip phones are back, and it’s their time to shine.

Technologies

As Disney’s YouTube TV Outage Drags On, Viewers Have Few Options for Football

The contract dispute threatens another week of college football and the first big weekend of NCAA basketball.

An ongoing contract dispute between YouTube TV and Disney has led to the removal of ESPN, ABC and other top broadcasting channels from the live streaming service, with no indication when they’ll be restored.

As the NCAA football season heats up and college basketball begins, this weekend could be the second in a row that YouTube TV viewers are shut out of the biggest games.

The disagreement causing the ESPN and ABC outage stems from the «carriage fee» that YouTube TV pays Disney to broadcast its channels. Disney has faced similar negotiating standoffs with other broadcasters in recent years, including a 2021 outage on YouTube TV that was resolved in two days.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

Disney says YouTube TV is not paying enough to stream its channels. YouTube TV, owned by Google, has the most subscribers of all other internet TV providers, more than 9 million. Hulu, owned by Disney, is second with 4.3 million subscribers through its Hulu + Live TV offering.

In a blog post Monday, YouTube asked Disney to consider «immediately restoring the Disney channels that our customers watch: ABC and the ESPN networks, while we continue to negotiate,» with no public response from Disney.

Which Disney channels aren’t available on YouTube TV now?

Sports fans aren’t the only viewers left sidelined by the loss of Disney channels from YouTube TV. Here are all the channels that have been removed from the streaming service:

ABC
ABC News Live
ACC Network
Baby TV Español (Spanish Plan)
Disney Channel
Disney Junior
Disney XD
ESPN
ESPN Deportes (Spanish Plan)
ESPNews
ESPNU
ESPN2
Freeform
FX
FXM
FXX
Localish
Nat Geo
Nat Geo Mundo (Spanish Plan)
Nat Geo Wild
SEC Network

When could Disney channels be restored to YouTube TV?

As with previous Disney disputes, negotiations are under wraps. Judging by Disney’s contract conflicts from previous years — Sling TV in 2022, Spectrum/Charter in 2023 and DirecTV in 2024 — the outage may last only a few more days, but Google has considerably more bargaining power than those other platforms.

On Thursday, Oct. 30, YouTube TV posted on X, «Members, when we renew our contracts with network partners, we advocate for fair pricing to offer you the best TV experience.»

The service also said it would offer subscribers a $20 credit «if their content is unavailable for an extended period of time.» You can find updates on the dispute on this YouTube TV page. We haven’t seen any reports of YouTube TV subscribers receiving that $20 credit yet, although some people have reported receiving a $10 discount for six months which seems to be unrelated to the Disney dispute.

«Google’s YouTube TV has chosen to deny its subscribers the content they value most by refusing to pay fair rates for our channels, including ESPN and ABC,» Disney said in a statement to CNBC.

In a memo to employees on Oct. 31 that was also reported by CNBC, Disney accused YouTube TV of deleting «previously recorded shows and events from their subscribers’ libraries.»

«YouTube TV and its owner, Google, are not interested in achieving a fair deal with us,» Disney Entertainment co-chairs Dana Walden and Alan Bergman and ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in the memo. «Instead, they want to use their power and extraordinary resources to eliminate competition and devalue the very content that helped them build their service.»

Disney is also asking its viewers to ask YouTube TV to bring back its broadcasting via the keepmynetworks.com site.

How can YouTube TV subscribers watch football games during the Disney outage?

YouTube TV subscribers with an aerial TV antenna can still watch Monday Night Football and college football games on ABC if they live close enough to receive an over-the-air broadcast signal from a local ABC affiliate.

Other than that, the only real option for viewers who want to watch all of the college football and basketball games this weekend and Monday Night Football at home is to subscribe to another service that provides ABC and ESPN, including ESPN+, Sling TV, Hulu + Live TV, Fubo, or DirectTV Stream.

Sling TV offers a $5 Day Pass that could be a good option for viewers who want to watch one specific game, as well a $10 Weekend Pass that would give you college football and basketball games for both days.

For those looking to find football games at local establishments, this handy app can help you find places that are showing the games.

Correction, Nov. 5: An earlier version of this story failed to note that Sling TV day and weekend passes can be used to watch local ABC affiliates only in certain markets.

Technologies

Tesla’s New Affordable Electric Cars: How Much They Cost and What You Get

The stripped-down Model Y and Model 3 start at a lower price point.

Technologies

iPhone 17 vs. iPhone 16: Which Is the Best Choice for You?

The iPhone 17 introduces some improvements to the camera, display and battery. But is it worth the higher price?

Now that the iPhone 17 has arrived, you may be wondering whether to buy Apple’s latest device or score last year’s iPhone 16 at a $100 discount. To help with that decision, here’s a breakdown of how the two phones compare.

The iPhone 17 starts at $829 (or $799 if you activate with a carrier), the same as the iPhone 16 when it came out — with the key difference being that the iPhone 17 starts with a higher 256GB storage option, as opposed to 128GB on the iPhone 16.

The iPhone 16 is now available at a $100 discount. So, is it worth saving some money, or should you splurge on the latest phone?

Here’s what to know about each phone, from the cameras to the displays to the batteries.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

Screen differences

Some of the biggest changes between the iPhone 16 and 17 have to do with the display.

Apple says it shrunk the borders around the screen on the iPhone 17, expanding the display from 6.1 inches on the iPhone 16 to 6.3 inches on the iPhone 17 without expanding its dimensions. The new Ceramic Shield 2 cover on the iPhone 17 offers 3x better scratch resistance, according to the company.

