Should I keep my Z Fold 5 or get am iPhone 15 Pro Max

[Renton577]

I currently have a Z Fold 5 and I like it a lot but I am torn between it and an iPhone 15 Pro Max, main reasons are is I have a 256GB Z Fold and I could get a 512GB 15 Pro Max for a few hundred dollars less, the 15 Pro Max has awesome AAA games which I do actually like mobile games, and lastly I want to keep my phone for a long time and other than the Z Fold having a shorter updated life I am a bit worried about the longevity of the Z Fold. Any suggestions of opinions would be appreciated.

 

Edit: I should also mention I am within my carriers exchange window to get a different phone

[MiszS]

if you already have the z fold, then i would just keep it, but if you still want a different phone that will last you long, get a pixel 8 pro, way more freedom on it, and you get grapheneOS

[filpo]

1 minute ago, Renton577 said:

I currently have a Z Fold 5 and I like it a lot but I am torn between it and an iPhone 15 Pro Max, main reasons are is I have a 256GB Z Fold and I could get a 512GB 15 Pro Max for a few hundred dollars less, the 15 Pro Max has awesome AAA games which I do actually like mobile games, and lastly I want to keep my phone for a long time and other than the Z Fold having a shorter updated life I am a bit worried about the longevity of the Z Fold. Any suggestions of opinions would be appreciated.

if you already have the Z Fold 5 I see no reason to change unless you want to either try apple, want more storage or just don't like foldables anymore. The Z fold 5's Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 should still be competent at a lot of games. Depends which ones

 

4 minutes ago, Renton577 said:

a bit worried about the longevity of the Z Fold

is it showing signs of it giving up? The hinge? the foldable screen?

[Renton577]

7 minutes ago, MiszS said:

if you already have the z fold, then i would just keep it, but if you still want a different phone that will last you long, get a pixel 8 pro, way more freedom on it, and you get grapheneOS

Only problem with the Pixel is I don't like the Tensor chip at all, it lags behind in a lot of ways.

[Renton577]

7 minutes ago, filpo said:

if you already have the Z Fold 5 I see no reason to change unless you want to either try apple, want more storage or just don't like foldables anymore. The Z fold 5's Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 should still be competent at a lot of games. Depends which ones

 

is it showing signs of it giving up? The hinge? the foldable screen?

The things is there are AAA games coming to iPhone that aren't on android that's what I meant, like resident evil and death stranding. And its not showing any wear, its less than 30 days old which is why I was asking since I'm in the return and exchange window. But with a hinge and the inner screen there are more points of failure.

[filpo]

2 minutes ago, Renton577 said:

ike resident evil and death stranding

do you want to play those

 

2 minutes ago, Renton577 said:

The things is there are AAA games coming to iPhone that aren't on android that's what I meant, like resident evil and death stranding

it won't run them very well

 

2 minutes ago, Renton577 said:

And its not showing any wear, its less than 30 days old which is why I was asking since I'm in the return and exchange window. But with a hinge and the inner screen there are more points of failure.

how are you liking the z fold 5? if you're not then return it. If you do then keep it

 

2 minutes ago, Renton577 said:

its less than 30 days old

how long is the return window?

[Brando212]

honestly it's all personal preference. If you think you'll like iOS and will make use of those extra/different features, then I say go for it.

[MiszS]

4 minutes ago, Renton577 said:

The things is there are AAA games coming to iPhone that aren't on android that's what I meant, like resident evil and death stranding. And its not showing any wear, its less than 30 days old which is why I was asking since I'm in the return and exchange window. But with a hinge and the inner screen there are more points of failure.

yeah as the guy above said, the perfomance is trash in those games. If you want to return it to get a new phone all depends on what you need the phone for, if you don't really need the larger screen, then you can return it for a better phone, but then why would you buy it in the first place

[Zando_]

1 hour ago, filpo said:

it won't run them very well

Source on this? Unless they do a poor job of optimizing they should be able to run playably on a current iPhone. We've got similar games on Steam Deck and even Nintendo Switch. Though I would recommend just getting a PC for 'em to begin with, even when games run well on mobile I find that phones are a worse experience due to small screens and not having great input options. 

 

1 hour ago, Renton577 said:

and lastly I want to keep my phone for a long time and other than the Z Fold having a shorter updated life I am a bit worried about the longevity of the Z Fold.

iPhones are currently king for long-term support, if that's a major concern then pick the iPhone. Though unless your Z Fold is out of date or you're out of storage, you could just keep using that and get a new phone when it no longer works properly. I've decided I hate paying for new phones so I'm just going to use my 128GB 13 Pro Max until it's dead or no longer supported. 

[filpo]

1 minute ago, Zando_ said:

Unless they do a poor job of optimizing they should be able to run playably on a current iPhone.

they're emulating PS4 games to an iPhone and they were supposed to run on a PS4. When I say 'not very well' I mean 'sub 60 fps' but it'll definitely be playable

 

2 minutes ago, Zando_ said:

We've got similar games on Steam Deck and even Nintendo Switch

really? never knew

[Zando_]

1 minute ago, filpo said:

they're emulating PS4 games to an iPhone and they were supposed to run on a PS4. 

The iPhone 15 GPU has higher peak performance (tflop ratings, though they are different architectures so that's worth considering too) than a PS4. It just doesn't have active cooling so it can't sustain that for long, though even with the drop from thermal throttling it's likely closer than you'd think. Also, optimization work is an important part of porting, and I'd assume that's what this is, not emulation as that would be horrifically inefficient. 

3 minutes ago, filpo said:

really? never knew

Yeah, the games listed will run on Steam Deck at appropriate settings, and we've gotten a port of The Witcher 3 on the Switch, it didn't look great but it ran playably. 

4 minutes ago, filpo said:

When I say 'not very well' I mean 'sub 60 fps' but it'll definitely be playable

If they do their optimization work properly, and assuming they do target 60fps at all, and not 30 as many games do, then it should run at or near 60 just fine. 

[GamerDude]

i have a Fold4, and while it's a great phone for surfing the net with its larger screen real estate, its camera system is somewhat lacking. Same goes for the Fold5 (though I've heard the Fold6 might have better cameras). IF you wanna stay in the Android ecosystem, that is, not locked into the Apple walled-garden ecosystem, then why not the the Galaxy S24 Ultra which cost about as much as the iPhone 15 Pro Max?

 

I have an S24U as well, with 7 years of updates promised by Samsung, it should stay relevant for a while, or at least better than those with 4 years support (like my Fold4 and Flip5). The cameras on the S24U is just about as good as the 15 Pro Max, perhaps with edge to the latter, but still even for the non-pro user like me, the pictures shot with the S24U is a fair bit better than those shot with the Fold4.

 

As for gaming, the S24U with it SD8 Gen3 chip is blazingly fast, fast enough for any modern games. I'm a fan of its AI functionality, I like circling an object/item and having it instantaneously showing me the result of my search, plus being able to add effects to pics I've taken. I got a feeling I'd be hanging on to this beast for quite a while....