The baseline iPhone 17 gets a display with a 120Hz refresh rate, as opposed to the 60Hz display on the iPhone 16. That means the iPhone 17 finally supports an always-on display, so you can glance at the time, your notifications and Live Activities without waking the screen.

The iPhone 17 also gains an anti-reflective coating and a 3,000-nit peak brightness, compared to 2,000 nits on the iPhone 16. That should make it easier to see your phone in bright sunlight.

Camera differences

Both the iPhone 16 and 17 have a 48-megapixel wide-angle camera. But the iPhone 17 upgrades the ultrawide camera from 12 megapixels on last year’s phone to 48 megapixels.

The front-facing camera also gets an upgrade, going from 12 megapixels on the iPhone 16 to 18 megapixels on the iPhone 17. There’s a new Center Stage feature for the selfie camera that can automatically adjust from a portrait orientation to landscape to make sure everyone is in the shot. That means you don’t have to manually rotate your phone to its side anymore when there are more people to fit in the frame.

Both the iPhone 16 and 17 have a Camera Control button on the side to quickly launch the camera, snap some shots and use Apple’s Visual Intelligence tool to learn more about what’s around you.

Processor and RAM

The iPhone 17 packs an A19 chip, an upgrade from the A18 chip in the iPhone 16. One key difference is that the iPhone 17 starts at 256GB, while the iPhone 16 started at 128GB for the same $829 price when it debuted.

Both phones also support the Apple Intelligence suite of AI capabilities, which includes writing tools, image generators and notification summaries.

Battery life

Apple doesn’t share specific battery specs, but it does measure longevity via video playback hours. The iPhone 16 supports up to 22 hours of video playback, according to Apple, while the iPhone 17 bumps that up to 30 hours.

In CNET’s 45-minute endurance test, which includes streaming, scrolling through social media, joining a video call and playing games, the iPhone 17’s battery went from full to 98%. That’s just over the 97% the iPhone 16 scored last year.

And in a three-hour streaming test over Wi-Fi, which involves watching a YouTube video in full-screen mode at full brightness, the iPhone 17’s battery went from full to 89%. In comparison, the iPhone 16 dropped to 86%.

Anecdotally, the iPhone 17’s battery lasts over a day, even after taking photos, scrolling through social media, watching videos, texting, sending emails and more. The same can be said about the iPhone 16, so you likely won’t feel a huge difference between the two when it comes to day-to-day activities.

A new AI-powered Adaptive Power feature arriving with iOS 26 can help conserve the battery by making «small performance adjustments,» like «allowing some activities to take a little longer,» according to Apple.

The iPhone 17 arrives with the upcoming operating system onboard, but you’ll also be able to download iOS 26 on the iPhone 16, as well as some older iPhones, once it becomes available publicly. That should help to stretch your battery life on either device.

Color options and design

What’s on the inside may be most important, but people also care what their phone looks like. Like the iPhone 16, the iPhone 17 comes in a range of fun colors: black, white, mist blue, sage (a light green) and lavender.

For comparison, the iPhone 16 is available in black, white, pink, teal and ultramarine.

Both phones have an aluminum frame.

Check out the spec chart below for a breakdown of each phone.

Apple iPhone 17 vs. iPhone 16

	Apple iPhone 17	Apple iPhone 16
Display size, tech, resolution, refresh rate	6.3-inch OLED; 2,622 x 1,206 pixel resolution; 1-120Hz variable refresh rate	6.1-inch OLED; 2,556 x 1,179 pixel resolution; 60Hz refresh rate
Pixel density	460ppi	460 ppi
Dimensions (inches)	5.89 x 2.81 x 0.31 in	5.81 x 2.82 x 0.31 in
Dimensions (millimeters)	149.6 x 71.5 x 7.95 mm	147.6 x 71.6 x 7.8 mm
Weight (grams, ounces)	177 g (6.24 oz)	170 g (6 oz.)
Mobile software	iOS 26	iOS 18
Camera	48-megapixel (wide) 48-megapixel (ultrawide)	48-megapixel (wide), 12-megapixel (ultrawide)
Front-facing camera	18-megapixel	12-megapixel
Video capture	4K	4K
Processor	Apple A19	Apple A18
RAM + storage	RAM N/A + 256GB, 512GB	RAM N/A + 128GB, 256GB, 512GB
Expandable storage	None	None (Face ID)
Battery	Up to 30 hours video playback; up to 27 hours video playback (streamed).Fast charge up to 50% in 20 minutes using 40W adapter or higher via charging cable. Fast charge up to 50% in 30 minutes using 30W adapter or higher via MagSafe Charger.	Up to 22 hours video playback; up to 18 hours video playback (streamed). 20W wired charging. MagSafe wireless charging up to 25W with 30W adapter or higher; Qi2 up to 15W
Fingerprint sensor	None (Face ID)	None (Face ID)
Connector	USB-C	USB-C
Headphone jack	None	None
Special features	Apple N1 wireless networking chip (Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) with 2×2 MIMO), Bluetooth 6, Thread. Action button. Camera Control button. Dynamic Island. Apple Intelligence. Visual Intelligence. Dual eSIM. 1 to 3000 nits brightness display range.IP68 resistance. Colors: black, white, mist blue, sage, lavender.	Apple Intelligence, Action button, Camera Control button, Dynamic Island, 1 to 2,000 nits display brightness range, IP68 resistance. Colors: black, white, pink, teal, ultramarine.
US price starts at	$829 (256GB)	$829 (128GB)